Dining Out - Hawaii Edition II

What I noticed in Hawaii which is not here in the bay area (sad) is the series of authentic Japanese noodle/udon houses. We would randomly run into some very traditional small noodle house while we were walking! This udon house – Warukame had caught my eyes as we passed by during our first day there since nearby our hotel. Then every day we walked by there is a long line out the door. I begged my travel buddy to try this with me almost everyday. She said she’s not a noodle person and ignored my request. I vouched to try this before I left Hawaii and finally got the chance on my last day in Hawaii alone.

Hawaii Food Series #2: Warukame Udon

So what is so special about this place. First of all, the udon was freshly made in-house! You can actually see them making the udon from scratch, boiled, and prepared right in from of you. I noticed that all their udon ingredients (e.g. flours) were from Japan. Second of all, this restaurant is cafeteria style dinning. You get to custom order your udon, with the type of broth, meat, etc. and then you pick if you want any sides which are mainly tempura.

There are about 6 types of different udon on the menu, cold udon, curry udon, beef, udon, etc. I ordered the kake udon with a soft boiled egg (regular) where they crack the egg in front of you. Then as I proceeded to the tempura/misubi station, I selected the fish cake tempura ($1.25), sweet potato tempura ($1.25), and a spam misubi ($1.75). All of the above came in less than $10! Very reasonable!







kake udon with a soft boiled egg (regular) - The udon is so delicious. It tasted so fresh and had a nice chewy consistency, just like the one I had in Osaka.

fish cake tempura (huge!) and sweet potato tempura - I took my first bite of the tempura and my eyes lit up immediately. This is by far the lightest tempura I’ve had. Crispy and not too heavily battered. Most importantly when I bit into it I didn’t had a mouthful of oil squeezed out.

Gotta have the Misubi while you are in Hawaii. So I ordered 1 to-go for my mid-day snack later.

I really like this place. Everything at Marukame is fresh, good quality and meticulously prepared. A simple restaurant focuses on quality over quantity. And under the budget in Hawaii? This is considered dirt cheap. I wish we have a place like this in the bay area.