Kagawa Ippuku: Udon in the Food Court

This shop is one that is in the food court of La La Port Nagoya. Food courts in Japan are not just for the typical burgers and fries, you can find anything from kaisen don (sashimi rice bowls), beef cutlets and ramen to steaks and italian pasta. It’s always so hard to choose what to go for, but on this day of my visit I decided upon udon from a shop called Kanagawa Ippuku.

The udon noodles were nice and chewy as is always preferred (except in some regions such as Ise where soft is considered better). This udon dish has the tsuyu, or broth separate from the noodles which are meant to be dipped. In this case the broth is called tsukejiru, or a soup dip. It coated the cold noodles well, not being too goopy and thick nor too thin. I found it interesting to have two temperatures in the mouth at the same time, the cold noodles and warm broth. The hint of yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit) was a good accent to the whole dish. The duck meat had a char on it, probably from a direct flame, that went really nicely with the broth. The accompanying negi (Japanese leek), myoga (also known as Japanese ginger, but doesn't taste like ginger), and ginger paste was nice for a change of flavour and to lighten the dish overall, but I think that in the end, I'd prefer just the tsukejiru and noodles.

Duck tsukejiru udon

The dish could use a couple more slices of duck though, and it didn’t look like the picture on the menu!

Area: 400m from Tokaidori station (Meiko Line) 東海道駅（名港線）
Shop: Kagawa Ippuku 香川一福
Website and Map: https://kagawa-ippuku.com/shopinfo/#nagoya
Hours: 10am-9pm (LO 8:30pm)