Hayashi rice

Hayashi rice

Hayashi rice (ハヤシライス) is a dish popular in Japanese 'family' restaurants. It usually contains beef, onions, and button mushrooms, in a thick demi-glace sauce which often contains red wine and tomato sauce. This sauce is served atop or alongside boiled rice. The sauce is sometimes topped with a drizzle of fresh cream. It resembles Japanese curry and usually appears on menus alongside curry.

There is some debate regarding the origin of the name of this dish. One common belief is that the name was given by the first president of Maruzen Corporation, Hayashi Yuuteki. Another theory is that a cook named Hayashi at the restaurant Ueno Seiyouken, who often served this dish for staff meals, thought of the name. Perhaps the most common explanation is that the name is simply derived from the English phrase "hashed beef".

Hayashi rice is one of Japan's most popular Western-style dishes. Thanks to hayashi rice mix (normally sold as roux blocks) and prepared demiglace sauce (normally canned), which are commonly available at Japanese supermarkets, this dish is common household fare. Like Japanese curry, it is usually eaten with a spoon.