Tsurutontan; Udon in the most deliciously unlikely circumstances

Two things I've grown to dislike about Japan are Udon and Roppongi.

Udon(oou-doun), as most know, are the thick cut wheat noodles. Whatever way you eat it, you usually use tsuyu, which reeks of katsuobushi and mirin.

Roppongi, the at once high end and seedy underbelly of Tokyo, houses 5 star hotels and Roppongi Hills and Africans hussling you to come to hostess clubs. I usually avoid going there.

It was much to my suprise, then, to find tsurutontan, a somewhat refined udon resturant, which has it's origins in Osaka, in the taudriness of Roppongi.Suited to Roppongi, they are open all night.

It's location aside, they have a really wide selection of udon, and they are served in gigantic bowls.It's an open kitchen too, so you can see everything being prepared.

For an appetizer, we had fresh yuba, tofu skins, something I always enjoy fresh. And since it was sashimi, we dipped it in soy sauce with a little wasabi. My friend also had some grilled duck, which he said was quite good.


For udon, I chose the black soybean natto udon.Natto beans are usually small and pale in color, but these black soybeans were huge and delicious and lacked a lot of the stickiness that turns people off from Natto. I also had the ume (japanese plum) udon on a previous visit, which was also great.

These are both unusual varities for udon (the typical fair is rather boring I think)Absolutely worth several visits and becoming a regular customer. Their (Japanese) website is here

Tsurutontan: Minato-ku, Roppongi 3-14-12 On Gaien Higashi Doori, between Roppongi Intersection and Don Quixote.