Originally Posted by
AlwaysAisle
Again, this is my personal favorite. Also, it is my personal preference to use thick udon noodle, not soba noodle which is thinner noodle. I personally think thick noodle go so well with curry soup. Personally curry udon over curry soba, thick Sanuki type udon noodle over thin Inaniwa type udon noodle.
Last year I was at Shinjuku station heading to my afternoon appointment. It was a good time to grab lunch and had an urge for curry udon. There is stand up soba shop at JR Shinjuku station at South entrance, Lumine side, which this soba stand is there at that location as long as I can remember, I think the shop is there from '70s and before, Wen up there and I found out ownership change and name of the soba shop changed, and now they only serve soba noodle, no udon noodle. How can I have curry soba!? Could not believe they no longer doing udon and could not have curry udon! I was so disappointed.
I know, this is my personal preference. There are people who will rave curry soba.
A picture speaks a thousand words. After seeing this photo and much deep reflection, I think I may have been overly harsh in my previous criticism of Japanese curry in the 冷やし中華 thread. Although I prefer Indian, Sri Lankan, and most other Asian curries to those of Japan, Japanese curry has improved over the years (there are many more varieties now) and curry udon, as pictured here, may be Japan's crowning curry achievement, if I only had a beer to go with it. What can I say, perhaps it stimulates my dormant
umami receptors in a way that other Asian curries do not. Although I'm not familiar with the soba shop you mention on the Lumine side, there was also a standup soba shop (that's been in existence since at least the early 1970s) at the underground entrance to the Kinokuniya Bookstore between Shinjuku Sanchome Station and Shinjuku Station that I believe offered a similar dish.