Matsuya's Official X Names the Salt-based Green Onion Bowl Its 'Secret Ace' for Hot Days

On the night of July 23, Matsuya’s official X account posted that it has “been so hot lately it feels like melting,” and named the Salt-based Green Onion Bowl — “Matsuya’s secret ace” — as the bowl to crave at times like this. The post included the order call “One Salt-based Green Onion Bowl, coming up!” alongside a single photo of the bowl piled high with chopped green onion.

A Bold Push: Calling a Staple the ‘Secret Ace’

The Salt-based Green Onion Bowl is one of the menu staples the official X account has repeatedly featured since this spring. From the April launch announcement, to taste-test reports, to the discontinuation notice, and then the comeback announcement, it has appeared on the account many times over. This time, the account has attached the bold catchphrase “secret ace” — making this less a simple taste-test report and more a renewed push to draw attention back to it.

While the official account calls it the “Salt-based Green Onion Bowl,” its current official name on the Matsuya website is the Pork Loin Salt-based Green Onion Bowl. It’s a bowl topped generously with pork loin, vivid green chopped onion, and white sesame, finished with a mound of grated garnish in the center. The Regular Serving costs 630 yen (Small Serving 600 yen, Large Serving 850 yen). At 661 kcal for the Regular Serving, the aftertaste leans light despite the hearty appearance.

In the lower-left corner of the posted image is a small illustration of Macky, overcome by the heat and collapsed face-down. A knocked-off woven hat and a fish lie beside him — a playful touch that echoes the post’s talk of “feeling like melting” in the heat.

Original, Predecessor, Current: A Staple That Returned at a Lower Price

Menus bearing the name “Salt-based Green Onion Bowl” have been passed down over roughly the past year, changing name and content along the way. Tracing listings on the Matsuya official website, the predecessor, simply called “Salt-based Green Onion Bowl,” appeared on April 21 and was removed from listings on May 19. About a month and a half later, on June 30, it returned to the lineup as the Pork Loin Salt-based Green Onion Bowl. The official X account itself called for one last taste in May, saying sales would be “ending on a rolling basis,” then announced on June 26 that it would “make a comeback from 10:00 AM on June 30” — a timeline that lines up with the listing’s removal and return.

Going back further, before the predecessor “Salt-based Green Onion Bowl” there was the “Original Salt-based Green Onion Thick-cut Pork Short Rib Bowl,” which used pork short rib. The shift in the starring cut from short rib to loin is another feature of this generational change. As for pricing, the original was 690 yen for the Regular Serving and the predecessor “Salt-based Green Onion Bowl” was 730 yen, whereas the current Pork Loin Salt-based Green Onion Bowl is 630 yen. Returning 100 yen cheaper than its predecessor, it has settled at a price that lets it confidently call itself the “secret ace.”