I have been eyeing this new restaurant for a while now, so when my mother asked me to pick a restaurant for our latest family dinner, I threw Motonobu into the ring.
You wouldn’t note this as a restaurant driving by. There is no awning, no signs, no decals on the windows; and as a whole it looks like the lobby of the residential high rise above it.
The interior is similarly simple. The focus is on their in-house, scratch-made Japanese Udon, prepared by hand. Motonbu prides themselves on serving the freshest udon, none of which is pre-cut or pre-cooked. And is made to order, so be prepared to wait, it may take up to 20 minutes to prepare.
In hindsight we should have ordered one of their regular udons to be able to compare it to the other, speciality versions that we had. But the special udon list read more interesting, an was too alluring. Each starts with the same hand made udon partnered with their original sauce, broth and flavor combination. They are as follows.
MazeMentai is a saucy broth-less ramen prepared with a Creamy Pollock Roe Sauce, Poached Egg, Beef Brisket, Seaweed, Japanese Pickled Plum, Thin-fried Tofu, Green Onion, Sesame Seed, and Chili Oil. You stir everything up to incorporate it all together. It was plenty saucy and garlicky, with pronounced sesame. The beef was tough, the sweetness of the lone plum a tad overwhelming, and the dish as a whole one that you could grow weary of. A lot to go through as one, but our favourite dish of the night when shared amongst three.
The Spicy TanTan udon comes with Braised Pork Belly, Shanghai Bok Choy, Green Onion, Cilantro, and Chili Oil; served with Chicken and Dashi Broth. It is as rich in flavour as it looks. The broth was zesty with a warming, back of the throat bite and burn; thanks to the burdock we were able to make out. (Burdock is a relative of wasabi, and comes with a similar profile.) The fatty pork belly ate lean with a luscious mouth feel. And despite the broth being salty and almost overwhelmingly rich we drank it all, as to not waste something this good.
I was curious enough to try their Aburi Salmon, but disappointed that I did. Torched Atlantic Salmon, Ikura and Onion Dressing. It isn’t your typically take on aburi, so remove that expectation from your mind, and you may like this one. It ate like a rice bowl, but compacted into one bite. The rice was soft, it matched the fully cooked salmon (not lightly torched as the menu read and you known aburi to be). Taste-wise the it was sweet with the creamy mayo and onion, and fishy with the roe.
I wasn’t a fan of their inari pockets either. We got the sampler, and it came beautifully presented. But I found each pocket watery. I got a look at them being made in their open kitchen, and they were dipped into liquid to moisten, before packing. They soaked it up like sponges, thus distracting from the light flavours of the UmeShiso, Eggplant, Shiitake Tempura, Salmon, and Tuna. Each flavour came second to the sweet tofu pocket. All except the ume shiso which was so fragrant that it worked as a palette restarter.
In conclusion, I can vouch for their udon, but would pass on their sides. A great, purposefully hidden gem. Family run and operated, and worth supporting. Make this your next restaurant when you are craving udon.
Motonobu Udon
3501 E Hastings St, Vancouver, BC V5K 5A6
(604) 293-1889
motonobuudon.ca
