I was recently driving on McCully Street and a new restaurant sign caught my eye. I made it a point to look it up and find out more.
Udon Yonpachi opened about two weeks ago on McCully Street in the former space of Izakaya Torae Torae. The eatery started by opening for dinner — its menu features udon and izakaya-style small plates — and just started its lunch service.
Lunch features counter seating only, while the entire restaurant is open for dinner.
The lunch menu is more limited, compared to the eatery’s dinner options. The lunch menu features udon sets, which all come with a mini salad, kinpira gobo and mix rice (made with hijiki seaweed).
The noodles and sauces are made in house. We’re told that the restaurant gets its flour from Sun Noodle — who imports it from Japan — and uses a special machine to make the noodles. The udon noodles here are known for their firmer, chewier texture.
This dipping-style udon is the eatery’s signature dish. We’re told this udon style is from Saitama prefecture, which is north of Tokyo.
The noodles are served cold, separately from the broth, and customers dip the noodles into the hot broth at their leisure. This process ensures the noodles stay chewy throughout the duration of meal, instead of getting softer as they sit in the broth.
Pork or chicken can be included in the hot broth, if customers desire a more savory, meatier flavor. I enjoyed the noodles’ elasticity and chewy texture.
The shrimp tempura udon set comprises hot udon served with two pieces of shrimp tempura. This set features udon served in a more familiar way, and noodles are slightly softer, especially when sitting in the broth for some time.
Other lunch sets include curry udon, which features a curry-based soup ($21.50); tanuki udon ($18), or udon in a hot dashi broth with tempura flakes; and kitsune udon ($19). The latter features hot udon with jumbo inari.
Meanwhile, the dinner menu includes pūpū like takoyaki ($9.75), salted seaweed cabbage ($5.50), fried squid skewers ($7), inari sushi ($4), agedashi tofu ($8.50) and more. You can also choose from bowls like kake udon ($13.50), zaru udon ($13.50) and more.
Udon Yonpachi is open for dine-in only (no reservations accepted), but the eatery will eventually offer takeout. Limited customer parking is available in the restaurant’s lot.
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CONTACT
Udon Yonpachi
1111 McCully St. Ste. B-3, Honolulu
Instagram: @yonpachi_hawaii
Open for lunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, dinner 5-10 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays
Closed Sundays
Limited customer parking is available at the restaurant
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
