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2014-01-24
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挺正宗的冷稻庭烏冬。烏冬彈牙, 醬汁亦夠味。唯性價比不高。但烏冬粉絲或可一試。Decent cold inaniwa udon at Whampoa;Overall food quality was not bad;Good service but need more attention to detail.Fans of Inaniwa Udon might be interested.Inaniwa Udon:As I've mentioned in my reivew of another Inaniwa Udon specialist shop, Inaniwa Udon 稲庭うどん is one of the top three types of udon in Japan, the other two being Sanuki udon (讃岐うどん thickest) and Mizusawa udon (水沢うどん somewhere between Inaniwa udon and Sanuki but I haven't tried this before). In
烏冬彈牙, 醬汁亦夠味。
唯性價比不高。
但烏冬粉絲或可一試。
Decent cold inaniwa udon at Whampoa;
Overall food quality was not bad;
Good service but need more attention to detail.
Fans of Inaniwa Udon might be interested.
Inaniwa Udon:
As I've mentioned in my reivew of another Inaniwa Udon specialist shop, Inaniwa Udon 稲庭うどん is one of the top three types of udon in Japan, the other two being Sanuki udon (讃岐うどん thickest) and Mizusawa udon (水沢うどん somewhere between Inaniwa udon and Sanuki but I haven't tried this before). Inaniwa Udon is handmade and then dried like most Chinese noodle cakes. It is said that Inaniwa Udon was invented in the Inaniwa village by Mr. Sato Yousuke （佐藤養助）sometime in the 16th century.
This shop also appers to use Inaniwa Udon from the Yousuke family, who still handmade the undon using a secret formula passed down from generation to generation. The other shop that also serve this type of udon is 'Inaniwa Udon-Nabe Japanese Restaurant' at Elements.
Location:
A small shop tucked awayin Whampoa. It had about 10 small tables for two and a number of counter seats. What was striking was that most of the menus and introduction were affixed on the wall by adhesive tapes. Some Japanese customers couldn't believe their eyes when they noticed those adhesive tapes. The door was always left half opened, which was quite annoying with the wind gushing in. Definitely need more attention to detail. Other than these, the place was reasonably comfortable.
Menu:They had a Chinese and a Japanese menu. (I wasn't sure whether they had an English menu.) The lunch menu essentially consists of Inaniwa Udon sets with tempura, grilled fish, grilled pork, grilled chicken and pork cutlets.
You could choose different toppings for your inaniwa udon such as tororo (grated yamaimo), natto, grated turnip, fried chicken nuggets, tempura and others.We ordered a Cold Inaniwa Udon Set with Tororo and also a Hot udon set with Tempura:
Cold udon set:
There wasn't really much to the set, which consisted of a 'bundle' of Inaniwa udon, a small container for the udon dipping sauce, a plate of tororo, a piece of sweet bean curd sushi and some pickled vegetables.Not cheap for HK$88 (plus service).
Fortunately, the udon was delicious. The timing was good and the udons were springy. Most importantly, the dipping sauce was flavourful. It was way better than Inaniwa Udon-Nabe Japaneses Restaurant. It mixed well with the tororo. The other things that came with the set were also decent.
Hot udon set with tempura:
My set consisted of a bowl of udon in soup, tempura, pickled vegetables and a piece of sweet bean curd sushi.The dashi, i.e. the soup, felt like a soup pack from an instant udon pack but somewhat diluted. They also put konbu into the dashi. I don't have major complaints about this but overall I think the cold udon fared much better than the hot one.
However, the tempura was not bad at all. The batter was crunchy and wasn't too oily.Grilled chicken:
We ordered a la carte grilled chicken but a whole set came instead.
The grilled chicken was above average - succulent and had decent umami. Pretty good but not spectacular. I think I prefer those served at Shirokiya.The rice was decent. I believe it was Japanese pearl rice. My wife enjoyed it. No complaints about the miso soup and the rest.
Like I've mentioned above, more attention to detail is required; nevertheless, I hasten to add that the service here was good. The waiters and waitresses were friendly and efficient.
Conclusion:
The bill came down to HK$273 plus service. Not too pricey but I did not feel entirely satisfied with the meal.
In conclusion, if you are a big fan of Inaniwa udon, I could recommend this place over the other specialist at Elements. However, go for the cold inaniwa udon instead of the hot one.
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