I was surprised to see that the prices for "#kakeudon" have more than doubled! ●Kakeudon (small) Old price: 130 yen → Current price: 290 yen ●Kakeudon (medium) Old price: 230 yen → Current price: 430 yen ●Kakeudon (large) Old price: 330 yen → Current price: 590 yen Well, the prices used to be too low, so the increase is probably to raise the employees' salaries. Speaking of which, the day before, the Bank of Japan Governor mentioned that "the tolerance for price increases in household budgets is increasing" and received criticism. But in reality, it has become true. To be honest, those who get criticized are the ones who lie because they are afraid of being criticized. In the end, it seems like it's the people of Japan who are making the country worse! Looking at photos from five years ago, you can see that the quality of pork has decreased. Nowadays, it's the era where Japanese people go overseas to work. It's surprising! If companies are cautious about raising the salaries of regular employees who are not easy to dismiss, maybe starting with those whose jobs are easier to cut would help improve the economy? Well, either way, food in Japan used to be too cheap, so price increases are inevitable! (*^◯^*) #hanamaruudon #yoshinoyagroup #sanukiudon #pricehike #free tempura with app coupon

The thick noodles here are really good. The sweet and savory flavor of grated beef udon is irresistible. Topped with grated daikon, it's refreshing to eat. The interior of the restaurant has a clean feel. However, I don't want to eat pre-made tempura. I can't help feeling that self-service udon restaurants are a bit messy.

Hanamaru Udon is currently holding a rich tsukemen fair, and at the Namba location, they are offering a limited-time spicy pork sesame tsukemen. Although I wanted to try the beef tsukemen, I ended up ordering the pork one. The fact that it's a store-exclusive item is quite appealing. They have three types of tsukemen available, all priced at 690 yen regardless of size. I decided to go for the medium size. The tsukemen is made right in front of you, with a generous amount of pork, sesame sauce, and a dash of chili oil. I used a discount coupon from the app, so it cost me 660 yen. I also added a few pieces of tempura on the side. The pork in the tsukemen was cooked perfectly, and the sesame sauce paired well with the cold noodles. I even tried adding some tempura into the broth, which added a nice crunch. Overall, it was a satisfying meal, and I even finished the leftover broth by diluting it with some water. The tsukemen fair at Hanamaru Udon includes "Yuzu Beef Tsukemen" and "Fish and Pork Bone Tsukemen," both of which are available for a limited time. The Yuzu Beef Tsukemen features juicy beef cooked with onions in a sweet and savory sauce, while the Fish and Pork Bone Tsukemen combines fish broth with rich pork bone soup. Both are delicious options to try during the promotion.

Hanamaru Udon Namba Nansan Street Store I had never been to this udon chain restaurant, Hanamaru, before. I was in a hurry and craving lunch when I saw the sign. Before I knew it, I was walking through the automatic door into the store. The ordering process was similar to Marugame Seimen, where you choose what you want to order and pick any additional side dishes or toppings. The pork had a refreshing seasoning and the chewy udon noodles were perfectly tangled together, making it delicious. Thank you for the meal!

Visit on September 27, 2022. I have been here several times, but this is my first post. Kake Udon for 360 yen, Croquette for 130 yen, Squid Tempura for 130 yen. It's convenient to be close to Namba Station and be able to eat right after ordering, isn't it?

I often go to the major chain udon restaurant, Marugame Seimen, which has many locations nearby. However, I rarely visit Hanamaru Udon, which is also a popular chain. In Sakai City, there is no Hanamaru Udon, but there are two affiliated stores. I recently visited the Hanamaru Udon Namba Nansan-dori store for a quick lunch. They offer a variety of udon dishes, including the basic bukkake and kake udon. I tried their limited-time cold bukkake udon, which was firm and typical of Sanuki udon. However, I found the cold broth to be slightly too salty. The portion of green onions was minimal. I also noticed that the cold udon was priced 100 yen higher than the hot udon, which seemed odd to me. Overall, it was a decent snack after lunch.

It was mentioned that it is a limited-time offer, and there was a cold version of Kake Udon available. You could get three servings of it along with three pieces of fried food for less than 1000 yen! It was cheap, delicious, and made me feel happy and satisfied. Personally, I slightly prefer the Bukkake style, and it seemed that they didn't have the usual tempura toppings available right at the opening, so the selection was a bit different. I realized that I really do like the familiar taste.

I visited Hanamaru Udon after a long time. I ordered udon with tempura and a soft-boiled egg, but it cost 700 yen, which felt really expensive compared to the 240 yen udon I usually eat at Namba Udon. It may be considered affordable by societal standards, but it seemed pricey to me. Be careful not to put too many tempura flakes on the bukkake udon. It's a hassle to clean up the mess after they soak up the broth.

Hanamaru Udon... I feel like I've been there before, but maybe not. I was in a bit of an "udon craze" and wanted to check out this chain restaurant in Namba. The interior is spacious with many booth and table seats. It's a self-service system where you pick up a tray, choose toppings like shrimp tempura for 150 yen, chicken tempura for 150 yen, and a plum and dried fish rice ball for 120 yen, then order a medium size kake udon for 350 yen. The total came to 770 yen. The kake udon in "medium" size was huge, more like one and a half servings. I think a small size would have been enough. As you can see in the photo, the balance between the noodles and broth wasn't great. By the time I finished half of the noodles, the broth was almost gone. The chewy texture of the noodles was good though. The warm plum and dried fish rice ball was delicious. Overall, it's a good place to fill up on a budget. Lesson learned. Thank you for the meal.

Yesterday, I had to work on Saturday so I stopped by for lunch. Normally, I come in the early evening, so it was my first time seeing it so crowded. I had the sweet potato tempura and a large serving of cold udon noodles. The sweet potato tempura was sweet like a dessert, almost like a snack. I was really hungry, but the large serving of cold udon noodles was a bit too much and I got tired of it halfway through. However, it was delicious. The atmosphere inside the restaurant is nice. One thing that always bothers me a little is that they don't collect paper waste right away. Even in the evening, it's often left lying around. It was even more noticeable during the busy lunchtime. However, compared to Marugame, it's better. In terms of cleanliness, Marugame has self-service for green onions and broth, so there are many people who eat in a messy way, which is unsettling. If you don't want to see that, it's better to go to Hanamaru.

"If the curry is delicious, then this might be good too," I thought as I tried the Demi-Glace Sauce poured over Kamatama Udon. I discovered this unique dish in November 2021 as a limited-time menu item at the store. What I ordered was the "Demi-Glace Beef Kamatama," which is Kamatama Udon topped with beef and Demi-Glace sauce. It was my first time seeing a Western-style Demi-Glace sauce poured over Udon noodles, especially when mixed with a raw egg to create Kamatama Udon. Personally, I have tried a custom Kamatama Udon with curry at this same Hanamaru Udon store in the past. It paired well as the home-style European curry roux complemented the dish nicely. Similarly, the deep flavor of the Demi-Glace sauce seemed to blend well with the richness of the raw egg. This Kamatama dish is only available at select stores, but if you enjoy Kamatama or Hayashi Rice, I recommend trying it if you get the chance."

During my trip, I hurried to Marugame Udon. It's a chain store so it's convenient to find anywhere. When I'm tired, I like to have udon. The soy sauce flavor of the udon broth is refreshing and helps to relieve fatigue. My favorite is udon with sweet potato tempura. The tempura was large in size, which made me happy. There are many seats available, and acrylic dividers are properly installed. According to the staff, it gets very crowded during the day with long lines extending outside. It's a thriving spot near Namba Station, so I recommend going at off-peak dining times.

I went to lunch at 11:15. I ordered one small kake udon with extra green onions, extra ginger, and a little sesame. I also ordered one nasu ten. I used a ¥100-off coupon from the Hanamaru Udon app. Thank you! (^^)

I went to Morning Udon in the pouring rain at 10:30. There was one customer sitting alone and three customers sitting together. I ordered a small size kake udon with extra green onions and sesame, and a little bit of yuzu shichimi. I also got a free shrimp tempura using a coupon from the Hanamaru Udon app. Thank you!

"This is another interesting creation they've come up with." This time, I tried a cold noodle dish with dashi broth mixed with koji. Just the other day, I had a noodle dish called "Yamagata Dashi Cold Noodles" at another Hanamaru Udon location, which featured Yamagata dashi broth as a topping. However, at the Namba store I visited this time, they offered a different cold noodle dish with a topping other than Yamagata dashi. It was the "Koji Ginger Cold Noodles" served with tempura made from Yoshinoya's pickled ginger. This dish is a summer-exclusive cold noodle dish with cold dashi broth mixed with koji. While Hanamaru Udon serves dishes with salt koji at all their locations, such as "Salt Pork and Green Onion Udon" or "Salt Pork and Grated Radish Udon," this cold noodle dish with koji seems to be limited to certain stores like the one in Namba. The flavor of the dish was similar to the "Yamagata Dashi Cold Noodles" I had before, thanks to the ginger topping, but the dashi broth had a mellow taste and richness that seemed to come from the koji. As for the "Yoshinoya Pickled Ginger Tempura" I ordered with the cold noodles, I have had tempura or kushikatsu made with pickled ginger before, but this tempura was a first for me. When I tried it, the sweetness of the onion was enhanced by the spicy flavor of the ginger. For those who prefer a refreshing taste, the Yamagata dashi cold noodles would be a good choice, while those who enjoy a balance of clarity, mellowness, and richness in their dish would appreciate the koji cold noodles. There may not be many stores that offer dishes with koji, so I recommend trying Hanamaru Udon's cold noodles this summer, including the koji options."

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the soba restaurant in Namba Parks is closed. As an alternative, I remembered about Hanamaru Udon nearby and decided to visit. I found a unique ginger tempura that reminded me of ginger tempura, and also discovered a rare dish called isobe-age with nagaimo. I knew that they had started offering fried chicken (karaage) in collaboration with a fried chicken shop, so I decided to compare it with the chicken tempura. As usual, I ordered the udon noodles as my main dish, resulting in a somewhat unbalanced menu. In the end, I concluded that the chicken tempura went better with the udon noodles than the fried chicken, and I regretted not pairing the ginger tempura with hot soup noodles. The nagaimo was not bad on its own, but I think it would have been even better if they stuck to traditional menu items like udon noodles and barley rice porridge. This time, the fault was in my menu selection rather than the restaurant itself, and I ended up with a disappointing dinner. I apologize for that.

"Oh, they released it again this year. Hmm, is this a limited edition here?" I received the limited edition Torotama Bukkake Udon at this store in Namba on this day. Last year around this time, I had the Torotama Udon, which is a slimy type of udon with grated yam and egg, at this store. When I visited the store this day, a new Torotama Udon that was not available last year was introduced. The one I ordered this time was the Torotama Mentaiko Shirasu Bukkake (bukkake means poured over) Udon. It includes mentaiko (spicy cod roe) and shirasu (baby sardines), which is quite rare for a slimy udon with grated yam. Depending on the region, shirasu is said to be in season from late March to May in spring. Considering this, the Torotama Udon this time might be perfect for this season. In terms of taste, the light shirasu and strong mentaiko were well balanced by the grated yam and egg, creating a harmonious overall flavor. According to the store's website, other stores offer a Torotama Wasabi Buta Shabu Bukkake Udon, which uses wasabi as an accent. I would like to try that one if I have the chance. I hope this review is helpful for you to consider.

Please take a look at this set. Do you notice something? Haha, I am actually not a fan of udon, but I am eating it. And even though I have a shellfish allergy, I am eating shrimp. Recently, there are many delicious udon shops popping up, and I am starting to like the firm texture of Kansai-style udon. And the cost performance of this place is great! It's a good place to casually drop by.

"I mean, this is practically Italian, isn't it?" That's what I couldn't help but think when I found the shrimp and tomato cream udon at this restaurant. It's not pasta, it's udon. While other 'Hanamaru Udon' locations have been offering the 'Delicious! Hamaguri Udon' as a limited-time menu for the fourth year in a row, this particular store near Takashimaya in Namba did not have the hamaguri udon, but instead had an equally impactful udon. That's the "Shrimp Tomato Cream Udon" that I ordered this time. Tomato cream sauce is commonly used in Italian cuisine or as a sauce for various dishes in French or Western-style restaurants, but using it for udon is rare (at least as far as I know, aside from 'Hanamaru Udon' and 'Tsurutontan'). In terms of taste, the thick udon noodles are somewhat similar to fettuccine, so the rich tomato cream sauce surprisingly complements it well in my opinion. However, there is almost no traditional Japanese dashi flavor in comparison to other udon, so some older customers or those looking for a more traditional taste might find it odd. I know that 'Hanamaru Udon' focuses on creating menus for young women, but this particular udon seems especially geared towards them. If you're curious, give it a try. Of course, if you're hesitant, feel free to stick to the classic kake udon. (wry smile)

I adjusted my schedule and arrived shortly after the restaurant opened. There was no one ahead of me, but there were three groups of customers who came in after me. I paid with PayPay. I ordered a small size Kake Udon with extra green onions, ginger, and sesame seeds. The warm udon was very comforting. I also had a lotus root tempura, which was free with a coupon from the Hanamaru Udon app. Thank you so much!