Dining Out: Duck Meat Udon with Onsen Egg and Assorted Tempura at Hinode Udon and Tempura

After seeing multiple reels about it on IG, I finally went to try out Hinode for lunch this afternoon with Minji and Daniel:

Duck meat udon with onsen egg

I got the duck meat udon, one of their bestsellers, and added an onsen egg for $2.50 plus a side of shrimp tempura for $6.99. The udon comes with a thermal pitcher of broth on the side so you can control how much soup you want with your noodles. The udon, which is made in-house, is the star here — it's slightly thicker than other udon noodles I've had and has a silky, bouncy texture with an excellent chew. The duck meat is tender, smoky, and savoury and works well with the broth, which has a very light, mild flavour. I plopped the onsen egg right into the bowl and mixed it into the noodles and broth, which added a really nice rich, creamy texture. It is the first time in my life that I finished all the broth in my noodle soup.

Assorted tempura

The tempura is lovely — airy, golden, and perfectly crispy. I added a side of three shrimp tempura to my udon for $6.99, but we did also get the assorted tempura appetizer for $11.99. While the quality of the tempura is significantly better than Japanese AYCE places (which tend to be too oily, soggy, or over-battered), my palate couldn't really discern it from many other Japanese restaurants. $11.99 is pretty steep for two shrimp and three vegetable tempura (today's variety was yam, eggplant, and enoki mushrooms), but I do think it was worth it to add three shrimp tempura to my udon for $6.99. (Hinode does somewhat remind me of Hanamaru Udon in Japan but, you know, not a chain. And way more expensive.)

With add-ons, eating here can get pretty pricey, but the food is delicious and comforting (especially nice after the BTS ticketing mayhem yesterday!). It's not a huge space, so I imagine it'd be quite busy during dinner service and on weekends, but on this Friday afternoon around 1:00PM, we got a table right away (though turnaround is relatively quick, with a stay time of around 30 minutes per table — and there's a section near the back specifically for solo diners). I don't find Hinode unique enough to go out of my way to come here, but would definitely eat here again if I'm in the area. In any case, it's a great option to have with this city's over-saturated ramen market.

Hinode Udon and Tempura

324 Highway 7, Unit 3

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 1A6

(647) 542-7768