Udon Course Dinner @ Anpuku, Nishi Ikebukuro, Tokyo

On a noodle trail of a different kind, a recent trip to Tokyo helped me discover this amazing gem of a place that pushed the idea of what a good udon bowl should look and taste like. And there is no better way than having it with a group of friends. 

What do we have here?

Being the foodie of the group, I was tasked to find a place which can accommodate our party of seven. And after some looking around, we found a unique spot that was really worth the hassle in getting to.  Anpuku is a modern izakaya which specalises in udon dishes. However, being closer to a restaurant than your residential boozer, there offer a special multicourse meal consisting of various dishes and unlimited drinks for 2 hours which we gladly chose. It definitely made deciding what we want much easier since everyone will probably have a bit of everything. Standing at 4500 yen per head, this was a pretty good deal. 

Troublesome threesome

And off the bat, the first appetisers hit hard with a good start. Our first dish came with the usual fare for appetisers in the form of edamame, baby shrimp and pickles. But these are not ordinary pickles. Rather they were stuffed with cream cheese. The tartness of the pickles really mix well with that dairy creaminess. It was so good and went down very well with a high ball. 

At least I am eating my greens. Honestly, this is pretty good. 

The next dish was a seaweed salad of sorts. This was particularly interesting as the marinated seaweed has gave what can be seen as a generic salad some extra personality which I really enjoyed. The sesame based marinade was quite interesting and the overall dish was quite refreshing. It has been a long while since I have been excited about salad. In an izakaya no less. 

Golden

Keeping in theme with the vegetarian foray, the next dish were fried tofu sticks. Despite how it sounds, it was not bland or boring at all. The outer parts were craggly and crunchy. The inside was soft and silky but has a great texture. The tomato based  sauce that came with it also help elevate everything. Well if you deep fry anything, it will taste better. But this was particularly enjoyable. 

Taste like the ocean!

The next dish then came in with a bang, thus breaking the vegetable streak. A plate of broiled mackerel came soon after and this was done so well. The presentation looks so simple but it was loaded with flavour. The fish was oily and fatty, thus giving it that signature punchy aroma. However, it does not smell fishy. The skin had that charbroiled flavour to it, which is similar to a barbecue. And topping it off with some lime juice just makes everything come alive. 

A serious crunch!

The hits keep coming as the tofu was not the only dish that was deep fried, as the classic karaage chicken now enter the fray. Loaded with spring onions on top, this was very enjoyable. The batter was pretty well seasoned with hints of garlic, ginger and soy sauce enveloping the chicken. The spring onions gave an extra vibrancy to the overall dish and counterbalances the crunch factor of the deep fried outer shell if the chicken.  I think you can see by now this place loves playing around with different textures and flavours in one dish. It should be noted that there were deep fried fish fins that came soon after but I forgotten to take a photo. Just take my word that it was also tasty. 

Probably should have taken a photo before digging in

Being an udon place, there has to be some udon eventually. So the final two dishes is where those aforementioned noodles shine. The first one was a soup base. Rather than using regular dashi, this was enveloped in a creamy basil soup. Imagine a can of Campbell's but instead of mushroom, its basil. This was incredibly tasty. The floral aroma of the basil somehow works and it felt more like a pasta dish in a dilute cream sauce than actual udon. This fusion mayhem really worked so well. 

The classic

The final dish was the classic beef udon. Simple, basic but still pretty satisfying, this is the most common suspect in any udon outlet. Yet, their homemade broth just makes this very special. And after that, everyone ended up pretty stuffed. Then again, a lot of us were pretty buzzed as well seeing that the alcohol menu for the all you can drink was pretty extensive. So it was about the right time to leave the premises. 

Front of the house. 

This has been probably my most interesting udon experience to date. However, I do note that only 2 dishes are udon. Having said that, the bevy of dishes and the variety of a flavours was what made this dining experience particularly special. And of course, the great company made it all worth it. So if you would like to try what Anpuku has to offer, which includes various udon fusions liek carbonara and seafood, and I strongly recommend you do, the address is as follows:

1-chome-37-8 Nishi ikebukuro Toshima City Tokyo-to