Something that I've noticed recently in Canberra is how frustrating it can be to find something that is open outside of the "regular" lunch and dinner times just a little bit outside the town centre area. Everything seems to shut down for a siesta or something and you are left walking around looking for anything... anything with an open door and a warm kitchen that is still serving food.

On this day, I was hunting around for something in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. I think that is when most people are normally working anyway, and so I thought that SOMETHING would be open near the university. Sadly, no....

... and I had to walk a bit further into the town centre to get something to eat. And Don Japanese was one of the first places that looked open. Well, I had a craving for a warm rice dish anyway... so, I dropped into a pretty much deserted restaurant hole in the wall.

The Space

The space is pretty clean and sparsely decorated. Very modern styling... the sort that you see in most Asian themed restaurants that have been built recently. There must be some sort of cost savings for building in this sort of manner.

This is a place with no table service... you will have to order online or at the counter. Thankfully, they will bring the food to your table... I'm not a fan of the online ordering system that has been all the rage in Australia (clicky clicky QR codes... who knows what they do....), so ordering by talking in the old-fashioned way is the method for me!

The Menu

Yep... that does mean that I have the inconvenience of needing to go outside to view the menu. Again, I can do without opening up random webpages with potentiall dodgy arse QR code links!

The Food

I opted for a Teriyaki Chicken bowl with Miso soup... the soup was pretty decent, and the chicken... well, not great. It was okay... but I figure that I can do better at home anyway... on the other hand, home was at least half an hour away and I didn't feel like cooking, so this was a decent enough option. However, if my preferred restaurants were open... I wouldn't have been coming here!

The Experience

Well... the food is cheap enough, and the quality is okay. I did like the fact that it was very quiet, which meant that I could just sit down and kill time without feeling like I was in danger of getting turfed out. However, I would say that Don Japanese would only be an option for me if there was nothing else open.

On this particular day, I didn't want to walk another 10-15 minutes to the greater selection in town... I had to be in the area for work and didn't have the time to walk further. So, this was one of the options that I could see nearby that was open and didn't look too bad.

That said, I have tried other places in the nearby vicinity before... but I did want to try a new place. Definitely, next time, I would return back to the tried and true!

Opening Times

Monday 11:30am–8:45pm
Tuesday 11:30am–8:45pm
Wednesday 11:30am–8:45pm
Thursday 11:30am–8:45pm
Friday 11:30am–8:45pm
Saturday 11:30am–8:45pm
Sunday 11:30am–8:45pm

Contact Details

Address: Mayfair Building, G22/45 W Row, Canberra ACT 2601
Website: https://www.mryum.com/don-japanese/counter/