Readers may be aware of my change of employment at the end of last year. With that comes a change of office and an opportunity to closely explore new venues. Being now located above post office square, that makes it the idea location to start. My commencement also coincided with the opening of Udon Kompira, so I went to try it out.
The setup was akin to Jiro Udon at Southport or Udonya at Sunnybank Plaza. You pick your udon/rice base, get a plate and pick up some tempura sides and pay at the counter. Being an udon specialty store, both times I went, I ordered udon.
The fried food on offer was neatly lined up and not dissimilar to the offerings at udonya with a few vegetable options, prawn, chicken and fish cake. I can't be sure but from memory it was a bit more expensive than Sunnybank.
Udon Kompira sets itself apart from its competition by making its noodles in house. When I asked how much a regular vs a large was, I expected to be told something akin one noodle or one and a half noodles but was instead given grams as the unit of description. Each noodle was cooked fresh to order.
On my first instance I ordered the large kake udon and had an assortment of sides. The udon was unlike udonya or jiro. Although thick and chewy, it lacked the squishy bite that you would find at those places and was instead a lot more firm, and hard to bite through, akin to shanghai la mian instead. Looking into this a bit further, it probably has to do with the protein content in the flour they used. The soup was light and fragrant and I liked the tempura egg with its runny interior. I found the zucchini to be a bit odd as it was so big and would have enjoyed a smaller piece with a bit more batter.
On my second instance, I ordered the beef udon, this came topped with an onsen egg and wakame seaweed. The texture was the same as last time. Sides were also enjoyable, the prawn was a bit bigger this time than my first.
Clearly, given my return visit, I didn't mind my meal at Udon Kompira. Service was fast and I was able to obtain my food and finish my meal within 20 minutes which is pretty admirable for a quick work lunch. Despite the noodles being hand made, I do prefer the noodles from udonya. Having said that, I will definitely be back because of the convenience factor.
Price Range: $20 - $30pp
Taste: 7/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 7/10
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