Lemme tell you about udon noodles. I love ’em. I could eat them every day. For breakfast, for lunch, for a snack, you name it. I love ’em. And I love ’em even more when suspended in a tasty broth.
But I tend to hate most of the broths that restaurants put their udon noodles into; they are acrid and sweet. Not my thing.
But I love the broth Mikaku uses; it’s delicate. If you want to kick it up, they give you a shaker of Japanese red pepper that you can use if that’s your thing. That’s definitely my thing.
This specific bowl is the tempura udon. It’s served with–and you’re not going to believe this–tempura. They also give you some ponzu sauce if you don’t want to dip your tempura into the broth (or eat it plain).
The crazy thing about Mikaku is that they do seemingly everything: sushi, udon noodles, ramen, bento boxes, you name it. The problem with doing this is that, generally, the quality of everything overall takes a dip, but I’d still say their offerings are solid. Particularly this udon tempura dish: 5/5 in my book. Their sushi is also good. Their ramen is probably about as good as you’ll find at a place that doesn’t specialize in ramen, so take that how you like.
You can check out their full menu for yourself, if you want.
I got a dragon roll one of the times I went, too. Yummy nummy:
Mikaku is located in a shopping center in Herndon, Va., right off of Centreville Rd. The place is pretty impressive, and I’d definitely recommend it if you’re in the area.
Peripheral Chew 