Sanuki Udon is another new udon bar to pop up in Vancouver. Located right on Robson street in Downtown Vancouver, they serve up fresh handmade udon with different broths and toppings. No MSG or preservatives are used.
The restaurant is quite small and has a few seats. The space is set up like a cafeteria where you just go down station by station to craft your udon meal.
When you’re lining up to order, you can see their 5 steps to dining here.
- Take a tray and select one of 6 udon options and size
- Select tempura and onigiri to compliment the udon
- Enjoy additional complimentary condiments
- Slurp and enjoy
- Return tray
They have 6 kinds of udon bowls:
- Kitsune Udon
- Niku Udon
- Pork Kimchi Udon
- Curry Udon
- Kaku Udon
- Zaru Udon
They all come in 2 sizes, regular and large.
The noodles are heated up in the vat of water before putting it into the bowl.
In goes the broth.
They grab meat from a big container and put it into the bowl.
Once you get your bowl of udon ready, you can sprinkle on green onions and tempura bits free of charge.
Closer to the cashier, you will see woven baskets filled with different types of tempura. There weren’t a lot of tempura in the basket making it seem like the leftover bits.
Curry Udon seemed watery and lacked the depth of taste. After a while, the tempura bits I put on top got soggy and melded together to form a clumpy mass. I felt like I could make a better version at home.
The tempura was still crisp. I got the sweet potato tempura, yam tempura, and chikuwa tempura. Decent taste, but it was pretty average.
It’s an interesting concept for an udon bar, but the broth and tempura weren’t enticing enough. It felt like cafeteria udon where it’s slapped together for efficiency. I still prefer ramen over udon.
I wasn’t impressed with the taste and the other people I was dining with felt that it was lacking as well. Definitely room for improvement.
We Rate Sanuki Udon:
Address:
1226 Robson Street, Vancouver
Website:
http://sanukiudon.ca/