Lately a lot of buildings with fun concepts have gone up around Tokyo Station. Besides the Marunouchi and Shin-Marunouchi Buildings, there’s the Daimaru building, TOKIA, and the buildings along Naka-dori, all packed with good places to eat and shop. A sort of gourmet arcade has opened inside the station too, and it’s so well stocked you’d never believe it’s inside a station. You can’t really expect the old business-district feel anymore, but it seems to be turning into a tourist attraction.
I’d heard that Tsurutontan, the udon shop famous in Roppongi, had opened a branch in TOKIA at Tokyo Station, so I went to check it out. I’d been eating nothing but ramen, so I switched things up for once.
The front
It’s in the basement. Maybe because I went on a weekend, there was a bit of a line. It must be popular. As you can probably guess from the bowls on display, the food really does come in bowls the size of a washbasin.
Kitsune udon, 680 yen
Udon topped with a big piece of fried tofu. When I ordered they asked whether I wanted thick or thin noodles, and I went with the regular thick ones. One sip of the broth and it’s classic Kansai style. There’s a slight sweetness, but the dashi is properly made. It’s a different animal from Sanuki udon, where you enjoy the chewy bite of the noodles. I do prefer Sanuki myself, but with broth and noodles this good, I can’t say it’s any worse than Sanuki udon.
Close-up of the big fried tofu
Looks good, right? It is good.
There are lots of kinds of udon, and not just udon — plenty of drinks and snacks to go with them too. It would work well as an izakaya. I’ve been to so many places that don’t live up to their reputation that I didn’t have high hopes, but actually eating here was a different story. It’s a renowned Kansai udon shop, and it’s less crowded than the Roppongi branch, so if you have reason to stop by Tokyo Station, it’s worth a visit.