HOW TO TRY TOKYO’S FAMOUS WIDE UDON W/O A QUEUE

Back again with another hidden gem! This time it’s in Tokyo!

The WIDEST udon at Godaime Hanayama Udon Ginza in Tokyo is trending all over social media. I did not want to wait for 2 hours or more because I was in Tokyo for 2.5 days.

I came across this new restaurant on a Japanese food influencer page selling the same famous wide udon originated from Kiryu City, Gunma that just opened in Q4 2023 so I had to try out! I would highly recommend coming here if you are visiting Ikebukuro in Tokyo and want to try wide udon without the queue.

Himokawa-Kiryu Udon Ikebukuro

ひもかわ桐生 池袋店 (10 mins walk from Ikebukuro Station)

📍Address: 3 Chome-18-35 Minamiikebukuro, Toshima City, Tokyo 171-0022, Japan

Rating /⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐️ (would come again)

🚆Location: It’s very convenient. It’s a short 10 mins walk from the Ikebukuro Station. You can exit from 2 other stations, Higashi-Ikebukuro station or Toden-Zoshigaya Station, and reach within 10 mins of walking.

🥢Food: They served 5 different styles of Udon dishes and you can mix across different udon lengths too. I ordered the half normal/half wide udon with mushroom and pork belly slices dipping soup. The tempura is charged separately so I added on 2 prawn tempura.

The dipping experience made it all fun as I eat the udon cold or hot as I wished. The pork belly slices were so tender but not fatty while the soup was really hearty. The tempura was nicely fried and paired with salt to elevate the whole taste. The wide udon were the length of half of my chopsticks (or more) so I had difficulty eating with each bite. To make my life easier, I ended up cutting it up like mee hoon kueh. Overall, the meal was really good but I might just stick to normal udon.

🖼️Environment: It’s a small restaurant with all the essentials provided. There is minimal interaction and fuss free as it served free tea, tissues and a menu list etc. I came ard 11:30 to see it empty and by 12:30, locals filled up the whole place but there was no queue outside.

I was quite surprised that they provided full English menu despite 90% of the customers are locals that worked nearby. The place is a quick meal restaurant like a Japanese typical ramen shop so don’t expect more than what it seems.

💰Price: It’s quite affordable and tasty! The total damage is around 1000 - 2000 yen. Decent lunch spot!

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