Neighborhood Eats: Sanuki Udon offers quality, authentic Japanese-style noodles and tempura
GREENWICH VILLAGE, Manhattan (WABC) -- This week's Neighborhood Eats takes you to a restaurant with the perfect meal to warm you up this winter season.
Sanuki Udon, located on West 4th Street near New York University, is a fast casual restaurant specializing in making udon noodles and tempura.
Owner Billy Wang describes his business as a cafeteria-style restaurant that "we haven't seen anywhere in New York yet."
The process of ordering at Sanuki Udon is simple and quick.
You start in front of the line ordering your tempura, udon or rice bowl, which can take just a minute to get assembled. The tempura is fried and fresh, and since everything is ready to go, you just grab and go.
"You can go from waiting in line to checkout within two minutes. And I think even for a New Yorkers, that's pretty fast," Wang said.
Part of the Sanuki Udon customer experience is getting to watch your dish being made in real time.
"It was important to me to make sure that we are offering the best product, and also that it was being made the proper way, and that's why our noodle-making room has just a giant piece of glass. We have nothing to hide. We want people to see how we're making it," Wang said.
Wang describes his restaurant and its employees as detail-oriented and their food-making process as very strict. He says he wants to make sure they're using the best ingredients in order to serve customers with the most authentic noodles.
Two of Sanuki Udon's priorities when it comes to making food is quality and freshness.
"Our dough is made every day to be used the next day. We store it for 12 hours, and then on top of that, once we cook the noodles, if we don't sell it within 30 minutes, we also just throw it out. So when you come to Sanuki, you're guaranteed to have as fresh of noodles as you can possibly get," Wang said.
Wang admits he wasn't sure whether his restaurant or its concept would appeal to New Yorkers, but says they ended up having a great reception when they first opened.
In terms of menu favorites, Wang recommends the zaru udon, which is served cold and is a bit chewier since it's not sitting in broth. It also comes with a nice and simple dipping sauce on the side. For tempura, Wang says his favorites are the shrimp, Japanese yam and squash pieces.
As an NYU Stern graduate himself, Wang says opening his restaurant's first location in the U.S. near his alma mater holds special meaning.
"I just want to say thank you to NYU for the reception. It's a little more personal for me, as I was the class of 2011, just across the street, and it's great to be someone who has gone to Stern to learn business and is now operating a business right there," he said.
Wang says he hopes to continue building and expanding on his restaurant's brand in the future.
You can find out more about the restaurant's story on Sanuki Udon's website.
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