Marugame Udon or Marugami Seimen is a Japanese franchise that first opened it’s shop in 2000 in Kakogawa City. It’s a self-service style restaurant that specializes in Sanuki Udon. They have several locations all over world and just recently opened their first shop in the Philippines last August 2017. They are located at High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
During our recent vacation in Manila, we noticed the long lines outside this restaurant almost everyday when we would walk along High Street to scout for restaurant options for dinner. We didn’t have any clue at all that this is a well known franchise when we got in line. The wait wasn’t that bad since the line was moving quite quickly and efficiently. It was only when we were seated that I vaguely remember my sister have told me about this place. How much they enjoyed the food here and that we should put this in our “must go to” list.
The restaurant is very nicely decorated, it’s just like stepping into those typical Udon places in Japan. They also have a system in how you place your order. First, choose your type of Udon and then let them know if you like it served “hot’ or cold”. BTW, there are two kinds of serving size regular or large. Wait for your Udon to be prepared or cooked, once it’s ready you can place it on your tray. Move your tray and select from several omusubi and tempura side dishes offered. The choices was impressive, there were at least five kinds of omusubi – spam, tuna, salmon to name a few. There were enormous vegetable kakiage, chicken karaagee, gyoza, tempura and so much more. Once you have chosen your sides, you proceed to the register and pay. There is a condiment station where you can season and flavor your udon the way you want it. The servers will also point you out to your table which is really convenient specially in a such a busy place.
On our first visit we got the following.
Tendon
Omelette Katsu
Pork Paitan
Spicy Pork Udon
and side order of vegetable kakiage and kaarage omusubi.
Food was great specially for the price and serving size. I find the broth authentic tasting and the noodles fresh. The vegetable kakiage was good too, but it would have been better if more variety of vegetables was used since I find that it had too much onions in it. We like the omusubi too and even had spam omusubi to go.
The second time we went we got the usual Pork Paitan and Tendon and tried out these two dishes:
Chicken Paitan
Beef Ontama Bukkake Udon
and Noritama Omusubi as well various tempura as sides.
We love this place and wish we have one here in the Northeast. I learned that the first North American location just opened in L.A. September 2017 just one month after the Philippine shop opened.
