A Japanese friend recently was craving udon, and she brought us to Tsurutontan (which I thought was such a cute name and so fun to say!) which is apparently a famous place that serves up good udon.
I was expecting the usual traditional udon shop, but was surprised that it had such a chic interior! I think it’s the most classy udon shop I’ve ever been to in Japan haha.
We went during lunch time on a weekday, and there was a considerable queue, with about 10 people in front of us. It took about 15-20 minutes before we were seated, so it wasn’t all that bad. We got a booth seat too, and that was really nice :)
The menu has a wide variety of udon and also non-udon dishes, but it’s udon for all four of us that day! In the shop, I saw a notice that stated that they have menus in other languages (English, Chinese and Korean, I think), so they not as intimidating to visit even for people who don’t speak Japanese.
TIP: If you order udon, the waiter will ask how many 玉 tama (lit. ball, but in this case, portion) of noodles you want. You can order up to 3 portions for your one bowl of udon at no extra cost! Awesome or what?!
All of us ordered only 1 portion of noodles each and it left us feeling so stuffed! I’d really like to witness someone finish 3 portions of noodles…
After a short wait, our noodles arrived! We burst out laughing as the waiter set our orders in front of us.
The size of the bowl is GINORMOUS. Actually, I don’t think it’s a bowl. It’s a tub. The kind you wash your face with. Seriously. And will you please look that that spoon as well. That’s not a spoon either. It’s a rice scooper.
The udon was nice and chewy, and I liked the curry and ebi fry. Basically I liked the entire bowl lah! Lol. I near cleaned it out, save for a bit of curry at the end because I was at my limit. Any more and everything will come out to see the world again hahaha.
The prices are pretty reasonable as well; mine was 1,280 yen before tax. For the quality and the ambiance, I think it’s not expensive at all.
I snapped a quick photo on my way out:
If you’re looking for good, affordable udon with a nice ambiance in Tokyo, give Tsurutontan a try!
TSURUTONTAN つるとんたん
Website (Shinjuku branch)
Other branches
Most convenient station to Shinjuku branch: Shinjuku station
Omgg I’m suddenly really really REALLY craving a giant basin of udon. AHHHHH ;___;
Go eat some in Singapore! You’ll have to bring your own basin though. Lol
;____; the ones here are NOWHERE AS NICE :((
How about Shimbashi Udon? I loved that one before I came to Japan! (I can only vouch for the standard several years ago though…)