After a short trip to Japan, I came home through Haneda Airport. It was too short and I was sad to leave, but there’s always next time. I’d been using only Incheon and Narita for a while, so since I was back at Haneda after so long, I had a look around.
A Hatsune Miku goods shop
Hatsune Miku at an airport, of all places. There were a few items I wanted to buy, but I held back.
A shop selling character T-shirts
They weren’t cheap. The designs were cute, though. But I just couldn’t see myself pulling off an anime character T-shirt, so I gave up. Lum-chan was adorable, mind you.
I took a quick look around inside, and a few things had changed. I really should use Haneda now and then before I forget what it’s like. After a lap, I headed to Tsurutontan. It’s an udon shop that’s top-class even by Japanese standards. This time, instead of their most famous dish, the kitsune udon, I tried some other menu items.
Water and tea
It was crowded, so I waited in line for a bit. If you want to eat here, it’s a good idea to leave plenty of time before your flight. Come to think of it, it took a while for the food to come out after ordering too.
Shrimp cream udon
I was torn between that and the mentaiko udon, but I went with the shrimp cream and had no regrets. The cream was richer than it looked, and with dashi in it, it had a Japanese flavor that went really well with the udon noodles. This style of udon, meaning udon eaten with curry or stew, is popular enough in Japan that there are even specialty shops for it, but I don’t remember seeing much of it in Korea. Well, there aren’t that many good udon shops to begin with. And honestly, there aren’t many places doing Japanese-style stew or curry either.
Shabu-shabu udon
This one had a clean, light broth, and the yuzu in it made it even more refreshing. This dish was a success too. Whatever you order, you can’t go wrong here, which seems to be this shop’s strength.
After that satisfying meal, I went into the duty-free area of Haneda Airport and found a branch of Kanbun Gonendo, the famous Inaniwa udon shop from Ginza. Next time I’ll have to give that one a try.
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