[Sanuki Udon Tour] Day 2 _ Machikawa Udon

I had been dreaming about this 'Udon Bus'.
I had thought in the worst case, I could not take the bus, since I did not book it (phone call in Japanese seemed impossible).

Gladly found Mister Donut at Takamatsu Railway Station, sipping hot, steaming black coffee (262 Yen), I asked around tourist centers:
1) Can I get on the bus without reservation?
2) (since no one at the hotel knew about udon bus) Would the company run the bus even if there is no reservation?
...with no avail.

But exactly on 9.30 am, lime-green colored bus came into the bus stand number 11.
Hooray!

On 20th December, 3 of us were going for udon tour.
Only THREE.
Little bit shocked... in my mind, udon bus was festive and full of people from all over the world, with a single desire - taste the real Sanuki udon, but what hit me was a harsh reality of 'people do not go for tour on week days'.


Anyway, in the bus was a very kind female tour guide, and while we headed for the first Udonya, she explained basic information on Udon and the region, and since 2 were Korean among 3, she spoke slowly so that I can understand thoroughly.


<Machikawa Udon>
 

 

Early in the morning, we started our glorious journey with the blessing of shining sun - (oops)

This place is famous for Kake Udon and Tengu Udon.

Kake Udon : standard type of udon, boiled noodle and hot soup of Japanese anchovy & katsuobushi - dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna (says Wikipedia).

This is what I ate for the first time, a real Sanuki Udon, so the taste has been stayed for long. Simple, but profound soup (or to say, bouillon) and chewy noodle, bouncing through my teeth and tongue - it's different from al dente. When we say al dente, it usually means that we do not cook it perfectly, on purpose, to make the noodle chewy. However, Sanuki udon is wholly cooked, and it does not have any smell of uncooked flour. This texture is originated from the extraordinary way of kneading.

 

Tengu Udon :  original menu of Machikawa Udonya. 10 sorts of vegetables including squash and paprika, sliced beef make the soup sweet, but not artificial sense of sweetness. Tasted Sukiyaki-like.

* Tengu is a famous Japanese monster, with a long red nose (you can see on the 3rd picture of this post) and body of crow.

You can see the difference in size - Tengu Udon is a lot heavier and bigger than Kake Udon, though we ordered both 'small'.

Outside the Udonya, there is a raccoon figure, typically Japanese raccoon (tanuki). I am NOT sure, but there should be a certain pronunciational similarity with Sanuki.