marugame seimen

Back 2021, we tried Marugame Seimen's udon bento, back then you could choose between 2 item, 3 item or their special.

These days their udon bento has 2 tenpura or ebi ten (shrimp) or kashiwa ten (chicken)

I picked up their kashiwa ten udon bento...590 yen (tax included)

they also came out with udonuts (udon donuts)....300 yen for 5 pieces)

This is made with their udon, I envisioned it being more like Okinawan andagi but these were so soft!

They come in two flavors, sugar or curry....curry is quite spicy and not sweet at all. Sugar is a super fine brown sugar, delicious.

Grab a bag from the cafeteria like line.

Scoop your choice of flavor before paying.

Shake it up when you get home.

You can also take a skewer to eat them with.

(sugar)

(curry)

I would get these again.

shake udon

Last Tuesday, Marugame Seimen came out with these cold shake type udon.

They come in these tall cups with udon, sauce and toppings, you shake them then eat them out of the cups.

There are 5 types, ume oroshi (ume, daikon oroshi and wakame), mentaitororo (mentaiko, tororo (grated chinese yam), cut nori), pirikara tantan (tantan nikumiso (spicy pork), cut nori), sesame sauce salad  (salad ingredients and sesame dressing), pirikara tantan salad (spicy pork, salad ingredients, sesame dressing)

I chose the pirikara tantan salad...740 yen (tax included).

Be sure to check the lid before shaking and if possible, shake over the sink, just in case..

After shaking or maybe I didn’t shake them enough, the noodles kind of stayed clumped, so I thought it might be hard to eat from the cup.

So I poured everything out into a bowl instead.

I loved the spicy pork and the slightly sweet sesame dressing.

I would get this again, but wouldn't recommend eating this version as a take out.

I think maybe the others might be easier to eat as take out since they have less toppings. 

friday

Friday we met up with Satoshi's friend O.

Since he could meet us from 14:00 for lunch, we had something small to tide us over...a medium boiled egg with furikake.

Lunch (number 2) was at Konpira Chaya...an udon shop whose most popular dish is beef curry udon.

I ordered their tomato beef curry udon which came with some parmesan cheese.

Super filling with a nice amount of spices.

Satoshi ordered his “spicy” and was perspiring profusely after eating his beef curry udon with a raw egg.

From Meguro we walked to Ebisu (only a station away).

Super skinny driving school building.

I've only seen this building from the front, as the Yamamoto train passes it, so it was cool to see it from the side.

Mask up!

It was amazing to learn how close stations along the Yamanote line are from each other.

Through Ebisu Garden Place, past the Baccarat chandelier.

We stopped in at San Tropez where O and Satoshi had glasses of wine and I had a blood orange mint soda…so good!

After talking story we said our goodbyes and walked to Nakameguro to catch the train home.

12221, it was nice to meet up with O and we hope to meet up again next year.

We'll be back to Konpira Chaya too.

Thanks for making time for us O!

Konpira Chaya

3-3-1 Kamiosaki

Shinagawa, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3441.2491

Open daily 11:00-23:30

ps you may or may not have heard about the deadly fire in Osaka on Friday.

The building was quite old so it may not have had any alarms or sprinklers.

Most died of carbon monoxide poisoning. 

The building was near Umeda, a place where we often went to when we lived there.

Hope they caught the guy and we pray for the families of those lost.

marugame seimen

Back in April when we went to Kyoto, we tried Marugame Seimen's udon bento.

For the bento toppings you can choose from 2 items, 3 items,  or their special bentos which have toppings like tori ten (fried chicken) or shrimp tempura.

It also comes with some kinpira & tamagoyaki.

The udon is bukkake (pour over) style, so the sauce comes in a little bag.

I tried the 2 item in April and it was delicious.

The bento came with some kakiage and chikuwa tempura.

Their summer bentos have daikon oroshi (grated radish).

This particular bento had tori ten (fried chicken) and a ponzu sauce.

Everything is packed after you order, so the fried items were still crisp when we got home...(actually MIL's is only 5 minutes away walking, so maybe it is a biased opinion...)

We don't have a Marugame Seimen nearby where we live in Tokyo, so this has been a nice change of pace for us when we are in Kyoto.

Marugame Seimen

Vivre Kitaoji, 1F

Kita, Kyoto

Hours: 10:00-20:00

Closed when Vivre is

daisaku

I love the local cable channel because they have a show that shares info on restaurants and events in our area.

One restaurant that was featured was Daisaku.

A tiny udon shop that opened in 2017 apparently the owner studied under a well known (but unfamiliar to me) shop in Kanagawa.

I ordered the hiyashi tomato udon.

A cold dish served with lots of tomato sauce, shiso, green onions and a little eggplant and some tsuyu (udon sauce).

The dish is also served with two pieces of toriten (fried chicken).

I liked that you could squeeze some lemon and you could also add some chili flakes.

Satoshi ordered the Daisaku udon which came with a fried tofu filled with mochi, shrimp tempura, kamaboko, ume, shiso and I'm not sure what else because Satoshi ate it so fast! and drank all the soup!

We'll be back to try the other items on their menu.

Daisaku
1-18-7 Kamata
Ota, Tokyo
Phone: 050.1185.2015
Closed Wednesdays
Hours: 11:30-14:00 (lunch), 17:30-21:00 (dinner)

me time

I often have a lot of me time, but recently I've had more than usual.

Satoshi has been helping with a little league tournament, and he's had drinking thingies with various school baseball alumni so he's been MIA many weeknights and the past two weekends.

Anyway, since the ume was blooming at Hattori Ryokuchi, I decided to check it out on Saturday.

Finding where the ume was blooming in the park was tricky as the map of the park does not specifically indicate "ume forest" or anything like that.

So I was walking towards the Japanese garden where I thought it might be but stumbled upon the trees in their "round flower bed" area....

Click on this photo to see the short video.

It was definitely nice to get out and about.

Especially since we've had dreary rainy weather and the temps dropped back down to single digits.

Even with the sun out, the wind was still very icy.

The weather dude says that we will have warmer "almost summer-like" temps next week...which I hope he is wrong because the sakura (cherry blossoms) will start blooming and then we really will nose dive into summer...

Lunch was at Zenigata.

The only thing I order here is their keema curry udon.

I forgot how spicy it was...and it is still delicious.

Almost halfway through March...too fast!

udon bo

Recently tried Udon Bo.

Their main shop is in Takamatsu, Shikoku and they also have a shop in Umeda (Osaka).

There is always a line for this place but the seating moves fast.

They ask you to pre-order when you stand in line and when you are seated, your order comes out piping hot.

Satoshi had their curry udon while I chose the Olive Pork Tsukemen.

Thinly sliced pork belly, the pork is raised in Shodoshima, which is known for olives.

The soup is shoyu based rich and garnished with slightly fried eggplant, thinly sliced ginger, green onion and sesame seeds.

Satoshi said his curry was super spicy, but super delicious...boy, was he perspiring like crazy!

I really enjoyed my choice, though I want to try their cold noodles next time.

We'll be back.

Udon Bo
Osaka Ekimae Dai-San Building B2F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6458.5518
Hours: 11:00-21:00 (Weekdays), 11:00-20:00 (Saturdays), 11:00-16:00 (Sundays)

udon kichi

Two Sundays ago, after doing our o-soji (New Years cleaning), we had lunch at Udon Kichi.

I had their niku kasu udon while Satoshi had their curry udon with a side order of rice.

While we were waiting for their food, I noticed that they had a new item on their menu...mazemen (mah-zay-men).

"Maze" means to stir and "Men" is noodle.

I have seen mazemen around on the web, and most look quite spicy.

So, on Wednesday, which was a holiday, Satoshi and I went back for lunch.

I ordered the mazemen...800 yen and he ordered the curry udon with a side order of rice.

Atop the udon is the spicy meat topping, a dollop of what I think was kochujang, a raw egg yolk, some chives, green onion, strips of nori, as well as thin chili strips.

I don't think anyone has ever instructed me to "stir everything until the noodles turn red"...whoa?!

So I did...

And it did turn reddish...This was so good!

Sweet, salty and spicy...super addicting!

As I was eating, I realized that I would have leftover meat topping...so I asked for a "shime-gohan" this is a bowl of rice to end the meal, usually when you have soup or something like that...plus 50 yen.

On the piping hot rice was a little more meat topping and green onions.

And then I was instructed to "dump it in and mix it well"

So I mixed...

I was (super full) but so glad I ordered the extra rice.

It would've been a shame to waste all that good topping...

I think this is going to be my new fave here.

udon kichi

The weather is weird...humid switching to cool, rainy then sunny.

Talk about the body having a hard time keeping up.

Lunch on Sunday was at Udon Kichi but at their other shop on the other side of our train station.

I ordered the same thing, tori ten bukkake udon.

But the one that came out this time was "true" chicken tempura.

I have feeling the other shop topped my udon with karaage (a fried chicken).

The chicken tempura was super light and crisp, the meat was still very tender and moist.

We like this shop because it is larger.

We'll be back to both!

Udon Kichi (East Exit Shop)
2-4-2 Ishibashi
Ikeda, Osaka
Phone: 072.761.3433
Closed Mondays

udon kichi

The past couple of days have been super hot!

I think the weather dude said that we're having July temps...gah!

and we haven't even started rainy season yet...

Sunday we had lunch at Udon Kichi.

I'm glad they have some "cold" items on their menu.

I ordered the fried chicken bukkake udon.

The chicken was so crisp and the insides still tender!

The grated ginger and daikon give everything a nice zing when mixed with the sauce.

I am definitely ordering this again!

What are you enjoying these days?

udon kichi

Satoshi stumbled upon a relatively new udon shop in our shopping arcade called Kichi.

The owner has high standards about the type of noodles, soup...everything he serves.

Osaka is known for 3 types of foods...okonomiyaki, takoyaki & udon.

The dashi (broth) used in Osaka is said to make or break the dish and is considered light by many standards.

Another thing that Osaka udon is known for is the use of abura kasu (literally oil/fat bits).

You may be familiar with tenkasu, these are bits that come from the tempura batter.

Abura kasu is the fat from an animal that is fried.

I ordered the niku kasu udon...850 yen (tax included).

At Udon Kichi, they use the small intestines from pork...fried up they taste like chicharrons.

I liked the chew they had when it soaked up the dashi and the sweet-salty flavor of the thinly sliced beef.

Everything was nicely balanced.

The noodles are thinner than most udon places but I liked that it was easy to eat (since I'm still not very good with chopsticks).

Satoshi ordered the Stamina Omori Udon...850 yen (tax included).

Tamago toji (egg swirled into the soup), some seasoned beef, some tenkasu, and some sliced garlic.

They were giving a larger portion of noodles free this day, so he ordered his dish "omori".

He enjoyed this.

The dashi (broth) is definitely what makes their dishes so good!

Even if Satoshi is watching his salt, it was hard for him to stop drinking the soup.

The place is small(less than 10 seats?!), also, they make each dish after it is ordered so be prepared to wait.

We'll be back.

Udon Kichi
1-11-3 Ishibashi
Ikeda, Osaka
Phone: 072.747.5462
Hours: Lunch 11:30-15:00, Dinner 17:30-23:30 (if they run out of soup, then they close)

tsurutontan top chefs

It had been awhile since we ate at Tsurutontan, so we recently had lunch there.

Satoshi went with their Mochibuta Curry Udon. Mochibuta is a brand name of pork that is supposed to be of high quality.

He enjoyed this...doesn't it look like a pool filled with curry?

What amazes me is that he never fails to order a hot dish on a hot day, perspiring all the while eating.

Me, I always go for the chilled or cold items.

Like this 30-item salad udon.

Sesame dressing and a little dollop of kochujang (I think). Tons of veggies.

I'm glad this place is still around...we'll be back.

playing tourist (day 1)

Our family friend, D is visiting from Hawaii, so this past Sunday, I tagged along and played tourist with him and his friends.

Our first stop was Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. It had been ages since I had been there that I really didn't remember visiting it.

Before exploring the shrine, we stopped into Oumi-ya for lunch.

If you are near an Inari shrine what better food to have than inarizushi, right?!

We had the kitsune udon and inarizushi set...the day was overcast and kinda icy, so this was perfect.

After lunch we explored the shrine.

Tons of torii (gateways). These are all donated by businesses as well as families. The size of the torii depends on the donation.

To get to the top of the mountain, you need to climb a LOT of stairs.

There was a hiking club that was there and boy were those seniors speedy!

<

And then we headed to Arashiyama.

What a treat it was to see a rainbow! definitely a rarity in Osaka.

Since it was Sunday, we met Satoshi after his German class.

Everyone was feeling a bit peckish, so we popped into Koro-kaki for a little something.

I had the black bean warabi mochi.

This cafe is located in a very old Japanese house. So old that their bathroom is located outside...ahem!

In fact, Satoshi explained that old Japanese houses didn't have hallways, so to get from one room to another you had to go out of the house to the room you wanted to get to...whoa?!

Which explained why the owner kept coming from outside to serve the different tables...

<

Then after the sun set, we walked to an area that was participating in a light up called "Hanatouro".

Satoshi and I had checked this out in 2006 but my photos didn't come out too nice then. I remember it being darker, not as lit up, I must say it has gotten better!

Despite the icy winds and rain, it was a nice way to spend a Sunday with friends.

Oumi-ya
82-4 Fukasa inari onmae-cho
Fushimi, Kyoto
Phone: 075.641.2009

Koro-kaki
Next door to Rakushisha
Arashiyama, Kyoto
Phone: n/a

sanku

The other day Satoshi had an appointment so we grabbed a quick bite at Sanku.

Satoshi went with the large udon (380 yen) topped with aburage (100 yen)...look at the size of that thing! Satoshi chose to have hot soup poured over his.

I chose the small udon (280 yen) topped with meat (100 yen). I chose to have my noodles cold (no soup) and drizzled a little shoyu on top.

The meat was simmered in a sweet-salty sauce and it was also served with grated daikon and half a sudachi (a type of lime).

The food was good and the price was quite nice on the pocket too.

This place is open really early, so if you're ever in this area, check them out for breakfast!

We'll be back.

Sanku
2-150-1 Fukushima
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.6455.6613
Hours: 7:00-10:00, 11:00-14:00
Closed Sundays & Holidays

kamatake udon

Lunch the other day was at Kamatake Udon. It was our first time here and they specialize in Sanuki Udon, a specialty of Kagawa, Shikoku.

In fact, the owner is said to have been the first to bring Sanuki Udon to Osaka.

I ordered the Kimura-kun (kim chee, ra-yu) Hiyashi (cold) Udon...880 yen. Cold udon noodles, topped with spicy meat, kim chee, cucumber, spicy ra-yu (chili oil) and a sweet creamy sesame dressing...the noodles have a nice chew to them and the spicy, sweet and salty flavors are addicting!

Satoshi went with the Niku Curry Udon...1050 yen. His udon came with a tempura-ed soft boiled egg and takenoko (bamboo shoot). There was also some sukiyaki grade beef as well as gyu-suji (beef nerfs).

There were other items we'd like to try on their menu...we'll be back.

Kamatake Udon
Yodobashi Camera Umeda 8F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6359.9056
Hours: 11:00-22:30

zenigata

The weather has been quite dreary, kind of cold, with showers here and there.

While it is not perfect weather to be out and about, it is perfect for curry udon.

Yesterday, we headed out to check out the curry udon at Zenigata.

This tiny shop near the Hankyu Hattori station serves sanuki-style udon. Sanuki-style is a firmer noodle. They also make a thinner noodle too, so if you like your noodles on the thinner side, just ask.

Be prepared to wait for your food, everything is made after you order. It is a great time to take in all the rules the owner has, like "no smoking" and his sign that explains how everything is made from scratch so you need to wait for your food.

You can also take in all the photos of famous locals that have eaten there and introduced his shop on their television shows.

I had my eye on their keema curry udon....1000 yen.

A bowlful of freshly made udon topped with spicy keema curry. They aren't kidding about it being spicy! My mouth was "on fire" from the start.

It made me cough, it also made my nose run, but it also made me want to eat more.

Satoshi went with their curry udon set...1100 yen.

Their curry udon is a little different from their keema curry. It is a Japanese style curry with just a touch of heat, which is "diluted" with a savory and very flavorful fish dashi (stock).

I liked the taste of his broth. Perfect for the nip that was in the air that day.

We agreed we would go back on a weekday to check out other items on their menu...we'll be back.

Zenigata
2-2-21 Hattorinishi-machi
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6862.9090
Open: 11:30-15:00, 17:30-22:00
Closed Wednesdays and the 3rd Tuesday of every month