Eating cheap in Tokyo: Hanamaru Udon

In a pricey city like Tokyo, it’s actually not that hard to find cheap food to buy. But the trick is, to find affordable nosh that actually tastes good. Gyudon (beef rice bowl) is a very filling and tasty option but I’m not so hot on eating oily beef all the time and vegetables are hardly an item on the menu. Eep.

Being a noodle-freak, I’ve to say that one of my favourite lunch places is Hanamaru Udon.

Here, you can choose the style of udon you want — with soup, or gravy, or negi (chives), or a poached egg, or sesame seeds, or natto (pungent preserved soy beans), wakame (square-looking seaweed). Then, you help yourself to a selection of tempura which includes squid, shrimp, chicken, eggplant, hard-boiled eggs, sausages and everything you can think of that can be swished in tempura batter.

It’s not the healthiest but you do get some greens in this shop or you could avoid the deep-fried food and settle for the basic udon bowls.

When I crave for something heavier, this would be what I would order: wakame udon with shrimp and squid tempura, plus a heavy dose of togarashi (chilli powder). Yum. Something like this would cost about 550JPY and their starting price for a bowl of udon soup noodles is 210JPY. Simple, delicious, and hits the spot.

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