kiki's B.F.F: MeNami [Japanese Udon House & Sake Bar]

MeNami (@menamitoronto) means Little Tide in Japanese and Udon, the Little White Tide of the Ocean. MeNami Udon House and Sake Bar is definitely a udon house but not so sure about the sake part with only barely a dozen to choose from, wish they offer more variety.

NeNami is the first traditional Udon House in Ontario, made fresh in house everyday and just this past long weekend, they have been sold out and had to close for several hours just to make a fresh batch. Owner Chae Kim even send Chef Kevin Shin to journey to Japan to learn all about Udon. The Udon machine came directly from Kagawa Japan, the udon are made in the basement of the restaurant where the temperature and moisture must be kept constant to maintain it's texture.

Convention Roasted Pork Belly $11

~ Pork Belly, Dry Rub, Pickled Onion, Shiso Spring Mix

I was totally disappointed when I saw it and I wasn't wrong cause it tasted as dry as it looked and I thought there was a bit too much of the dry rub which left a layer of it in your mouth.

Black Sesame Puree Udon w/ Beef $15

~ Beef, Schichimi, Green Onion, Red Pepper Thread, Baby Spinach

Love how they incorporate western style sauce and method with the traditional Japanese noodle, like cream sauces you would normally see with pasta.

Love the sesame sauce here which is on the sweet side while the heat from the red pepper thread and schichimi powder balance it out.

Tsuke Udon w/ Shrimp Tempura $10

~ Grated Ginger, Daikon, Green Onion, Deep Fried Shrimp Tempura

Served cold with a cold dipping broth/sauce, this was my favorite version of the day since it was extra chewy/springy ♥♥♥ I was a bit disadppointed that there was only one shrimp tempura since the batter was so crispy thin.

The Original Kama Udon $7.95

~ Kamaboko, Wakame , Green Onion, Tenkatsu

I wasn't sure what the ingredients are when I first read it but I end up google-ing it; kamaboka is the pink white processed fish cake, wakame is the seaweek and the tenkatsu is deep fried batter cruchy bits. This was order at the end since Ben wasn't full after sharing the previous dishes and I have to agree that the portion is rather small for most guys. That's the basic soup udon that they have and love the simplicity of it

They also have Izumi (@OntarioSake) Nama-Nama, an Unpasteurized Junmai on draft which is a light fruit flavor slight acidity easy drinking sake that goes well with most of their dishes.

Love the Izakaya feel of the space her, casual and make you wants to hang out here. We went on Monday Family day long weekend and the space is packed but there was only 2 waitress, so it took a while for them to take our order and drink orders are forgotten. They definitely need to work on it and it takes over 40 minutes for our first order. and another 20 minutes for the last soup udon we ordered although the crowd have already died down.