Broth and slippery noodles: udon makes a splash in Vancouver

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Marugame Udon

Where: 589 Beatty Street, Vancouver
When: Open every day, lunch and dinner.
Information: 604-568-5500. en.marugame.com

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Motonobu Udon

Where: 3501 East Hastings Street, Vancouver
When: Open every day, lunch and dinner.
Information: 604-293-1889. motonobuudon.ca

When Japanese chain Marugame Udon opened in Vancouver a couple of months ago, sales reached second place out of 1,000 locations around the world, including Japan. Now it has fallen to third place.

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It’s not just the plump, chewy, slippery noodles that appeal. It is an economical delight.

Udon has been around for a long time in Vancouver, but usually as a single dish on Japanese menus. Marugame Udon and another place, Motonobu Udon, specialize in udon. The latter obtained a Michelin Bib Gourmand last year.

While ramen is already popular among locals for its richer, thicker broths and thin, chewy noodles (sometimes wrinkled from alkalinity), udon’s distinguishing characteristics are the thick, slightly square, springy, and usually slippery noodles. served in a light broth.

Marugame describes the texture of the noodles as “mochi-mochi.” As it is slippery and not so compliant in the mouth, this is where the Western etiquette of not making loud noises when eating is abandoned. Please continue, sip and splash with pleasure. It’s actually polite and a sign of appreciation to do so in Japan. But there is also a taste reason. As in wine appreciation, aeration releases aromas and flavors.

Both Marugame and Motonobu noodles are “Sanuki-style,” the Edo period name for Kagawa Prefecture, famous for udon.

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Marugame, in a spacious renovated facility in a former Ricky’s restaurant, has counter-style service. The noodles are made fresh daily with a Japanese flour blend, and you can watch them being prepared behind glass as you walk around the counter.

The udon comes with kake, BK or curry sauce and costs between $6.49 and $13.99. Kake is a light dashi broth; BK, or kaeshi sauce, is a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin, served at room temperature. Japanese curry broth is made with a blend of spices and sweetened with cooked onions. Toppings include sweet braised beef, sweet fried tofu and onsen egg, with options for add-ons. For an additional cost, you can also choose tempura toppings. The most popular dish at Marugame is nikutama udon with BK sauce, beef and onsen egg.

Motonobu Udon is a little different. It offers table service and you can order about 20 different dishes of udon, hot or cold, ranging from $5.25 to $15.75. Most come with a light dashi broth, but there are five ‘special’ udons with umami-packed broths: tan so spicy, mentai (pollock roe), yuzukosho (fermented with chilies, yuzu peel and salt), ume shiso (with sweet flavor, pickled plums) and anakake (spicy with chilies and yuzu kosho). There are also many plugins.

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Chef-owner Shin Iwamoto’s dashi broth is delicate but full of umami with infusions of seaweed, shiitake, dried mackerel, anchovy, and konbu. A customer favorite is the niku toji udon, with beef braised in an egg broth, known as toji in Japanese.

Iwamoto’s udon noodles are made daily with Canadian flour mixed by a Japanese company with a gluten content “between bread flour and cake flour,” he says.

Iwamoto has cooked at Italian and French restaurants in Japan and at West Restaurant under Warren Geraghty in Vancouver, but he credits his grandmother for udon’s success. “I used to do it with her. “She gave me recipes and I’ve changed some,” he said. “I have learned that udon can have many possibilities. Can be anything.”

“Many possibilities” seems to be their mantra. His victory at Bib Gourmand did not surprise her. “In fact, I thought I was going to win. It didn’t happen the first year, but last year I was like, ‘Ohhh, finally!'”

There’s also pressed sushi and inari on Motonobu’s menu. Pressed sushi, topped with cured salmon and tuna, and inari come with a variety of toppings.

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But honestly, what you’re looking for is the udon. I was very happy with my choice of burdock and seaweed tempura, with an added onsen egg, although the burdock required aggressive chewing. My husband’s tan tan udon with braised pork belly, bok choy, herbs and chili oil was as spicy as the deep orange color warned. Instead of peanuts in the tan, Iwamoto uses sesame paste. “Allergies,” he says. The base broth is made with chicken and pork bone broth, and the pork bones provide gelatin for thickening. It is the second most popular udon dish at Motonobu.

And there are desserts! “I have a Pacojet,” she said. Makes creamy, soft ice cream to order. Plus, there are mochi and sweet potato desserts, neither of which I could imagine eating after splashing a big plate of udon and some sushi.

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Fittings

2004 prices

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Chambar has been offering a “nostalgic menu” with some inaugural dishes at the 2004 price of $45 for three courses. It was due to run until April 17, but it has been such a success that owners Nico Schuermans and Karri Green-Schuermans have extended the offer until April 28.

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Menu options include escarole and watercress salad with pear and blue cheese; bouillabaisse with shrimps, mussels, ling cod, squid; Liege waffle with vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate sauce.

“We created a welcoming space where people could gather and we always sought to be a cultural contribution to Vancouver,” Green-Schuermans says. Chambar alumni include Tannis Ling (Kissa Tanto, Bao Vei, Meo), Patrick Hennessey (Barbara), Paul Grunberg (Savio Volpe, Pepino’s, Caffe La Tana, Elio Volpe), David Robertson (Dirty Apron) and Robbie Kane ( Cafe Medina). .

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