Marukame Udon, Chatswood

I've been searching up a couple of holiday destinations (dreaming I was somewhere more fun than Sydney haha), especially restaurant/food recommendations there, and came across Marukame Udon a couple of times in different countries. I had yet to visit their Sydney branch since I live so far away from it, so when I visited Chatswood for a shopping trip, Marukame was the first place that popped to my mind when deciding on a lunch destination.

 Bukkake Udon With Slow Cooked Egg (L) $6.9

We arrived early to avoid crowds, but luckily, its large, double storey seating area meant that despite the large volumes of customers at peak hours, the crowd never really built up, unlike it's neighbour, Mokoto. Because the queue was so short and fast moving, I barely had time to look through the menu, so I ordered my usual favourite, the Bukkake udon with egg. The noodles are deliciously soft and slippery, with the perfect amount of bounce.

 Curry Udon With Beef (M)$8.90

We also try the curry udon, which comes swimming in a pool of tasty Japanese curry. It's surprisingly filling, and could easily be had a meal of its own. 

Vegetable Tempura and Sesame Chicken

It took all the self control I had not to grab every fried food there was on offer, as I'm a sucker for fried foods- especially if there's a tempura batter involved! I ended up settling on the the veggie tempura, a big mound of thin strips of various vegetables in crunchy tempura batter (although not quite as big an impressive as my favourite version at Menya Mappen!) and also the sesame fried chicken which was tender and crispy, with its flavour enhanced by the subtle fragrant taste of sesame, which we had originally thought was more for the looks than the taste. 

Tempura Whiting and Taiyaki (Fish shaped cake)

The tempura whiting was nice and light, though concentrate hard when you are eating it, as we were surprised to find a couple of small bones within. We're not usually huge fans of taiyaki, but we wanted something sweet to end with. Their version appears to be deep fried, with its exterior being incredibly crunchy, whilst its pancake-like interior remains light and soft, paired with a delightful red bean filling. We quite enjoy this version, and definitely would order it again next time! :)