A Fukuokan's Notes from Sapporo

                680 JPY (not 100%sure)

This is one of our winter delicacies.

You know Sukyaki, don’t you? A kind of stew in which thinly sliced fatty (the more you pay for your meat, the fattier it is) beef and various vegetables (leeks, hard Tofu and Konjac strips are the popular ingredients, but my mother used to add chopped Chinese cabbage and garland chrysanthemum probably in order to feed the 6 family members within her budget) are cooked in sweet and salty sauce. After eating up the main ingredients, we cook Udon noodles in the residue of the sauce to fill up our stomach. Without carbohydrate, we can’t finish our meals, you see.

I personally prefer the udon to the main Sukiyaki. Softly cooked udon that have soaked up all flavor (and fat) of the main ingredients can’t be more delicious.

Usually, Sukiyaki is quite a feast. You need to be prepared to spend most of your food budget for the good beef—at least in my household.

Then, here is a cheaper alternative. Many udon restaurants in this town (possibly nationwide) offer a menu called Sukiyaki Udon, udon cooked with a bit of beef, vegetables (in addition to the vegetables I mentioned above, in this case there were few slices of carrots), and egg, costs you less than 700JPY. 

Anyway, something piping hot is the best feast in winter, particularly after walking in biting cold wind.

By the way, this Udon restaurant was one of my drop-in spots when I was a high-school girl. At that time I could only afford to a bowl of  ‘plain’ udon (no topping, whatever, just noodles and soup) .

 I just longingly watched the samples displayed at the entrance.

Now I can indulge myself in the luxury of sukiyaki udon. What a successful life!