Udon Noodle House

Udon Noodle House is a cozy little restaurant located on one of the main streets in Roppongi, and we had to pass it everyday on our way to the train station. From its title you can easily guess what type of food they serve. The restaurant offers huge bowls of udon noodle soup with all kinds of fixings, and they roll up to the table piping hot – so hot, in fact, that when Sarah took a picture of me and her mom together, our faces were practically covered by the steam. We had to take at least four or five pictures before getting a decent shot. That was pretty funny.

Udon Noodle House was one of the first places I ate a meal with my girlfriend’s mother, so needless to say I was a little nervous. Having just met her for the first time in person a day before, I wanted to make a good impression. I had all kinds of concerns - don’t talk with your mouth full, wait for all the food to come before starting, don’t spill anything, use the chopsticks properly, don’t be a bumbling idiot…All these things were running through my head, but bottom line is I didn’t want to embarrass myself and play the role of the clueless American gaijin.

Still battling jetlag from the 18-hour flight and exhausted after a full day of amusement park rides at Tokyo Disneyland, I was focusing on completing some coherent sentences in conversation rather than analyzing the food at the table. I still was able to compose myself enough to take a few shots of the food, although I somehow forgot to take a picture of my own dish, which was a bowl of beef noodle soup.



I forget the exact names of the dishes, but one was essentially udon with an assortment of seafood and the other was udon in a vegetable broth with tempura on the side. We shared everything, and it was delicious, hearty, and surprisingly enjoyable even on a hot summer day in Tokyo. I can only imagine how much better it would have been in the middle of winter. The noodles had wonderful texture and were clearly made with great expertise. It’s amazing how a good noodle can sometimes save a crappy broth or sauce, but a good broth or sauce can never save a crappy noodle.