📍Nara, Japan
A generous portion udon noodle shop 🍜🍤
Two days before the trip, I suddenly decided to visit Nara and found a udon shop with decent reviews on Google.
The shop is located in the indoor east-facing shopping street, and there's usually a line during meal times, with a rough ratio of half locals and half tourists. They do offer an English menu.
The interior decor gives off a very traditional Japanese vibe, with a long communal table in the middle, making the dining environment quite crowded.
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Order items:
🍤 Tempura shrimp udon (warm) (¥1,450):
The bowl served was extremely large! The portion of noodles was also very generous, and it's immediately understandable why the first few groups of Japanese girls couldn't finish their meals. 😆
The texture of the udon noodles was quite disappointing; although they were very thick—much thicker than regular udon—they lacked any chewy texture, resembling more of the texture of rice noodles. I'm confused as to why the reviews on Google praise the noodles for their chewiness.
The broth tasted overwhelmingly salty, and the saltiness was too high; as someone who enjoys broth, I couldn't finish it.
The tempura shrimp was passable; the shrimp weren't large, and the batter wasn’t overly greasy.
🍠 Cold yam udon (¥830):
The noodles had a bit more chewiness, but it still fell quite short of my expectations for delicious udon.
Once mixed, I could barely taste the yam, and the sauce also had an excessively high saltiness.
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Would I revisit? No!
It was a rather disappointing experience regarding the food, plus having to wait in line will keep me from returning. However, the service from the staff was very good.
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Note:
🔸 Cash only 💰
🍜 Affordable, large bowls, and delicious! Handmade, chewy udon noodles with great texture, and various fried snacks that are also tasty!
I stumbled upon this udon shop, hidden in an alley, and it seems the customers are mostly locals and office workers. The udon is made following traditional methods from Saitama, and you can tell right away that it’s different from the ones you find outside.
The menu has a lot of variety, including small portion sets that come with dessert, so there are quite a few female customers dining alone.
This time, I ordered the mushroom udon and a mini tempura don set. The mushroom dipping sauce was generous, and the chewiness of the noodles was really satisfying 😋 It came with sesame and nori, adding a lovely aroma when mixed halfway through.
The mini tempura don contained about five or six types of fried items, definitely not mini 😂 Paired with a sweet sauce, it was crispy yet refreshing, and it's hard to believe that you can get a bowl of udon for just an extra 300 yen!
If you love udon, you definitely have to give this place a try; it's completely different from chain stores - truly a place that values quality! Some reviews on Google Maps mentioned that you could pay by card, but when I asked in person, they only accepted cash (so I immediately ran next door to get money 🥹).
🍜 Queue for the Mentaiko Cream Udon! All-day big bowls with springy noodles at no extra charge.
In Shinjuku and Shibuya, you’ll often see long lines at this restaurant, but the Yokohama branch only has a short wait during busy dinner times, and it’s easy to get a seat at other times!
Inside, you order using a tablet, which offers multiple languages, making it quite convenient.
Their specialty is udon topped with whipped cream, which makes for great social media photos 😂. However, I didn’t particularly like it when I tried it before. This time, I ordered the curry rice + fried chicken + udon combo, which was a great deal at 1,430 yen. If you have a big appetite, you can choose to add more noodles at the same price.
Their udon has a very springy texture, which I really like. The accompanying curry rice only comes in a small bowl, but it has large, tender pieces of meat! The fried chicken comes with rose salt for dipping, and its exterior is on the softer side. The taste is ordinary, but it’s not too greasy, which is nice!
If you're interested in this place but don’t want to wait in line, I recommend heading to Yokohama!
Marugame Seimen at Carrefour Guilin is located on the fourth floor of the famous 24-hour Carrefour in Wanhua, although the food court is not open 24 hours.
The food court on the fourth floor of Carrefour Guilin has quite a few stores to choose from, and Marugame is among the most affordable.
Today I enjoyed the Nanban Fried Chicken Udon, priced at 159 NT dollars.
Nanban Fried Chicken Udon:
It is essentially Marugame's traditional udon topped with Nanban fried chicken. Combining these items into a standardized assembly-line meal isn't difficult.
Marugame's udon is really of high quality; the chewiness is just right, and the texture is very pleasant. The fried chicken is relatively large, with crispy skin and tender meat that is juicy.
As for the specialty sauce mentioned in the introduction... I didn’t really feel it.
The most distinctive part of Marugame is that, aside from the common offerings at the self-service bar, they also have tempura flowers available, which you must try for their crispy texture.
Overall, it's a chain udon restaurant with stable quality. The store is quite spacious, so I believe most of the time, you can dine comfortably without a crowd.
I recommend it to everyone.
🚩Bitan Plaza Basement - Economical Udon Noodle Shop
On holidays, we hiked at Bitan and Meishan, and after hiking, we didn't have the energy to walk far to find food. Besides the quite expensive scenic restaurants along the noodle river, the DCC Bitan Plaza, connected to Xindian MRT Station, also has several options to choose from. Bitan Plaza opened at the end of 2019, and the stores on the 2nd floor have already changed several times, while the Marugame Seimen on the basement floor has been in continuous operation for over three years, which suggests it has its unique advantages.
The ordering process starts with lining up at the cooking area on the right, ordering from the staff, and then pushing left to the counter for payment, accepting cash and credit card payments. (With the receipt from the neighboring PX Mart, you can upgrade from a regular bowl to a large bowl for free, saving 30 NT dollars.) After payment, you can head to the condiment area on the wall to add green onions and other seasonings. The dining area is shared with other shops, spacious, bright, and has plenty of seats, but many people occupy seats without ordering, so it's recommended to find a seat first.
Here are my impressions of the dishes:
Vegetable and Pork Udon Noodle: The udon noodles are chewy with a bit of Q texture, packed with plenty of vegetables and thin slices of pork, making it a very healthy combination. The broth has a bonito flavor, and you can add more after finishing, mild but not satisfying enough (too bland 🤨).
Teriyaki Chicken Don: Fried chicken pieces drizzled with sauce, topped with a soft-boiled egg and shredded nori. The sauce on the meat seems sweet, but it doesn't pair well; the rice is plain and doesn't have a salty sauce to go with it, just a bit mushy white rice. This dish wasn't very good, so I don't recommend it 😕.
NT$40 Upgrade to Soup Udon: The simplest udon noodles in a medium bowl + soup, purely to fill you up.
Fried Items: Okra, white fish, and squid, all pre-fried and kept, but the batter isn't too hard or too soft. Tasty in a plain way.
The dishes I ordered this time were quite basic and didn’t leave a deep impression, belonging to the type of place you might pass by but wouldn’t specifically come to eat. However, compared to several other shops around the basement, Marugame has more choices and reasonable prices. While we were dining, there was quite a long queue of customers, the kitchen delivered quickly, and the service attitude was very good, making it a conscientious shop.
It seems to be newly opened, and the information about the new branch is not very complete yet. Since it is a chain store, the quality is consistent. The environment is very clean and tidy. It operates on a self-service system, the prices are not expensive, and the noodles are very chewy.
The tomato chicken flavor has a rich broth and abundant ingredients.
It seems they have newly launched oden ingredients. However, after taking a look, I felt it was too expensive and didn’t want to try it.
Every time I come, I usually just order noodles.
There are green onions and fried food crumbs available as toppings. There are also options for seasonings like pepper.
The small downside of this place is that most of the seating is small two-person tables. The overall space of the restaurant is quite large, but the seats themselves are not very comfortable.
A friend happened to have a birthday coupon for buy one get one free on tofu skin udon, plus a choice of one fried item. This deal is really a great value, but I think the tofu skin is too sweet for my taste. I’m not a big fan of it. The udon, topped with a soft-boiled egg and green onions, is simple but very delicious. It definitely needs to be paired with my favorite fried chicken, sprinkled with pepper—it’s really amazing!
Osaka Honmachi - A locally famous udon shop, operating hours are in the morning (7-10 AM) and noon (11 AM-3 PM). Their specialty cold udon is truly delightful. The shop is small, and you need to stand and eat! You can add as much scallions and tempura flakes as you like!
Upon entering the shop, you're first guided to the counter to place your order. The display is filled with various fried items, and you can order them at the same time. You pay first (cash only) before finding a seat.
There were three of us, and we ordered the following items:
📍ABURI ¥900
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This is the most popular item on the menu! You can choose between warm or cold broth, with many locals recommending the cold broth version! On a hot midday, I was really glad to have ordered the cold noodles.
It looks very simple when it arrives, as the staff says you have to add your own soy sauce XD, suggesting to go around the bowl twice with the soy sauce (though I found it not salty enough and added another round, haha). The bowl is topped with two large slices of pork belly, each prepared with different flavors – one is boiled, and the other is seared, topped with yuzu pepper!
You add scallions and tempura flakes yourself, mixing it all together, much like Taiwanese dry mixed noodles!
The udon is wider and flatter, with a very chewy and bouncy texture that I fell in love with! The rich aroma of the yuzu pepper (which I found a bit salty) combined with the sweetness of the soy sauce makes the otherwise bland udon absolutely delicious! The fragrance of the scallions and the crispy texture of the tempura flakes elevate the whole dish even more!
No wonder this dish is highly recommended by locals in Japan! Highly recommend it!
📍Bomb no AB⚡DC (Ebi Dan) ¥950
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The noodles are called: かけうどん, which means simple udon soup that can be served warm or cold. The dipping sauce is called: 海老出汁キーマカレー, meaning shrimp broth curry.
This was ordered by a friend, and they chose the cold broth, which tastes somewhat like kombu and bonito broth. Eating the udon alone is quite plain, but the key is the dipping shrimp curry sauce! It really elevates the flavors!
The shrimp broth is packed with shrimp fragrance, and there are bits of spices that add to the texture. However, the shrimp sauce can get a bit heavy toward the end, so drinking some of the plain broth helps you prepare for the next bite! This is also a very unique dish! Highly recommend!
📍Niku Sudachi ¥950
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This was ordered by another friend, and they chose the warm broth. The main dish is beef udon, topped with lemon.
This dish tastes a bit strange! Because the lemon is in the hot broth, much of its aroma is lost, and the broth has a more sour taste, making the overall experience rather odd (it feels like the broth has gone bad XD). And having hot broth in the summer is quite warm; I wouldn’t recommend this dish!
📍Fried items (self-service)
🔹Korokke: Upon biting into it, I was surprised to find minced meat inside—much more substantial than just plain potato!
🔹Chikuwa: I thought this was just okay!
🔹Eggplant: It’s a generous piece, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, the eggplant tastes very sweet! Not bad.
(The prices are not written above, totaling ¥300.)
▶️ Environment
🔹The shop is small, with only 10 seats; there are no chairs, so you have to eat standing!
🔹There is space under the seats to place bags.
🔹There’s a sauce area in front, along with scallions and tempura flakes for self-service.
🔹There’s ice water available for self-service at the seats.
▶️ Overall Evaluation
🔹A very unique udon shop that I recommend visiting if you’re in Osaka! Unfortunately, you have to stand while eating, which doesn't enhance the experience. If the hot soup is served, it can be very hot, and you need to bend down to eat the noodles! The prices are reasonable, and I'd also recommend trying some fried items!
Osaka Tempozan - After visiting the Osaka Aquarium, we went to the nearby Tempozan shopping street to eat. This place was quite busy during lunch hours; we had three groups ahead of us and waited for about 20 minutes. After eating, we really felt that it was worth the wait!
📍 Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl ¥980
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The pork cutlet was marinated beforehand, so it was very flavorful. The meat was a bit firm and on the harder side, and the sauce was slightly salty. The miso soup served with it was not salty (with a hint of rice wine flavor), which I really liked!
📍 Special Udon ¥1500
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This is a mixed udon with a lot of different ingredients🤣, including fried chicken, fried shrimp, beef (beef offal), and an egg. I sincerely think the broth is amazing, with a nice bonito aroma, and it is not too salty.
Unfortunately, the fried items lost their crispiness after soaking in the soup🥹.
Additionally, the egg was completely raw, and mixing it in would leave uncooked egg white in the soup. If the egg white is not cooked, it can contain avidin, which can affect the absorption of the egg's nutrients. (Nutritional knowledge😆)
▶️ Environment
🔹 The restaurant is not large, with about 15 seats for dining
🔹 Ice water is provided (a water jug is placed nearby)
🔹 Utensils and chopsticks are self-serve at the table
🔹 There is a container of shichimi spice for seasoning
▶️ Overall Evaluation
🔹 The meal was of good quality! The udon broth is fantastic! It's perfect to come here for a meal after visiting the aquarium!
⚲ Bully Donburi Udon 🍴
· Atmosphere -
Located in an alley of Shilin Night Market, the space is small but has a warm feeling. There are several tables with children dining, making it a family-friendly restaurant.
They offer delivery, dine-in, and takeout options. Dine-in seating is limited, and there is an outdoor smoking area by the entrance. The menu has many dishes to choose from. I noticed the owner is running the place alone, so you may need to wait for your food, but the service attitude is quite good.
· Order -
Beef Donburi
Curry Fried Chicken Rice
Korokke (Croquette)
Overall, it's quite standard; unfortunately, the side dish with the curry was a bit simple (but for me, the portion was quite large, and I couldn't finish it towards the end). The two pieces of korokke were the most surprising; they were filled with sweet potato filling, giving a sweet and salty flavor, bursting with the sweetness of sweet potato—unexpectedly delicious! ✨ However, I noticed other tables ordered udon more frequently, so you might want to try that too.
