🚩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
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
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
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘
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
🌕🌕🌕🌘🌑
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
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
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
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘
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.
A udon shop located on the second floor of the Unloading Link Square. The ordering style is to purchase a meal ticket from the vending machine at the entrance. The menu includes unusual options like udon topped with extravagant whipped cream, but I opted for the standard bukkake udon. The noodles are tastier than I expected. However, the broth lacks umami, or impact, really. There is no soy sauce on the table, so I can't customize it to my liking. It's a pity because the noodles are delicious.
The bowl of soup udon noodles with a soft-boiled egg comes with a self-service sauce area where you can choose free toppings to mix and match. There are green onions, minced garlic, minced ginger, and tempura flakes available to add. Paired with deep-fried food, it’s really great. This time, I ordered fried chicken and white ribbon fish. The fried chicken has a crispy coating, the meat is very tender and juicy, and the fish meat of the white ribbon fish is also very delicate. Sprinkling some pepper enhances the flavor perfectly!
The long-established udon shop voted No. 1 by residents in the Fujiyoshida area, with a traditional taste that has been in business for 40 years.
"Yoshida's Udon" is a specialty of the Fuji Yoshida area. In the past, due to the prosperity of the textile industry, men's hands made extremely thick and hard-tasting noodles.
I just happened to come to Fujiyoshida, so I checked the local official tourist information website and decided to go to this number one famous store.
It feels very special and a little warm when everyone is sitting in the shop eating noodles 😂 Ever since the establishment, we have used the miso soy sauce soup base made locally in Fujiyoshida, or the water flowing out of Mount Fuji~
This time I had the signature "Meat Udon" for ¥550 in a medium portion, which is the most standard combination of "noodles, horse meat, and cabbage". The gentle taste is very similar to what you would eat at home😂 I highly recommend adding some. hot! good smell! (I like it spicier, so please add more if you like)
Neihu District, Taipei - A specialty of exquisite udon noodles, with a variety of soups and meats to choose from. The set meal comes with dessert, chawanmushi and a drink.
📍Thai hot and sour shrimp and clams udon (set meal) NT$270
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
The soup tastes a little spicy, not too sour, and there are three fresh shrimps. There are also three clams, and the overall portion is okay. The udon noodles are chewy and not too soft.
The ingredients are rich, including half a soft-boiled egg, 1 fish plate, 1 oden, 1 corn shoot, 2 fungus, 1 pumpkin, 1 crab stick, and 1 Qingjiang vegetable.
Package includes the following:
🔹Chawanmushi: A little salty, but there is a clam in it, and the egg tastes very fresh and sweet.
🔹Brown sugar sesame tofu: Brown sugar is a little sweeter, but sesame tofu tastes very dense. I love this dessert!
🔹Drinks - Rose tea: It is very common to brew it with tea bags.
📍Yam milk, fresh chicken, udon noodles (a la carte) NT$190
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘
The soup doesn't taste like yam, it just tastes like milk. The soup is not very rich, nor is it too oily, so it's quite refreshing. Other ingredients are as above
▶️ Environment
🔹The interior space is quite large, with a total of about 5~6 tables for four, 1~2 tables for two, and 2 tables and chairs.
🔹The decoration style is wooden and Japanese, bright, clean and comfortable
🔹Mai tea is available for self-pickup
🔹Self-pickup of tableware
🔹There is a side dish available for NT$40 per plate, pay after pickup
▶️ Thoughtful reminder
🔹After entering the store, find a seat, go to the counter to get the menu and pen, after finishing writing, go to the counter to order, and check out first
🔹You can use LINE Pay and Jiekou Pay
🔹You can take the chopsticks and tableware by the way, and the spoon will come with the meal, so you don’t need to take it.
▶️ Overall evaluation
🔹 This udon restaurant in Neihu has been open for more than a year. The environment is clean and simple, the udon noodles are average, and the set menu is very recommended. Even Gao Jiayu likes to eat there XD. However, the overall price is on the high side. I will choose this place when I need to have a dinner I usually don’t come here specially to eat.