There are many sanuki udon joints all around Tokyo. We visited this udon joint in Shinjuku. Sanuki udon are fat noodles characterised by their soft, silky exterior texture yet firm inside, a delicate balance that can be difficult to achieve. Its name, Sanuki is derived from its origin- a region in Kagawa Prefecture. The original Sanuki udon noodles were made from wheat grown in this region. (Now they make it with imported Australian wheat hurhur). The perfect udon noodle texture for me has to be firm, yet retains a slight soft chewiness, "QQ-ness" but not overly hard. If the noodles are not fresh, they become very hard and lose the chewy texture. It also hardens when cooked too long, and is not as enjoyable.
This joint offers a variety of udon in various cooking styles- hot, cold and in various soup bases and toppings. This is a so called "Self Service Udon" restaurant; you place your orders with the front counter, where they will cook your udon order on the spot. After which, you proceed to the tempura/ side dish counter where you can pick and choose your desired tempura fritters, accompanying side dishes and additional toppings (from 1oo yen onwards per item).
I ordered a hot udon soup with egg and tried their prawn and mix vegetable tempura. The noodles were absolutely divine; they were of the elusive perfect combination of silky soft chewy textures. I was very impressed by the udon served here and they were definitely slurp worthy!
Unfortunately, the tempura was a major disappointment. I would describe them as a cold, soggy mess and I'm not sure why it's that bad in this joint because other food joints were able to serve decent tempura that retains a certain degree of crispiness and flavour despite being left out in the open for some time.
Still, the udon here is perhaps one of the best I have tasted during my stay in Tokyo, sans tempura. So steer clear of tempura in this shop, just go for a bowl of plain udon and savour it's incredible texture!Thank you Wise Guy (RERG) for bringing me here!
Address: Nishi-Shinjuku, 7-9-15 Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Website: http://www.mentsu-dan.com/
The food looks great. I live close to a “little Tokyo” in the states and love getting these noodles here (quite nice actually … I may get some tonight thanks for the idea). How long have you been in Japan? Are you an expat?
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