Is this Udon worth the 5 hour wait in Tokyo, Japan

A short 5 minute walk from Shinjuku station is one of the most highly recommend udon restaurants in Tokyo. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗼 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝟲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘂𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿.

Udon restaurants in Japan often pair their noodles with tempura and Shin Udon is no exception.

We got there 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒌𝒐 𝑼𝒅𝒐𝒏, 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝑼𝒅𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝑻𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒂.

The 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐨 𝐔𝐝𝐨𝐧 came with 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗰𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗮 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱-𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝘄 𝗲𝗴𝗴, 𝗮 𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝗲 (𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗸𝗼), 𝘀𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗮 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀. This dish is something I’d get at any udon restaurant I visit and I gotta say, it was good but didn’t blow my mind. The seasoned cod roe is an umami bomb, paired with the seaweed and raw egg, i ascended to Mentaiko heaven with every mouthful.

Secondly, their famous 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐔𝐝𝐨𝐧 features a slab of 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗰𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗮 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱-𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗰𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝘄 𝗲𝗴𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝘀𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗲𝘀𝗲. I’ve seen this dish on several tables and knew that I couldn’t give it a miss. The golden tempura crust paired with the beautiful shiny noodles looked amazing side by side. The raw egg and cream sauce base helped to cut the richness of the salty bacon tempura. Unfortunately, the parmesan cheese topping overpowered the dish where the taste of the cheese was too compelling.

The udon in both dishes were delightfully springy and tasted fresh like it was made in-house. We even got a seat at the bar counter which gave us front row seats to the tempura chef at work.

Unfortunately, the popular 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐚 didn’t live up to its expectations. While the cheese was melty, this was pretty one dimensional to me. For about $7, you can give this a miss.

The tightly packed eatery also gave me a sense of claustrophobia and it was difficult to move anywhere without brushing shoulders with a stranger.

In all, a nice udon place and I’d get the traditional menu items to try again if the wait isn’t as long as before as 6 hours is definitely too long a wait. We spoke to some locals in the queue who shared our sentiments; That there are similar quality udon places with none of the queue!

Address:

Shin Udon

Japan, 〒151-0053 Tokyo, Shibuya City, Yoyogi, 2 Chome−20−16 相馬ビル １F

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