(EXCLUSIVE) Ready-Set-Dough: Now taste Japanese freshly-cooked Sanuki Udon noodles in Live Kitchen Concept Restaurants in India

Gurgaon. You may have enjoyed freshly brewed beer straight from barrels, and also pizzas and subs baked fresh in ovens.

Now get ready to relish freshly cooked Sanuki Udon noodles – straight from the boilers in authentic Japanese style in India.

Two Japan natives have joined hands with their Indian friends to bring the live kitchen concept of Sanuki Udon restaurants to India – the concept which is very much prevalent in Japan and orient countries is spreading fast in other parts of the world too.

In India, the concept is yet to arrive.  However, countries like Hongkong, Thailand, and Philipines already have such restaurants. It came up in the USA too last year.

Freshly cooked noodles offer scintillating aroma and special taste with no preservatives, and are healthier and tastier as well, quite contrary to the prepacked noodles.

Named as Irasshai, which means ‘Welcome’ in Japanese language – the restaurant to be opened up in Gurgaon, would have Sanuki Udon noodles boiled in boiler machine, cut and served in front of you, allowing you to top up bowls with vegetables, seasonings and spices of your choice on the counter before you move to your table with soup of your choice.

Sanuki udon (讃岐うどん) is a type of udon noodle square shape and flat edges and is very popular in the Shikoku region of Japan. Sanuki is a region in Kagawa Prefecture in Shikoku Island where udon noodles were born and were made with hands. Later seimenki, the noodle-making machine was introduced.

Brothers duo Saurabh and Tilak Sondhi, who are already into hospitality business for over a decade in Gurgaon with their Hotel Crossroads hosting Japanese restaurants in the name of Gohan in Gurgaon, have associated with two of their Japanese friends Tamio Sugiura and Hitoshi Makino for this project.

Interestingly, Tamio Sugiura (70) is an engineer by qualification and former top-notch honcho of Japanese and Indian companies and has traveled across the world. He is an excellent amateur cook for self and food lover with incredible taste buds also.

“It is Tamio san who coined the idea of bringing the concept of Sanuki Udon noodles to India during one of his visits at Japanese cuisine restaurant Gohan at our hotel Crossroads.  Currently, there are different types of noodles like Ramen, Soba and Udon and these come in packaged or prepacked formats in India. But Sanuki udon concept will bring in the taste of freshly cooked noodles in a live kitchen situation,” said Saurabh Sondhi.

Further explaining the concept, Tilak Sondhi says the guests come to the counter where they could see chef’s hands making noodles manually through the window across the counter.

“Noodles are cut and boiled in different temperature settings in live kitchen scenario.  Customers here can grab a tray, decide to pour different size of noodles – medium or large in their bowls and slide the tray ahead. Then come a different kind of toppings – vegetarian and non-vegetarian – tofu, brinjal, fish etc all options are nicely displaced. The guest can pick any of these toppings with a tong and put on the top of the bowl,” Tilak said adding that on the offer are also 2-3 kinds of hot soups from the dispensers.

The guests can add seasonings and spices to suit their taste before going to their table to enjoy the servings with a specific soup based on soya sauce.

The Saurabh and Tilak along with their Japanese friends also visited parts of Japan like Nagoya prefecture recently to experience the concept, which is very famous in Japan.

“There we saw customers standing in queues on the counter, selecting noodles cooked in the live kitchen, adding toppings and seasonings they liked, paying for the same before moving to their tables with soups of their choices,” said Saurabh.

While explaining the history associated with Sanuki Udon noodles, Tamio Sugiura said it originated in Shikoku Island where people used to make noodles with hands. Some of the udon owners developed the machines for making noodles and it soon became a popular concept in Japan, he said.

“Known as Sanuki udon as the original name of these noodles, these are also famous as Marugame udon noodles,” said Tamio Sugiura.

Tamio Sugiura enjoys a deep-rooted connection with India as he has been coming to this country since 1985.  He worked as COO with a Gurgaon-based automotive company in Gurgaon from 2014 to 2018.

Having worked with many auto companies on top positions, traveled a lot for business and sometime would cook for self too during his tours. An engineer by profession as he holds a bachelor’s degree from the USA enjoys food and owns a passion for cooking too.

When asked about the flour to be used for noodles by them in India here in India, Saurabh said they were trying all Indian and imported flours to see which gives the right result and gives the same taste of Japan.

“It is more about the fineness, softness, and tensility of the flour that matters not the origin. We may use Indian produce also. We will use locally produced fresh vegetables as don’t want to compromise on the taste and quality,” said Tilak.

However, the soya sauce to be used here would be imported from Japan straight as this is naturally fermented there unlike the ones available in India, which are made with synthetics.

About the time of opening the restaurant in Gurgaon, Tilak said the machine for making noodles was on its way from Japan, the restaurant was likely to come up at a location on Golf Course road sometime in June.