Waa Cow — gyu don, salmon mentai, prawn aburi (Burpple Beyond: $50++)!
Waa Cow Marina Bay 3-course set via Burpple Beyond: gyu don with onsen egg, salmon mentai don, prawn aburi don. Karma drinks pairing. $50++.
Dinner with BB. Waa Cow 3-course set via Burpple Beyond, $50++. 😋👍🏼
What was on the table:
- Beef gyu don with onsen egg + ikura: sliced beef stewed in sweet shoyu over rice, the orange runny yolk crowned with orange tobiko pearls, scallion scatter, fluted ceramic bowl
- Salmon mentai don: raw salmon sashimi with mentaiko mayo drizzle and tobiko, scallion garnish
- Prawn aburi don (smaller bowl): torched prawn with the same mentai-tobiko treatment
- Karma drinks: red grapefruit + Lemmy lemonade bottles on the side
Waa Cow is the affordable wagyu donburi chain that opened in 2017, with outlets at Marina Bay, Plaza Singapura and NUS. Pitch: Japanese rice bowls at $13-$18 base, with a Burpple Beyond promo turning multi-bowl orders into a steal. Their MO is the volcano-style aburi torch finish on most dons, the visual hook that gets them on every food Instagram.
The gyu don here is built on thin-sliced ribeye, simmered Japanese style with shoyu, mirin, sake and ginger. The onsen egg is the centrepiece: cooked at 65°C until the white just sets while the yolk stays liquid. Pierce it and the yolk binds with the beef tare and rice. Ikura (salmon roe) adds salty pops, a more premium garnish than your usual gyu don.
The salmon mentai treatment is the Waa Cow signature. Mentaiko (spicy cured pollock roe) + Japanese mayo, blow-torched briefly to caramelise. Pair with the raw salmon below and the texture goes from cool-soft (sashimi) to warm-creamy (mentai) in one bite.
Karma drinks pairing: red grapefruit cuts through the rich mentai, lemonade resets between bowls. Fair-trade soda from the UK, fits the cafe-aesthetic the brand projects.
At $50++ for a 3-bowl set with drinks via Burpple Beyond, this is excellent value. A la carte the same spread runs $55-$70 before service.
Overall: 4.5 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Strong Waa Cow run. The gyu don’s onsen + ikura combo was the standout, the salmon mentai was the close second. Would re-book through Burpple.
