Takadaya Udon, Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

Takadaya (Kasai Building, 2-31-2 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, 3815-5659) is a allegedly a rather well-known udon shop, so we quickly popped on over there tonight. This very small place had a number of different menus, so we asked for some recommendations, and (after quite a wait, I might add), we got our bowls, one with thin slices of pork and another with mushrooms and daikon. And to our surprise, the bowls were cold. In our minds, were were expecting some steaming hot broth, but these bowls were refrigerated cold. It was only then that we realized that we had been looking at the special cold udon menu, which, surprise aside, were actually pretty darned refreshing and good in their own mildly tangy right, especially during the warm Tokyo summers. The noodles were super firm too.

While we were at it, we grabbed some of their tempura to go with it all. They were unfortunately out of the mushroom one that I wanted, so we just went for a basic assortment that, while piping hot, unfortunately was just not as light as I would have hoped for. Nonetheless, we sprinkled some of their salt on it and down they went.

In retrospect, ordering the cold noodles was a good thing, as we probably wouldn't have ordered cold noodles on our own accord (seeing that we were initially looking for hot bowls of soup). But because of our mistake, we got to try something that we probably wouldn't have tried, and found something different and refreshing too. I don't know if I liked this place that much that I'd go out of my way for it (it wasn't that cheap either; bowls ran up to 1000 Yen, or US$8.30, not counting the extras like the tempura), but the tenacity of the noodles was distinct enough that I won't forget this place. We've just gotta make sure that we order from the hot menu next time to try the other side out.