Move over poke bowl. You may have a rival when it comes to diners’ search for a quick-and-easy solution to meal-time indecision, in the form of the reinvented Japanese beef bowl, or gyudon.

It’s been 123 years since gyudon became codified by Yoshinoya — Japan’s oldest restaurant chain — specializing in the dish of thinly sliced beef and onions served over rice. The beef is traditionally simmered in a salty-sweet combination dashi, soy sauce and mirin.

While beef may have originally been too much of a luxury for the common man to enjoy, as fortunes improved over time gyudon became known as a fast, inexpensive and satisfying meal option.

The beef recipe, though, hadn’t changed much, until about a decade ago, when a new focus on wagyu and Kobe beef inspired a more American take on the beef bowl. The small, thin slices were replaced by thicker slabs of premium beef served as bloody as possible to connoisseurs.

This style of gyudon is now available here, though the beef is cooked to fit local standards.

Beef Volcano

429 Nahua St., Honolulu

Shoko Yamanaka is a yoga instructor and fitness trainer who also created her own activewear clothing brand and boutique Kapalili Hawaii before deciding to open her small specialty beef shop to add more synergy to her health-oriented lifestyle brand.

“I wanted to introduce a meal that is healthy and full of protein, so I decided to open my own takeout business during the pandemic,” Yamanaka says.

Her menu is built on rice bowls layered with prime roast beef, USDA Black Angus tenderloin slow cooked at low temperatures to enhance the umami from the lean cuts.

The meat is cooked through to better appeal to Western taste, but remains tender and is presented in conical layers to resemble a volcano.

A regular beef bowl ($13.50) features a quarter pound of meat, while a large beef bowl ($20.95) includes a whopping pound of meat. There is also a salad bowl option ($15.95). For each custom bowl, you’ll pay $1 each for customized additions such as steak sauce and oroshi ponzu, 50 cents for garlic chips or horseradish, or $1.50 for truffle mashed potatoes. Those in the know will opt for a poached egg ($1.75) with an oozy, neba neba quality that adds to the volcano effect, though this “lava” runs yellow instead of red.

Given Western diners’ love of sauce, Yamanaka also developed specialty sauces to add to the gyudon experience. In addition to the traditional flavor of sukiyaki in a Japanese-style roast beef bowl ($15.95), there is a Korean bowl ($15.95) combining yakiniku and sweet-spicy gochujang sauces, and a Hawaiian bowl ($15.95) with a pineapple sauce. As much as I love Korean flavors, I was also drawn to the pineapple sauce because of its creamy, subtle quality. It wasn’t as sweet as one would expect.

Those on the run might opt for beef sushi rolls, five pieces for $11.95.

There’s also a sweet-savory 10-hour beef stew ($10.95), and if you’ve got the rest of dinner planned, you can order just the beef at $20.95 per half pound.

Open 5-8 p.m. daily. Call 808-650-8907.

Food: ***½
Service: ****
Ambiance: ***½
Value: ****

Cooke Street Market

725 Kapiolani Blvd., Honolulu

This Kakaako fixture is known for its poke and chicken bowls, udon and its offering of Uncle’s Ice Cream Sandwiches for dessert, but a closer read of the menu shows a trio of seared sirloin bowls.

At its most basic is the shoyu bowl of beef over rice ($14 for 4.5 ounces of beef/$18 for 6.5 ounces).

I love the intense flavor of the chimichurri bowl ($15/$19) with the beef accompanied by kimchi and cucumber sunomono.

There’s also a Korean bowl ($15.50/$19.50) with the beef enhanced by a miso-gochujang sauce.

There are a few seats to enjoy your bowls on the spot, with liquid refreshment in the form of slushes, regular and milk teas, flavored lemonades and coffee drinks.

Open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. Call 808-476-9953.

Food: ***½
Service: ***
Ambiance: ***
Value: ***½