Mappen Japanese Noodle and Rice Bowl Bar | Sydney CBD

Perfect place for uni students, lunch for busy people (like me), great for couples and those who love japanese food. Mappen is an authentic, self-service udon noodle bar!!


 I can spend a good amount of time debating with myself what to order... 
Your noodle choices include Udon (thick wheat noodle) or Soba (thin buckwheat noodle which is great in Vitamin P). The easy bit is probably selecting your noodle. 
Then you have a choice of Tonkotsu (soup or sauce), Kake soup, Bukkake sauce or Donbori 

Show your Washoku Lovers membership card and receive a FREE homemade apple cider drink! If it's your first time here, you might enter through the doors! But follow the side door which is where you should enter to order (make sure you order before you grab a seat) 

Step 1: Select your noodle or rice. 
We both selected the Kake soup with a different noodle choice. Christie elected to try the Soba noodle and Matt chose the Udon noodle. Not only was the Kake soup clear, but it was the clear winner on the menu. It was such a light soup, that it worked really well with the noodles and all our miscellaneous toppings. Yuri recommended that we chose the soup with no toppings, then add the additional toppings yourself. We are so fortunate to have her there with us, otherwise we may have missed out!

DO NOT FORGET TO TAKE AN ONTAMA EGG!!! (in the bucket)


Step 2: Select your toppings
The hot toppings include fried bean curd tempura, vegetable kakiage, sweet potato and pumpkin tempura, chikuwa (fish cake) tempura, prawn tempura, fish tempura, pork sausage, takoyaki, chicken karaage and sweet potato tempura. Below are the cold toppings all packed away in little containers (what a great idea) - I choose the seaweed topping!


Finally, you will reach the cashier where you will find shallot and tempura toppings.

Then all that's left is to plate up! Thanks so much Yuri for cracking the onatama eggs for us I'm super clumsy and can foresee me spilling the egg everywhere!!
The onatama egg needs to be handled with care :)





Christie got an ontama egg, fried bean curd tempura, prawn tempura and fish cake tempura with seaweed and shallot. Really enjoyed the kake soup  (made using special soy sauce and bonito flake soup stock) with the soba noodle. Speaking about the soba noodle, Yuri told us that soba is very popular for Japanese people because it's super healthy and contains Vitamin P. Vitamin P can help reduce blood sugar, improve insulin resistance and fight inflammation. 




Matt got an ontama egg, vegetable kakiage, chicken karaage and shallots. He regretted not wearing his fat pants! The pre deep-fried chicken karaage and vegetable kakiage were the perfect choice for a warm udon dish. It's full of flavour but if you are the picky foodie then you might not like the fact that it's not cooked to order. 
We're not fussy at all so we loved it :)
(I say we because I stole a bite from his chicken)


*sigh* brings me back to Japan.


We dined as guests of Mappen and Washoku Lovers. 
With special thanks to lovely Yuri who took care of us, educated us, entertained us and made our experience so comfortable, inviting and special. 
xx

Mappen means one more time so......
MAPPEN!!
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