miso udon in nagoya

I was in Japan for a couple of days recently and had to make a train connection at the Nagoya station on my way to Gifu.  My Japanese colleague took us to this spot under the station that serves one of the local speciality, thick udon noodle in thick and hearty chicken miso broth.

Not much to say about the place itself, pretty typical of a nice Japanese train station eatery - clean, bright, wooden table and benches, courteous and efficient staff.  I didn't even look at what else was on the menu, just ordered the noodles, I got the seasonal selection with a couple different kinds of mushrooms.  The noodle soup was served in a very nice but clearly well used clay pot, on a round wooden tray.  It came to the table boiling hot and the pot helped to keep the broth stayed nice and hot until the end.  There was also a plate of raw, undressed, thinly sliced red onion and napa cabbage to give you some crunch and some contrast from the broth and noodles.  I thought about adding it to the broth at some point but my colleague and everyone else around us were eating that separately, either with some of the soy sauce on the table or just straight.

I saw some people using the lid as a serving bowl, but I just dig in directly from the pot.  The noodle was quite thick and chewy, it is probably the best udon noodle I have had in terms of texture.  As is common with noodle soups in Japan, the broth is a bit salty, but well balanced.  And in the case, it has a real fantastic depth of flavor, earthy and a little funky.  I had to eat really slowly because I was wearing a white shirt and the long and thick noodles were not easy to deal with if I wanted to avoid having broth on my shirt.  But that less than half of my usual noodle eating speed really helped my enjoy this bowl (or pot).

I hope something brings me back to Nagoya.  As good as this place was, there has to be other joints in town that serve this dish in other variations and incarnations that I would love to try.