Showing posts sorted by relevance for query udon. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query udon. Sort by date Show all posts

Friday, April 04, 2008

CLOSED/japanese: i strongly recommend TENPURA SANUKI UDON



TENPURA SANUKI UDON

CLOSED!
16, Song Shou Rd, B1
(02) 8788-3099

website: aubergine.com.tw/tenpura

hours:11:30 am- 9:30 pm

$$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs, only booths/tables.

Visit reviewed: 2/29/2008 and 3/16/2008

In a city full of noodles everywhere, why would you choose to eat a bowl of udon? One of my favorite things to eat is a pile of cold udon noodles alongside hot crispy tempura shrimp and vegetables (or on a cold day, a bowl of udon with tempura) - sounds basic, but it can be made extremely well or disappointingly average- sort of like the barometer of the dishes overall at a Japanese restaurant.



I had seen signs for Tenpura Sanuki Udon at the Vieshow (aka formerly Warner Village) for awhile, but didn't make the effort to try it out until recently. Luckily, I did because it offers freshly made udon, served in an array of ways, that is wayyyy better than the average bowl you'd find in most food courts or even Japanese restaurants. It's on the side of the Vieshow Village building, in the alley between Neo 19 and Vieshow.



The menu is only in Chinese and Japanese, but there are plenty of pictures. They have cold and hot udons (NT$220-290) with various broths and options. If you can't make up your mind, you can try a sampler set with three small bowls of udon (NT$330) that features a cold noodle w/ egg, a udon soup with tempura shrimp and another udon soup with different broth. There's also various rice bowls and appetizers, salads and hot pot available.



The result of the freshly made udon is that the noodle is chewier or more QQ than your average noodle. I think there is even a viewing window upstairs (though I haven't seen them make it.) I personally like QQ, but the cold udon in the tenzaru could be too chewy for some.

The setting is stark and modern with lots of booths and tables in the basement floor. It's moderately busy during lunch and dinner and empties out during non-rush hours.



They serve a cold winter melon cube as a starter while your udon is "made to order" as the server explains.



The crab salad (NT$140) is quite refreshing too, with lots of corn, tomatoes and a japanese dressing.



The agedashi fried tofu (NT$100) is another option as a starter.



You can choose to order the tempura with a side of udon or get the udon pot. I personally like my tempura crispy and not soggy, like the tempura shrimp that comes in the soup in the pot. You also get fried vegetables like pumpkin, eggplant and shiitake mushroom with the non-pot option. The broth is also really flavorful yet light.




The meal ends with a small bowl of hot red bean soup- it's very sweet, so I can only have a few bites.

Tenpura Sanuki Udon is a great spot when you feel like a bowl of hot (or cold) noodles, or an alternative to the Western eateries in the Vieshow/Neo 19 area or foodcourt before you catch a movie. Before trying out this place, I actually trekked across town to find a good bowl of udon (based off a review my friend read) to be sorely disappointed by a soggy and sad bowl of udon that I couldn't even finish (to be reviewed).

BTW- if you ever want to learn more about udon making or see an amusing movie, you can look for a Japanese movie called UDON which I saw on a plane last year. It made me appreciate a good bowl of udon that much more and learn a little bit about Sanuki udon craze.

Monday, October 22, 2012

japanese/noodles: i strongly recommend FU YU WU SANUKI UDON





FU YU WU SANUKI UDON 
富玉屋 讚歧烏龍麵 
No. 14, Lane 83, DaAn Rd, Sec. 1 
大安區大安路一段83巷14號 
(02)2778-5255

MRT: ZhongXiao/DunHua

website: wanpan.tw

hours: 11:30AM - 2:30PM / 5:30PM - 10PM

$$ (cash only)

Kid friendliness: lots of options for udon loving kids to eat. no high chairs spotted

Visit reviewed: 9/25/2012




Sanuki udon is made daily at this cute udon shop tucked in the alley between Lao Yo Ji and Rakumenya Ramen. Opened in May 2012, Fu Yu Wu Sanuki Udon takes over the corner that used to be Kitaro


I haven't had good udon since my previous Xinyi District favorites Jika Udon and Tenpura Sanuki Udon had closed down. So I was pretty excited to try this with my cousin.


The open dining room has seating mostly for couples and small groups, and is brightened by the distinctive graphic patterns decorating the columns and walls. Looking over the menu, we kept talking about how we could bring our dads (or my grandma) here. It was also a good sign that the customers behind me were speaking Japanese.


The menu is only in Chinese and Japanese (unfortunately no English menu), but has photos of their prime attractions- the bowls of hot and cold udon. The sets run from NT$280-500 with the options of ordering ala carte or pricier hotpot, as well a business lunch set at NT$180. With each set, you get a choice of appetizer (steamed egg, soft poached egg, tempura or salad), udon and on weekdays, they include dessert. There are some distinct cold udons, including one in a sweet tomato bonito broth, and about four different hot variations to choose from. We were hungry so we decided on sharing two of the NT$500 sets, which allowed us to pick udons from any set and get full sized shrimp or chicken combo tempuras, as well as an appetizer and dessert.


Giant spoon to help you get your noodle on later.


A small bite size starter arrives promptly- the first day was sweet burdock slivers. Another day a small cube of sauced cold tofu.


Set menu appetizer options are steamed egg (chawanmushi), soft boiled egg or side salad. Give me a soft boiled poached egg anyday! I thought about dipping my udon in this and mixing it up, but I ended up just enjoying the lightly sauced slippery egg in a few slurps. 


Runny egg deliciousness!


The cold udon came out first, long strands tangled atop a light woven basket. 


Loved the chewiness of the cold udon at the first bite. Too bad it didn't come on ice like the photo, but it was still very QQ.


The dipping soy sauce comes with chopped green onions and grated radish and tiny dash of ginger. It would have been nice to have a tad of wasabi too as a choice.


The NT$500 set that we ordered came with a choice of shrimp and vegetable tempura or fried chicken with vegetable and we ordered one of each to share. Super crispy and hot, the shrimp had panko crumbs while the vegetables had a sheer coating for the tempura. So good!


I was surprised to see the Japanese beef noodle udon that my cousin ordered was much like a Taiwanese style clear broth beef noodle soup. The flavor was good, but very light and the noodles were quite soft, bordering on mushy, in contrast to the al dente chewiness of the cold noodles. We did eat the cold noodles before touching the hot noodles, so it's possible that the noodles absorbed too much soup while we were busy.


I preferred the cold noodles over the beef noodle soup since the soup noodles were much softer and the beef was a tad tough. I didn't finish my half of the bowl. Next time I'd probably try the curry udon or the pork slices instead for a hot udon or the salad cold udon.



So crispy. Crunch crunch. Devoured. Half a mushroom, plenty of sweet potato and pumpkin and four pieces of fried chicken.



The set dessert was a small panna cotta with what I thought was the typical caramel sauce, but was actually a refreshing peach flavor. 


I came back a week after my first visit and tried the cold tomato broth udon (NT$300) with the vegetable tempura cluster, or yasai kakiage. There was actually a lot of crunchy slivers of vegetables woven into the compact deep fried goodness. And at first bite, my tastebuds didn't know what to do with the sweet, cold, tart flavors of the tomato broth udon, but the bowl was a surprising joy to eat.

Monday, June 10, 2013

japanese/food court: i recommend MARUKAME UDON at A8




MARUKAME UDON
(or MITSUKOSHI A8 UDON & TEMPURA BAR)
丸龜製麵-新光三越A8館
at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi A8
No. 12, Song Gao Rd, B2
台北市信義區松高路12號B2
 (02)2729-1658

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: Marukame's corporate site or Marukame's Taiwan FB site

hours: 11 AM- 9:30PM

$-$$ (about NT$150-300/person)

Kid friendliness: lots to choose from including rice triangles and fried veggies in disguise. Self serve food court seating. A8 also has high chairs available to use, usually in an area near Mcdonald's

Visit reviewed: 5/20/2013


The last time I saw lines this long at a food court was for Taipei's new tsukemen spot at the Hankyu Mall... but despite my disappointing experience the last time, I wanted to give the new sanuki udon spot at Xinyi Mituskoshi's A8 foodcourt a try. I saw the crazy lines on a Sunday and thought it would be less busy on a weekday, but I was wrong. Monday lunchtime was still about a 20-30 minute wait. I'd advise showing up early when the mall opens around 11AM if you want less of a wait. I saw lines even at 3-4PM in the afternoon.




After the ramen craze last year, with the openings of Ippudo and Santouka to lines of up to two hour wait times (or so I heard), everyone is looking for the new thing. I'm a bit surprised it's udon, with the relatively quick closures of previous tasty sanuki udon favorites in the area- Tenpura Sanuki Udon and Jika Udon- which both were busy at first, but eventually flustered at Vieshow.



While waiting in line and deciding what to order, you can spy the busy chefs making the sanuki udon  and frying the tempura vegetables and shrimp to keep up with the orders. It's cafeteria style, grab a tray and plates, order what kind of udon you'd like, grab it, pick out your tempura and then pay at the cashier at the end.






I end up ordering the Ontama Bukkake (NT$119 for large/NT$89 for medium bowl) because it's one of the few cold udon options.. Most of them are hot, including the plain soup udon in a wooden bucket. The Ontama Bukkake comes with a soy sauce and dashi broth and a soft boiled egg atop (which I asked to be on the side). There's about 12 udons to choose from- I was also tempted by the pork tonkatsu broth, spicy pork tonkatsu broth or the curry udon.


It takes a a minute or two for them to cook, scoop and assemble your bowl, but there are still people in front of you in line deciding on their fried options and paying, so just wait and watch the chefs.


Next up is the self serve tempura bar, perfect for those that have wished for more shrimp and less eggplant in their tempura set orders. Grab a plate (or two if you are getting food for your friend who is saving seats for you), and you can pick up however many pieces and whatever you want, paying by piece (NT$25-35 each). This concept works especially well when it's busy- since the turnover is high and the pieces are coming hot out of the oil. There's nothing worse than cold, soggy tempura.

I saw some people who just grabbed 2 pieces, or you could pile on a plateful (like I did) and end up paying about the same price that I would for a sit down ten zaru set.


There's even onigiri rice triangles (with mentaiko, tuna or beef) and inari sushi pieces at the end if you are especially hungry.



Of course, there's a DIY condiments bar, including toppings like chopped spring onions or tempura batter crumbs (aka tanuki) to finish off your bowl. At the very least be sure to grab some chopsticks and spoons.


Finally get to sit down and eat!


Two pieces of shrimp tempura, a vegetable tempura kakiage, pumpkin and green bell pepper (about NT$150). Hot and crispy, perfectly battered- not too thick or overfried.


And the udon is awesomely chewy, in long ribbons to use your teeth to bite into sections, though the noodles get saltier the longer they sit in the sauce. Next time, I'd definitely ask it for it on the side to dip, or get the pork broth, though I usually find the cold udon more refreshing during the summer.

Besides Japan and Taipei, Marukame (or Marugame) Udon's website lists its other branches in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Thailand, Russia(?!) and Hawaii.


So udon vs ramen? What's your pick? Would you wait half an hour for food court udon and tempura, or just go to the less busy stand around the corner?

:)