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Popular Japanese udon restaurant Marugame Udon is set to open its very first European restaurant later this month, choosing a spot in the shadow of Liverpool Street for their noodle-centric UK debut.
Over in Japan 150 million bows of Marugame Udon are consumed every year and while it might take London a while to reach such heady stats, with a 4000 sq. ft restaurant with room for 100 covers as well as delivery options, they’re definitely going the right way about making their mark on the capital’s food scene. Bribery works too – opening on July 26, you can claim a bowl of free udon during their opening week.
With an open kitchen, punters will pick their chosen udon over the counter before the best bit – a ‘build your own’ condiment station, where you can plunder a buffet of fresh ginger, chillies, tenkasu tempura batter pieces and other Japanese delicacies and jazz up your noodles to your very own specification.
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Sticklers for tradition, every single Marugame Udon noodle is cut at 60cm and they use a classic Sanuki udon recipe, making these pleasingly chewy noodz in-house before popping them in the udon boiler. Head Chef Kouhei Honkawa’s menu starts at £3.45 for mains, and highlights include the simple but satisfying kama age udon as well as beef nikutama (a sweet short-rib beef and soft poached onsen egg on udon and broth), two pork tonkotsu with chashu and spicy miso pork and chicken katsu curry udon.
Marugame Udon are also known for their tempura, with crispy, battered chicken, prawn, squid, pumpkin croquettes and seasonal veg on offer. Oh and 30% of the main menu is vegan, which is nice, isn’t it? Almost as nice as the fact that they’ll be serving canned sparkling sake from London’s only sake brewery, Kanpai, and unlimited soft serve ice cream in two flavours; vanilla and vegan matcha.
Marugame Udon, 1-3 Widegate Street, E1 7ES
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