Some of the train companies in Japan have built up stores, restaurants, etc. around their train stations. For instance, you can find Seibu Department Stores near some of the main Seibu train line stations. Odakyu is also in on the action with their line that runs from Shinjuku to Hakone (Odawara really) which I take a couple times a week. I don’t go all the way to Hakone (or Odawara), but that doesn’t matter if I want to enjoy Hakonesoba (箱根そば or Hakosoba as written on the door in romaji) since it is offered at nearly all of the stops along the way.

I have sampled their seasonal offerings a couple of times now. For December they are combining two of my favorites into one–sukiyaki and udon (牛すきうどん). This is what you see pictured above, complete with raw egg (which doesn’t stay raw very long in hot soup). It was good, but not as good as I was hoping. The broth tasted more like regular udon. I was hoping for something that tasted more like sukiyaki with udon thrown in. Oh well… Maybe they will feature that version as their seasonal specialty in January. 😉 I can’t complain since it was under 500 yen.

Posted on December 13th, 2009 under Japan • Tags: food, udon. • RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed