Udon West

150 E 46th St (btw Lex and 3rd Ave)

New York, NY 10017

212.922.9677

(other locations include St. Marks and Flushing)

appetizer

//fried tofu: tender and soft on the inside, slightly crispy on the outside, topped off with chopped scallions and sauce. I would definitely recommend this dish to anyone looking for something light and tasty to get started.

//pickled plum riceball: just the right size for me. simple, tasty, other than Go (at St. Marks), this is my fav pickled plum riceball in town (out of the restaurants I've had).

food

//Beef Bowl combo: beef and onion stir fry on top of rice AND a bowl of udon noodles. yes, you can have a rice bowl and noodles all in one meal. needless to say, it's very filling and I ended up taking half of the rice to go.

//grilled pike: T. ordered this and I'm glad she did. crispy to the bones, an exciting fish that is just big enough to share. fun side dish. oh, for all of you people who don't eat fish skin, this pike's skin is so crispy and tasty. try it!

dessert

//black sesame ice cream: black sesame is a quite popular flavor in China (and probably Asia too), almost as popular as red bean (azuki bean) and green bean (mung bean). you can get black sesame milk tea, black sesame filled pastries, and so on. I haven't seen much black sesame ice cream in restaurants so I had to try it. just as good as I remembered.

//green tea ice cream: not as sweet as the usual green tea I get. quite refreshing after dinner.

location/atmosphere/etc

//I'm always in St. Marks for cozy Japanese food (non-sushi kind) so I didn't think I'd find much in midtown (well, Sakagura is slightly pricey for dinner....although yummy). In our search for food, J. recommended us to a place on 44th st (unfortunately was closed when we got there). The sign on the closed restaurant pointed to two restaurants, one of them was Udon West. B. and T. had both gone to Japan before, so I'm glad they approve of the food. The good thing about restaurants not in the downtown area is that they offer a lot more space and you can usually hear your party's conversations. Very friendly staff. Not too far from Grand Central. I wonder if we can order take out from here when we go to Karaoke Duet (east side location)