Patience is needed to get into Kunitoraya, tourists and Parisians alike queue fervently to set foot in this refined Japanese canteen.
This is place to come for udon noodes especially – which may be on the expensive side but are extremely well-prepared. Grab a seat at their long table and pick your udon: either in a hot soup, soaked in a cold sauce or sprinkled with cold sauce. The Kamaten Udon comes like a DIY kit, a hot stock into which you put large wheat noodles, along with with delicate tempura shrimp, vegetables and a quail’s egg. Or the Udon Kunitoraya, a hot miso soup with minced pork, radish and salsify – to be eaten in one go for the full effect of its fragrant and heady broth.
Don’t skip out on the delicate starters like the Karasumo Daïkon, slices of roe and Japanese radish or the Zushisaumon chirashi on vinegared rice with soft, plump fish roe. Both are more than worth the wait.
TRANSLATION: MEGAN CARNEGIE