Manmaru Homemade Udon Truly Best Udon @ Mid Valley By FollowmeToEatLa

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!

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.  

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.

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)

Website:  http://www.manmaru.com.my/

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/manmaru.com.my/