Marugame Udon

Tis’ the season to be udon…

It’s getting chilly at night in Los Angeles, the city where the stomach growls and cravings for something hot and soupy kicks in. Marugame Udon is the perfect place in Sawtelle for a casual hot meal with friends, especially if you’re still a college student. The prices at Marugame is affordable, and they make FRESH udon on the spot. Getting your money’s worth, eh?

 Marugame works like an assembly line. The first step is to order the type of udon you want. The best thing is, the menu is kept simple, with only 10 types of udon on the menu.

Why not more variety?

Because, that’s how you know a restaurant maintains its quality of food, and I can certainly vouch for that.

Some of the udons I’ve tried are tonkotsu, nikitame, and curry udon. The tonkotsu broth is delicious, but I prefer to have it with ramen rather than udon. In way, it’s the mouthfeel of the udon with tonkotsu, like how some types of pasta go with certain sauces because they pair up so well. Nikitame is a simple broth with beef and an onsen egg, which I really liked. My favorite is the curry soup udon, which you can see, I am waiting in line to order.

 After ordering your udon, a beautiful golden assembly line of fried tempura awaits you. This is the tempura version of going to a candy store and to bask in the golden light(s) (excuse my pun) of different types of tempura. There’s assorted vegetables tempura, vegetable kakiage (deep fried vegetable nest), assorted seafood tempura, and tempura chicken.

My favorites from the golden assembly line is the seafood tempura, such as fried squid, fishcake, and mackerel…and mackerel…mackerel….

The tempura mackeral was crispy yet not greasy. As you bite into it steam rises out of the nicely cooked white flesh, which is cooked, as Goldilocks says, ‘just right’. Best yet, dip the tempura mackerel into the curry soup, and wait for your mouthbuds to explode.

The udon pairs perfectly well with the curry soup, a lightly spiced broth that is rich yet not heavy. Top it up with spring onions and some tempura batter bits, and start slurping the udon. The udon has a wonderful mouthfeel, a smooth, chewy texture but yet with a soft bite. It’s handmade fresh right in Marugame, and completely different from store bought versions. For side dishes, I’ve chosen the fried fishcake, fried mackerel and a fish roe rice ball. 

Start dipping them into your curry soup udon!

Will not recommend the Mentaiko with onsen egg udon – too salty and not enough broth to slurp the udon: 

It looks and sounds delicious, and then I mixed it altogether for a slurpy good mess. It was overly salty and not enough broth to slurp. A little too gooey  from the egg when it was mixed in with the udon. Highly not recommended for those who like Mentaiko pasta – the udon is too thick to pair with the Mentaiko. 

The tonkotsu udon is okay, the broth is light but the taste doesn’t feel right with udon – somehow you keep thinking ramen noodles and then you get thick slurpy udon instead:

The egg and cha shu on the tonkotsu udon was delicious. My friend also recommended the fried chicken tempura and the shrimp tempura.

Overall recommendation: go for the Curry Soup Udon and tempuras!!