(Bowl of freshly made udon with signature onsen tamago)
Sanuki is the old name of the area that I am writing this blog from.
Yes I took the opportunity to get out of Singapore again and landed myself in Sanuki or Takamatsu, in Shikoku island. The moment I arrived after a grueling 3 and half hours of train ride after my 5 hours of flight from Bangkok, the one thing that strike me was this is not the typical big Japanese city that I have known. Even though Takamatsu is the provincial capital but it’s still has that suburbia feel compared to cities like Osaka and Tokyo and streets are generally quieter with lesser people. It’s kind of wierd at first.
This place is renowned for udon and the people here loved their bowl of udon noodles. And that’s what brought me here. With the release of the upcoming movie “Udon” from May 17, I thought I should visit this little city and find out more for myself.
By the time I arrived, it was already 530pm, there are lots of posters on at the train station with listings of reccomended places for udon but everything is in Japanese. After such a long day of traveling…from Kansai to osaka (60min), Shin Osaka to Okayama (90min) – nice station with lots of food outlets! and from Okayama I would need to change another train to Takamatsu. So by then, I’m in no mood for nothing but to lie on a real bed. After all, I’ve not seen nor lie on a bed since the day before. The traveling was brutal.
I checked in and got right out (only after lying on my bed) and gone in search of the best udon in town. The main shopping district is a 10 minutes walk from the hotel, on the way I passed a railway track and station that is one of the most “primitive” I’ve ever seen here, the “kampung”style surprises me. Just like in parts of Malaysia, if you lived away from the city and you have railway tracks running in your backyard, passing an entire village.
Passed the station we are into a covered shopping area that features rows of merchants, everything from fresh produce, seafood, dried items, fashion, convenience stores and of course udon shops can be found here. Keep walking.
As I was searching for my udon shop, I passed many pachinko, game arcades, restaurants and clubs. I got lost and asked for directions, walked and got distracted and got lost again and asked for directions again and kept walking. By 7pm, I realized most shops are closing or have closed, even some of the udon shops and after about 45mins of walking, with the help of a kind elderly man, he personally took me to one of the popular local udon shop which translate “5 stone street” udon. Rarely you find anybody who speaks english here, so you need to know some Japanese to move around.
This is a typical Japanese food store, small, cosy and filled with regulars. A man was cutting his udon dough into udon noodles with pinpoint precision on my left, another was cooking and preparing fresh udon in a rythemic movement back and forth right next to him.
I seated myself to the first table and started browsing the menu. Ordered their specialty tempura udon and curry udon. This restuarant is popular not just for the food but becos they are opened daily from 6pm to 3am rather peculiar hours since I don’t see much night life here.
While the soup base is so crisp and light, i know i can finish an entire pot of it, the udon is nothing particularly special. Curry udon was so so, tempura udon is still my preference.
After a good walk, on my way back I stopped by a local supermarket, got some food and ingredients that I cannot find in Singapore and headed back to the hotel.
No Comments