My partner wanted to have lunch out, and of course, I'm going to accompany him. He was so curious about the udon and soba place so famous among the locals that opened in the neighboring town, as we had heard from his family. He actually thought I'd been there the day before because we were talking about it. I didn't remember the name and so did he, and even when he had to ask his mom about it, no immediate reply came because she was working of course.
My partner had to google hard and shortly after, we're on our way to the neighboring town. We weren't sure if this was the right place but we trusted my partner's intuition anyway.
The restaurant opens at 11:30 AM, and we arrived at the premises less than 5 minutes from 11:30 AM but the parking lot was already full. It's a weekday so it surprised us that there were many customers. Later on, we found out there were many older people dining in. There's additional parking on the other side of the road but we're a bit confused about it so we had to park in the supermarket beside it. Don't worry, we did our groceries there after eating so it's alright for us to park there.
Luckily we didn't have to wait for our turn as there were still available seats left for us. If we had been 15 minutes late, we would have had to wait in the queue. Yes, that's how famous this restaurant is, that when it just opened and it's already full.
Seeing the queue made us think that my partner's intuition was right. We're in the right place! Lucky!
The restaurant is called Yamato Honjin (大和本陣) and it's located in Gojo, Nara. Gojo is in the south of Nara so probably you won't be lost in this area if you're a tourist.
We sat in the tatami seats, perfect for groups and couples but there were counter seats too for people who came alone. The seats were limited, so it's not really advisable to dine in here if you're with a group of more than 4.
Funny, my partner was holding on to the menu the whole time so I was not able to properly check it. Besides the menu was all in Japanese, it's not my first language and it would take some time for me to read and understand it. The moment I got the menu was the moment the waitress came to get our orders. I mumbled a random set meal I read from the wall of the counter seat far from me.
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My partner ordered 2 of his favorite food: maguro (マグロ or tuna) and tororo (とろろ or grated mountain yam). They had maguro tororo in their menu, so naturally, my partner would get it. He even ordered a second helping, that's how he liked it. Later on, he made this at home.
He added shoyu (しょうゆ or soy sauce) in the maguro tororo and mixed it, then it's ready to be eaten. I don't really like sticky food, that's why I don't usually eat tororo but my partner forced me to eat and realized ah, this is a heavenly appetizer. It was better than what I expected, although I still hate the sticky flavor.
My partner ordered the katsu set meal but changed the udon to niku udon. Niku is meat in English, so yes, you got it right, the udon is fully covered with meat. There were salads, beans, and pickles too.
My order came and honestly, I forgot what I ordered. 😅 I just got reminded when it arrived.
My order was the miso katsu don with a small bowl of udon. Basically, it's katsu (pork cutlet) covered in miso sauce and because it's a don, it's a rice bowl. I regretted later ordering this not because it was not delicious but because the miso katsu was so big it was hard to eat it with rice under it. I wanted to have another plate to put the katsu. 😄
They didn't skimp on the katsu (cutlet). It was a lot! It was a good pair on the small bowl of udon. I didn't really like the miso to take over the whole katsu so this amount of miso sauce was just right for me. It was flavorful, just like what I have tasted in Nagoya, where miso katsu is popular.
I didn't realize if the udon noodles' thickness were even, but I remembered its texture to be good. The soup had a hint of sweetness, or was it my partner's niku udon soup? He let me taste his soup to compare it with mine.
Even with all this abundant food in front of us, unfortunately, we were not able to finish it all. It was a feast but I was so full as I just had my breakfast, and my partner had been sweating nonstop (he's been like this, and hasn't yet sought medical advice) so we need to get back home asap. We had to bid farewell to all this mouth-watering food but we promised to come back to this restaurant when our conditions will be a little better than this day. The next time we will be back, I'll order the shrimp tempura set meal I saw on the other table. 😅 The only question is when.
Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね！
With love,
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.