Midtown Lunch

While walking around in the area between Grand Central and Japan Society looking for a lunch spot (I had no idea what I wanted except that I was craving for Japanese food), I was drawn to Udon West’s big menu banner outside the restaurant (on 46th btw. Lex+3rd). It has been well documented that I love a good bowl of oyakodon and wouldn’t mind eating it everyday. So of course when I saw it on the menu I had to check it out.

To me a perfect bowl of oyakodon needs to have soft scrambled eggs that are still slightly runny, dark meat, perfectly flavored with dashi, soy and mirin and there must be a good amount of rice (I tend to eat a lot of rice). So far the only bowl that has come close to perfection is one that I had at Men Kui Tei in the East Village. In Midtown I thought Sapporo (in the sit down restaurant category) did a pretty decent job with their version, but Udon West’s oyakodon ($8.75) took it to the next level.

Properly cooked eggs? Check. Dark meat? Check. And the overall flavor was just delicious. The only thing that could have made it better is if it had seaweed or diced scallions on top. For the same price as Sapporo, Udon West’s came with a small plate of pickled daikon and sesame seaweed and most importantly I was properly full for the rest of the day (something that doesn’t happen to me a whole lot.)

Udon West might a glorified Teriyaki Boy but it does serve a damn good bowl of oyakodon. It’s my favorite one so far but there are still so many bowls of oyakodon for me to try. On to the next!

Udon West, 150 E. 46th Street (btw. Lex+3rd), 212-922-9677