Marukame Udon (Hawaii) – So Cheap! So Yum! So Good!
They have seven options to choose from and they range from $3.75 – $6.75 USD. It’s a wicked deal and I would suggest trying out as many variations of these dishes as you can while you’re in Honolulu.
In orderly fashion, people line up, grab a ‘cafeteria’ tray and plate and select the udon they want. Then the udon maker will prepare the dish in (literally) a few seconds and hand it to you.
All of the udon is made fresh in front of your eyes so you’ll never get bored waiting in line. It’s like a free show. For foodies 😛 Every employee at Marukame has one specific job to do and they do it well. They have one guy that works almost every day and his job is just to boil the udon. That is probably the most difficult position in the restaurant so while it looks redundant and easy, I actually really admire his expertise.
After you get handed your udon, you will shimmy along the line and reach the tempura bar. Various battered goodies are up for grabs and they will add about $1.50 each to your overall bill depending on how much you load up here.
They have everything from fried chicken, tempura mushrooms, asparagus, pumpkin, hard boiled egg, to spam musubis and onigris.
In total, Meta Knight and I ate here three times in seven days. I know.. this place was THAT good. On my first visit I got the Regular Cold Ontama Udon ($4.25) with Spam Musubi and Croquette. In total, my meal cost me about seven bucks. The onsen egg was friggin delicious and I couldn’t get over the perfect al dente texture of the fresh udon. Bouncy with a bit of chew.
Meta Knight could not resist the Marukame favourite, Niku Udon ($5.75) with Vegetable and Shrimp Tempura. Though the vegetable tempura looked huge, it was mostly onion so we avoided getting this on our future visits. It was also heavily battered so it didn’t help us feel any healthier eating it.
His broth was super flavourful and did not disappoint!
The famous Hawaiian musubi. All it is, is a slice of spam on top of a white rice ball, wrapped in seaweed. To be honest the one here was definitely not that great. Passable, but definitely not better than the ones from Musubi Cafe Iyasume (I will have a future post on it).
Second visit: Regular Kamaage Udon ($3.75) with Fried Chicken and Bean Curd Musubi. Kamaage udon is served hot in a wooden basket and is served with a hot Bukkake dipping sauce. The sauce is flavoured with green onion, tempura bits, grated ginger, and ground sesame.
On the second visit, I chose the Kake Udon ($3.75) with onsen egg, tempura fish stick, and vegetable tempura (I forgot how displeased I was with the first one and got it again >.<). Made with just bonito flakes and seaweed, the Kake broth was clean and refreshing.
On the third visit, Meta Knight loved the Kamaage Udon so much he got it again. This was his ultimate favourite by far because of the flavourful Bukkake dipping sauce.
