Udon + drink (Burpple Beyond: $14.55)!
Thursday Burpple Beyond lunch — udon + drink set, $14.55. Tamoya udon return visit via the subscription deal.
Thursday afternoon lunch with BB — back at Tamoya for the udon + drink Burpple Beyond set at $14.55. The subscription deal makes the Tamoya visits regular.
We ordered:
- Udon + drink (Burpple Beyond set) — $14.55
Tamoya’s claim to fame is the sanuki-style chew. Thick, square-cut, hand-cut udon made fresh on-site daily. The kind of springy bite that the vacuum-packed grocery version (which we’ve been cooking with at home) can only approximate. By September we’d been comparing the home cook with the real Tamoya for months, and the original always wins.
The dashi broth was the standard Tamoya base — clear, faintly amber, with kombu-bonito-mirin depth that I’ve been trying to replicate at home with mixed success. The colour, the slight sweetness, the way it coats the noodle without going salty — all the signature Tamoya elements.
Counter-service format meant we picked up tempura sides from a tray at the cashier — a couple of pieces for the table (prawn tempura, sweet potato tempura).
The udon variant we ordered today was likely the kake (simple) or the bukkake (with chilled broth) version — both are the entry-level Tamoya bowls without the premium toppings. The Burpple Beyond set discounts these standard bowls plus a drink, which is the sustainable price point for regular Tamoya visits.
Drink was a free side via the Burpple Beyond set — cold green tea, refillable. Tamoya’s tea is the proper Japanese-restaurant-tier brew, not the chain-default tea-bag-in-water.
At $14.55 with a drink via Burpple Beyond, this is excellent value. Full price for the same set runs closer to $19. Burpple Beyond subscriptions continue to pay back well at spots like Tamoya where we visit regularly.
The Tamoya home-cook iteration project (trying to replicate their broth at home) had largely wound down by September. We’d gotten reasonably close but the real Tamoya udon was still the reference standard. Easier to just go back to the source.
Overall: 4.5 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Reliable Tamoya Burpple set — would absolutely revisit.
