I know I am, zaru you?

Recently I found myself hiking through the mountains in the rurals, when I happened across this udon and soba shop. Kind of a strange thing about Japan, but delicious places are often out in the middle of nowhere sitting all by themselves. I went inside to find a narrow hallway of a place already filled with families and a soccer team.

what could be simpler?

This area isn't known for soba - Japanese buckwheat noodles - as well as other areas, so it's somewhat rare to find. I ordered it zaru, which means it comes as is, cooled noodles on a big plate with a pot of tsuyu broth for dipping. Soba tsuyu is basically a thinned dashi with some soy, and then they often give you wasabi to mix in as you like. Yes, I happen to like a lot, thanks for asking.

I know some people are confused by a giant plate of noodles and only noodles. Isn't there supposed to be a sauce or a chicken breast on it or something? But I've come to appreciate the simplicity of it. If the noodles are made well, it's quit delicious. As a lunch, the simple carbohydrates keep slow-burning away until dinner when you're feeling pleasantly hungry again. And hey, if the amazingly culinary Italians like pasta with just a little olive oil on it (and they do), this doesn't seem so strange.

shippoku at Marugame Udon

I guess I should explain some of these words here. Udon is a type of Japanese noodle, made with wheat-flour and saltwater, which is characterized by its thickness and stiff bite (what the Japanese refer to as having 'backbone'). Shippoku is a style that that udon is sometimes served in. Imagine a hearty soup crammed full of mountain vegetables and swirled with these thick noodles to get a good idea. Actually you don’t have to imagine, here’s a shot for you:
 

shippoku udon

The udon over at Marugame Udon is made to order and will definately fill you up, although locals complained to me over wait times (10-15 minutes? Which didn’t seem like a big deal). Probably this is because most udon joints, which serve it up as-you-order-it quick and cheap to boot, have created an image of udon as a kind of fast food. Salary men in business suits rush in alongside workers in rubber boots and paint splattered garbs, throw down a few coins, and slurp away. In a flurry of chopsticks they’re all rushing off again – maybe they sat down for 3 or 5 minutes - to get back to their jobs. I guess there's a lot of people that just don't have the patience to wait around for noodles while on their tight schedules.

While sipping on hot tea given to us by the hostess, I found the wait at Marugame Udon - with its old-fashioned atmosphere and relaxed pace - to be a refreshing change to the eat-as-you-stand debacle I often encounter. Sometimes a little wait can make food more tantalizing, giving your taste buds time to consider what’s to come. And the price, which was a few hundred yen more than other places, didn’t bother me much when I started eating the hearty home-styled goodness.