Inaniwa udon is a specialty of Akita. I first saw it ages ago in Oishinbo, where they said it was made in a completely different way from Sanuki or Kansai udon yet was incredibly good, so I’d been meaning to try it. Then I found out that quite a few Inaniwa udon specialists have set up shop in Tokyo, and this time I went to the one said to be the best value for money.
Inaniwa, near Shinbashi
Strictly speaking, it’s in the basement of a building near Uchisaiwaicho Station on the Toei Mita Line. It’s within walking distance of Shinbashi, but I wouldn’t exactly call it close. It’s an udon shop, but it doesn’t only serve udon: in the evening it runs like an izakaya, mostly serving small dishes and drinks, with udon to finish. When I walked in, a group of older gentlemen were having a drinking party.
Kakiage udon set
I badly wanted to order some snacks and have a drink myself, but I was alone and about to have dinner with friends, so I just went for a plain udon set.
The udon
These noodles are a work of art. Thin, yet they don’t stick together in your mouth, slippery but with real bite, a texture on par with first-class soba. After eating Sanuki udon I thought I’d seen the pinnacle of udon, but clearly my training wasn’t complete yet.
Kakiage
I liked everything, the ingredients and the frying skill alike. If the most basic item on the menu is this good, it made me wonder how good the rest of the menu must be. This set was 1,100 yen, so it isn’t expensive either. When I asked on the way out, they said it’s a sister shop of Sato Yosuke, the famous Inaniwa udon restaurant in Ginza. Sato Yosuke is a pretty pricey place with a lot of effort put into the interior, so being able to enjoy the same taste for less made me like it even more. A place like this is best enjoyed with a group of like-minded middle-aged guys, pouring each other drinks. I really should get a gathering together sometime. ^_^