Ed U.
Yelp
TsuruTonTan Udon Noodle Brasserie / Ginza (Tokyo) -- It was our first evening in Tokyo, and Jamie W. and I were dealing with heavy-duty jet lag. However, we were intent on having a nice dinner to celebrate my birthday a day late. After reviewing Time Out Tokyo's top dining picks, I thought an udon brasserie might be an interesting choice as neither of us had been to one.
Well, we walked a few blocks from our hotel and made our way to the 10th floor of Tokyo Plaza Ginza. There we saw a variety of restaurants on the floor, but by far the most popular was this one. We took our number, and the wait was well over an hour with no place to sit. Did I mention the jet lag? When we were finally seated, it was in a small carrel with counter space.
It was hardly the fine dining experience I was expecting, and we made our order through a tablet screen. We had already decided what to get since we had plenty of time to look at all the plastic replicas of their specialty udon bowls during our arduous wait. Jamie ordered the ¥1,530 Vegetable and Mixed Pork Champon Udon which had more the consistency of porridge than soup (photo: https://yelp.to/dvIP21S6K5).
He pronounced it middling with the udon noodles a bit too overcooked for his taste (he prefers ramen). Mine was the ¥1,880 Hot-Pot Nabeyaki Udon which looked great in plastic (photo: https://yelp.to/n6kKUN8ngT). When it arrived, the shrimp tempura looked wilted from the heat of the broth, and the rest of the ingredients were on the verge of mushy. Even with subpar texture, it still tasted pretty good.
It helped that I paid ¥400 for the addition of pork meatballs (photo: https://yelp.to/D996aB1WXq). Somewhat disappointed, Jamie decided to order the ¥1,280 Assorted Sushi Rolls for us to share. Considering this is an udon house, I thought the eight rolls were decent enough though the fish portion was skimpy compared to the rice (photo: https://yelp.to/hexBxIHiTj). Gee, I guess I know what an udon brasserie offers now.
FOOD - 3 stars...overly soft udon noodles cast a giant shadow
AMBIANCE - 3 stars...seems nice if you have a table, but the carrel wasn't that enjoyable
SERVICE - 4 stars...the servers were timely if a bit abrupt
TOTAL - 3 stars...udon as a gourmet item really didn't work for us
RELATED - Exploring Japan? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2qrUBZo