Pink and Undecided: marugame udon

Foodgasm 03 : Marugame Udon

Hellow hellow...

Happy weekend, my dears! I just had a super fun day *details coming on the next blog post!* and i hope you did too! Meanwhile, it's time for another food related post!

Food scenes in Surabaya has been quite fad-ish lately, the latest fad would've to be seafood (especially crabs) in Cajun style restaurants which has been popping up like mad-but not long before the "it" food was definitely Japanese noodles-be it ramen or udon.

It started with Ikkousha Ramen, which received such raves that we also got sucked into it *LOL*. I did refuse to succumb to lining like a mad person outside their branch in the West part of Indonesia and finally got to try it just after they opened a newer branch closer to home. My prediction? Severely overrated. Well, i must admit that i really am not a fan of Japanese noodles (or Japanese food in general, except sushi. Sushi is my true love...) in general, but even my ramen-loving hunny said it was overrated and wasn't worth the hype, so at least i am not alone in this!

Then the second craze came in the shape of Marugame Udon.

Went there when it was still quite new, see the crazy line there...

As a huge fan of noodles (ramen and udon included), hunny immediately dragged me to try out the newly (back then. It was during fasting period, around July) opened Surabaya branch (located in one of the oldest and most famous mall in Surabaya, Tunjungan Plaza), apparently he'd been eyeing the Jakarta's branch just a few weeks before in Bay Walk Mall-but we just had a huge dinner before that so he couldn't try it out just then. He mentioned to me that it has a cute food-courtish slash fast food joint serving style that resembles the current game i was addicted to in Ipad (Ramen Chain) XD! As a *AHEM!* good wife, i obliged-even though the thoughts of udon made me feel full immediately-not in a good way haha.

I have a slight obsession of fake food and their fakes look so real that it's even cuter in my eyes *weirdo alert :p*

The line was absolutely insane (i'd think that the craziness would've to die down by now? Kathy told me that when they first opened the line stretched all the way to the neighborhood Japanese restaurant (which is always almost empty FTL). Marugame Udon's management's smart enough to line the queue with queue ribbon and block any other entrance so everybody would have to queue nicely to be served and then get a seat. If the seat's all full, they'd stop serving so that nobody has a steaming bowl of udon and nowhere to seat. Kudos for that!

The menu is simple, there aren't too many choices to make you confused-everything is very straighforward. All of the menu's displayed at the board on top. Price wise it's quite normal, not too expensive but not exactly cheap either. I'd say their median price would be around IDR 50.000 (i hope i remember correctly). If you're not a fan of udon like me, don't worry! They also have rice bowls menu (YAY!) available

Yeah i just snap this to show you the situation i was in T.T, i really hate being in such close proximity with strangers >.<!

Can you see the line stretches out all the wayyyy there? it's not a straight queue either but with twists and turn *LOL*

On the far right side of the restaurant you'd see their chef cooking the udons with gigantic nets and running boiling water

Immediately cut and measured

Once you reach this part you can give them your order

And they'd start preparing it in front of their eyes

Adding toppings and sauces

Then you move to a section where they put extra side dishes (mostly deep dried @__@ couldn't be very healthy *LOL*. I have to be honest, i'm not the most health conscious person out there, i actually really love McD's chickens but if i have to be unhealthy then i'd do it with something i[m crazy about *McD* for sure haha) that you can choose and pick up yourself. There's also free take-as-much-as-you-want crispy crumbly deep fried flour that fell from the deep fried side dishes available

Baby Boy's default shocked face that he pulls up whenever i tried to take a pic of him now zzzz

The place is simply decorated, it has an old Japanese ambience that is simple but clean and attractive

Since it is more of a eat-then-leave kind of place, they have mostly wooden benches (to ensure fast turnover haha) but there are a few sofas as well. It was crazily packed because a lot of the Moslem patrons already got their food and seat but it was not time to break the fast yet. I guess they have to do this or else they wouldn't get a place to eat when the time comes!

Look at the charming brick wall and roof tile with the vintage looking painting (it's Fuji, i suppose?)

Now, the food. Again, as a non food-blogger with a memory of a hamster, i cannot for the life of me remember what is what so... I'm just gonna guess :p.

Hunny's curry udon, which is quite nice. I do like Japanese curries! Hunny said it was just okay, he prefers other versions (clear souped) than the curry one though

Baby Boy's Niku (?) Udon, which he totally LOVED. He actually almost finished the whole bowl (and left like, a strand before announcing that he was full *LOL*). It has a lighter type and savoury soup (which i find much better than most ramen's way-too-rich-for-my-tastebud ones) with generous serving of thinly sliced beef (which i actually love) and the udon itself-i'd say udon lovers would say that it's quite perfect! It has the right texture (chewy but not hard, i guess the right term would be al dente?) and bounciness to it

My beef bowl which i think was pretty yummy. Hunny said it was nice but couldn't beat his favorite beef bowl from Yoshinoya haha. I'd say their serving is pretty good (not tiny but also not crazy huge). With their generous serving of meat, i believe the value for money's pretty good

Deep fried soft-boiled egg. We rarely encounter perfectly soft-boiled egg in local Japanese restaurant (or any restaurant actually!) so we held out breath before we cut it open

And the runny egg yolk poured out! HMMM yummy! PASSED! LOL

My boys enjoying their ramens

Itadakimasu!

All and all our visit to Marugame Udon was quite pleasant, even though the queue was crazy long we didn't actually have to queue all that long, thanks to the servers' speediness! The ambience is friendly and inviting (even though the kid next to me kept on trying to pin me to my sit by shoving his baby chair towards me FML), the food is quite good and the price is not bad either.

Hunny is a new fan and he said he'd come back over and over again whenever he craves udon (we actually did go there again one time with KC, CL and AU, it was not as crazy as the first time but the queue was still longer than what you'd see in Surabaya normally!). Baby Boy LOVES his udon and said he'd love to eat it in repeat (but then again he is like that with every food that he likes, he'd ask for them over and over and over again for months on end and then he'd stop asking for it because he's gotten sick of it hahaha. Went through that with fried rice, rawon, soto, sushi and now bakso!).

As for me? Personally i wouldn't mind coming here again (but not too often), i quite enjoyed their rice bowls and i think their udon is quite nice for udons (like i said, i am not a fan)-but let's be honest. If i'd waste some calorie space, i'd do it for the actual noodles that i like (namely, Chinese ones hahahaha).

Still, it's a great Udon place and highly recommended for any Udon/Japanese rice bowl lovers, definitely worth a try!

Do you like udon? Have you ever tried Marugame Udon (if you're Indonesian)?

#Pink