A relatively new addition to iSquare’s roster of restaurants is Marugame Seimen, a popular udon chain from Japan.
What makes this restaurant different is that it’s self service. This poster at the entrance shows you the procedure on how to go about assembling your bowl of udon.
They have a variety of hot and cold udon and one curry rice bowl.
There are two sizes to choose from.
The Sanuki udon noodles are freshly made and cut in the store. The noodles are blanched briefly in water just when you order. It’s then topped with the soup stock and topping you choose.
After getting your base udon bowl you can now select any of the tempura and fried extras you want to add to your noodles.
The prices are all per piece.
There were a couple of side dishes available.
At the end of the line pay for your bill and head towards the garnish area.
I ordered the pork broth udon that came with a few thin slices of pork and half a hard boiled egg. I added one sweet potato tempura and a side order of seaweed squid tempura. I really liked the squid although I wish it was more tender.
There was free green onion, tenkasu (tempura crumbs) and ginger if you want to add more zing to your udon.
I went crazy with the tenkasu transforming my udon into a Tanuki Udon. Overall my udon was good. The udon noodles were al dente and the soup was flavorful although not as creamy or tasty as the one I had at Jika Udon. The tempura was a bit oily since it wasn’t freshly fried. I also wish the soup was hotter. The soup cooled down from the time I spent choosing toppings and extra and paying. There wasn’t even a line when I was there. Imagine if you had to wait behind indecisive people? You’ll be having the cold version of udon.
My dad’s beef & burdock udon had very little soup so I asked for more and they gladly gave us more. The soup was lighter and had a more subtle flavor.
My mom for the first time forgot that I have to shoot first before she can eat. I guess she was really hungry already.
The inari and onigiri were just more carbs just in case you’re not full from the udon.
Marugame Udon is good if you want a quick and cheap meal. The self service ‘buffet’ style was a novelty I’ve never seen with hot noodle soup. The udon was not bad at all but I prefer the taste and quality of Jika Udon more.
Marugame Seimen 丸亀製麵
Shop 609, 6/F, i-Square, 63 Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui
尖沙咀彌敦道63號iSQUARE國際廣場6樓609號舖
telephone: 3583 0880
website (Japan)
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