Let your taste buds run wild with the taste of the Land of the Rising Sun! Manmaru Udon is the first self-service concept udon restaurant in Malaysia. Located conveniently in Mid Valley, one of the most happening malls in town, your dining experience is worth the trip!
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| Manmaru Homemade Udon |
Inspired by the truest traditions of Japanese
cuisine and infused with the imagination of contemporary tastes, Manmaru which means 'perfectly round’ or 'circular' in Japanese, conveys a lifelong
passion in serving the perfectly freshest and
finest Japanese food while providing its diners a well-rounded culinary experience they
will never forget.
As I spoke to Mr Richard, the proprietor of Manmaru, I can feel his passion and commitment towards his business. Committed to providing the highest standard of Japanese noodles, he took a trip to Kagawa Prefecture in Japan to learn the art of udon making. A quick check in the Web, also reveal that Kagawa Prefecture located on Shikoku Island, Japan is also known as “Udon Prefecture”.
Udon is one of the most popular Japanese noodles around.
It's made from 100% wheat flour, salt and water. Hot soup and dipping sauce are made from soy sauce and soup
stock, which is made from bonito flakes, kombu seaweed among others. Some like it hot, and cold … Udon is topped
off in many different ways, but usually always either hot, in a steaming
fish-based broth, or cold.
We usually eat it in hot soup or with dipping sauce. They can be served cold with a dipping sauce or in a hot
broth with toppings. Udon is considered
fast and healthy food with basic dishes and usually go along well with
common toppings include tempura, thin slices of fish cake, beef, deep fried
bean curd or even seaweed.
Manmaru offers Japanese dining experience with a wide range
of authentically classic to special udon menu to meet its diners taste and demands. Diners
can take their pick from the available menu of 10 varieties of broth or soup base
starting from classic Kamaage Udon, Zaru Udon, Kake Udon, Bukake Udon, Niku Udon to the
adventurous ones like Curry Udon, Kimchi Udon, Cream Corn Udon, Ume Udon and Kamo Seiro Udon among others.
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| Udon Making Process |
What sets Manmaru apart from the other restaurants selling
udons are that they placed great importance in only serving the best and high
quality noodles.The texture of Manmaru Udon's noodles is what makes them unique.
Keeping his promise of serving the freshest udon, a special
noodle machine is placed right in the restaurant making it possible to produce
high quality udon solely for this purpose. They make all of their udons in the
restaurant itself to maintain the freshness and quality. According to Richard, all noodles are freshly made in house and, then cooked by boiling them
hot water for 10 minutes. The noodles are then served and should be consumed within
15 minutes.
How to eat Udon Noodles?
We need some knacks of eating udon. Watch
what the diners are doing in the restaurant, and you will understand how to
order and eat udon.
1) First, we have to order
correctly.
2) Secondly, we choose additional flavours to suit our taste.
3) Select
your udon, next add your favourite side dish.
4) After which, you can choose your
delicious tempura and complete your meal with a drink.
5) You can get additional
flavours to udon by topping with "Agedama (tenkasu)" crispy
tempura flakes, "Shoga" mince ginger, white radish
and/or "Goma" sesame. Once all that is done, now you are
ready to eat.
Let's slurp back the udon noodles with chop-sticks!
A medley of delicious vegetables tempura
items to choose from such as “Enoki” golden needle mushroom, “Yasai kakiage
Tempura” crispy mix vegetables, “Nasu Tempura” brinjal, “Renkon Tempura” lotus
root, “Satsuma-Imo Tempura” sweet potatoes and Green pepper Tempura.
Yasai Kakiage Tempura
My favourite tempura of the night is the “Yasai kakiage Tempura”. It’s the colourful
combination that delighted my senses. Around 6 to 7 kinds of julienne vegetables: carrots, brinjal, onions, sweet potatoes, green pepper and pumpkin was finely cut and deep fried to crisp perfection. Loved the different
texture and flavours in the mix vegetables. Delicious! The flavours complement
each other perfectly and it was very colourful and pretty too.
Feast upon appetizing servings
of seafood tempura – Ebi Tempura (Prawn), Ika Karaage (Squid), White Fish
Tempura and the Tori Karaage (Chicken).
I enjoyed eating the Tori Karaage as deboned
chicken drumstick was juicy and tender. Bursting with flavour, well marinated
and crisp but a little on the salty side, still it made a good complement to
eat with the udon.
Glorious looking
selection of udon starting with (clockwise) Niku Udon (Sliced beef), Cream Corn
Udon, Cold Bukake Udon (thick fish broth), Kimchi Udon (Spicy Korean style) and
Curry Udon.
Detectable authentic (top)
Kake Udon (classic soy udon) and (bottom)
Ume Udon (refreshing udon served with pickled plum.
The twin of the Udons is
the Zaru Udon & Kamaage Udon (bottom). Zaru Udon which is an all time favourite cold noodle while the Kamaage Udon is served hot, an ‘Al dente’ style udon with warm kamaage sauce.
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| Standing Out: Kamo Seiro Udon |
The most interesting udon on the menu was the Kamo Seiro
Udon. Duck meat lover like me was won
over by the heavenly taste of the smoked duck and the gravy that comes with it.
Truly a winner, probably the best I had that evening.
Savoury and succulent
pieces of duck breast meat really goes well with the udon. Manmaru’s homemade Udon
has a firm, wonderful chewy texture. I think the extra long strands, meant to
signify long life, were springy and slurpy with every mouthful. The
noodles were devoured within minutes of being served.
So, if you are looking for quality
premium Japanese cuisine in a great and cozy environment, Manmaru is the place
to be! Get
prepared for an awesome Japanese dining experience that will surely thrill your
taste buds.
Manmaru Homemade Udon
S-045A, Mid Valley
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur.
Telephone : 2282 0287
Operation Hours : 10am – 10pm (Daily)
