Menjiro

Should you make katsudon the centrepiece, or choose udon? At Menjiro in Umeda, you can order a small bowl of udon alongside a rice bowl, making the set a good choice when you want to try both. Diners who ordered the katsudon and udon set have remarked on the egg, gently cooked with the flavour of the broth, and the noodles’ pleasantly firm bite. The small udon can be served hot or cold: choose a warming bowl of broth with your rice, or try the texture of chilled noodles.

For a meal built around udon, hot noodles are also available in a small size without reducing the quantity of toppings or broth. One diner described the meat udon as coming in a slightly sweet broth with generous amounts of beef, onion and spring onion. There is also burdock tempura udon, and a serving of burdock tempura is available as an extra topping.

For a more substantial lunch, consider the set meal with 4 pieces of fried chicken, rice and a small udon. You can choose hot or cold udon, and a larger serving of rice is available at no extra charge. Fried chicken can also be ordered on its own, with the number of pieces to choose from.

This small restaurant is in the basement of Osaka Ekimae Building No. 3 and has mostly counter seating. It can suit solo diners. Payment is cash only.