Self Udon

Of course, that means self-service udon, a popular kind of relatively low-cost restaurant in Japan. When you come in the door, you're at the beginning of a cafeteria-type line, but one with a difference since you don't want to eat udon that's been soaking in hot water too long. What do you is select a bowl of cooked, room temperature udon (small, medium, or large) and move one step to your left (or right, depending on the room, of course). There you dump your udon into a wire basket and set it into the tub of hot water just in front of you. Wait a minute, then lift out your udon and put it back into your bowl, now warmed up.

Next you choose your toppings, typically tempura of various kinds. Want tempura scraps. like the floating bits the fish and chips shops in England used to throw in? They're there for the taking. Ditto for chopped green onion.

Then you pay, then you add the broth.

Voila!

Lee and I paid about 850 yen for our two bowls. It was pretty good, too. The udon was handmade.