Idaten Udon (NEX)

Was introduced Idaten Udon by a friend and got this hot udon with vegetable karriage at $9.70. Very fillingly affordable and delicious at such a place.

Compared to its far more popular brethren ramen, udon is rather overlooked, and I’d say unjustly so. Idaten Udon does their part to right this wrong with their udon centric menu with offerings that range from the simple but comforting udon in Kake Udon (plain soup udon) to more unique ones like curry udon and this Pork Kimchi Udon ($12.50 before additional 9% GST).⠀
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Idaten’s unctuous udon is served in a light kimchi broth with a thick slice of radish, some seaweed and pork shabu shabu. The thick, springy udon noodles are perfectly poached and possess a captivating chewiness, making each bite a delight. The kimchi broth was the real MVP, with the subtly spicy, supremely savoury & tastefully tangy flavour profile that’s unmistakably kimchi. The light yet sapid kimchi broth is addictively appetising, and you won’t be able to resist imbibing it all.⠀
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Since Idaten Udon is an udon shop, I won’t judge their tempuras so stringently. With that said, their Jumbo Ebi ($4.30+) & enoki tempura ($2.20+) were massive but both had exceptionally thick batter coating it, and they did get surfeiting quite quickly. Oddly enough, the sweet potato tempura ($2.50+) fared better, and was a delight to devour.⠀
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Ramen is a lot more common than udon, but u don wanna miss out on Idaten’s unctuous udon.

garlic chicken maze udon + deep fried tempura enoki. love udon and love this place, never goes wrong! 9/10

really really solid udon one of my favourite places to cure my udon cravings! free tempura bits and dipping sauce at the side (although the slightest bit oily)

we tried this new (i think) hamburg steak curry udon! it was quite pricey at $15.90 nett but we wanted to give it a go c: not sure how much the tempura was

… as much as i would like to say i haven’t wasted my dollars, i think i have 😭 imo the udon was kinda mid for the price, the curry udon was nice but the hamburg was quite tough and kinda dry for some reason?? which was quite saddening bc we were really looking forward to the hamburg steak

maybe it’s just because i’m not much of a udon person (?) but this was a failed venture! will be going back to mapo tofu don or kitsune udon for future idaten visits

- kitsune udon
- meat free mapo tofu don with seaweed tempura
we got extra servings of tempura bits along with our orders!
mapo tofu don was actually unbelievably good. like i went back to idaten and got it 2 more times good. a tad oily but i think it’s worth the grease
kitsune udon was nice but i’m not really a udon person 🫨
seaweed tempura was SO CRUNCHY but it became quite stale after a while so eat ur tempura early
already went back 😋