Did you know that a restaurant said to be the “original self-service udon shop” is in Okayama Prefecture?
It’s a restaurant called “Meigen” in Hirai, Naka Ward, Okayama City. Meigen has opened a second location in the Bikan Historical Area.
It’s called “Kurashiki Meigen.”
Like the original, it serves udon self-service style.
You blanch the noodles yourself, pour on the broth, and add your choice of toppings.
The side dishes, which you can choose yourself, also offer a wide variety, including tempura and rice balls. It’s a lot of fun to choose.
Let’s take a closer look at what makes Kurashiki Meigen special.
The information presented here was current when this article was published in October 2024. Please note that it may differ from current information.
Kurashiki Meigen, the second location of the “original self-service udon shop”
Kurashiki Meigen opened in March 2023 as the second location of Meigen, an udon restaurant in Hirai, Naka Ward, Okayama City.
It is inside “Achinosato,” a renovated former merchant’s house along Honmachi-dori in the Bikan Historical Area.
Achinosato houses three shops, one of which is Kurashiki Meigen.
The building housing Kurashiki Meigen was once the detached quarters of a merchant’s house.
Features such as the ceiling beams give the place a sense of character.
Meigen’s original location opened in Hirai, Naka Ward, Okayama City, in 1976.
Meigen is considered the original self-service udon shop and has served udon self-service style since it first opened.
Even today, it remains a popular self-service udon shop, attracting many customers every day.
Kurashiki Meigen also uses the same self-service style as the original.
The restaurant has table seating and tatami-mat seating.
The tatami-mat seating is a welcome feature for families with children and older customers.
There are also wooden benches lined up under the outdoor eaves, where you can eat as well.
Dogs are allowed only when dining at the outdoor benches.
Kurashiki Meigen’s menu
Information as of October 2024
Kurashiki Meigen’s udon menu has four options: “kake udon,” “shoyu udon” (hot or cold), “zaru udon,” and “Bukkake udon” (hot or cold).
In addition to regular zaru udon, there is also “kurumi udon,” served with a walnut-flavored dipping sauce. Kurumi udon is an original Kurashiki Meigen menu item.
Each udon dish is available in small (1 serving), medium (1.5 servings), and large (2 servings).
One serving is 200 g.
Kurashiki Meigen is also known for its wide selection of toppings.
It even has a wider variety of toppings than the Okayama original.
Examples of popular topping combinations are posted inside the restaurant, so use them for reference.
Being able to customize your order to your liking with toppings is one of the highlights of Kurashiki Meigen’s self-service style.
There is also a wide selection of tempura, rice balls, yakitori, and more, and deciding what to choose is part of the fun.
Kurashiki Meigen also offers cup-served udon called Meigen GO as a takeout-only menu item.
Self-Service Style
Kake udon is served using the full self-service style, while all other udon is served using the semi-self-service style.
With full self-service, you handle everything yourself, from blanching the udon and adding the broth to choosing toppings and side dishes. With semi-self-service, you choose the toppings and side dishes yourself.
First, take a tray and pour yourself some drinking water. If you want kake udon, take a bowl of udon from the serving counter.
If you want anything other than kake udon, place your order with a staff member.
There are also many toppings displayed beneath the udon serving counter. Choose whichever ingredients you would like to add to your udon.
If you ordered anything other than kake udon, take your udon from a staff member and proceed to the side dish counter.
The following steps are for kake udon.
After choosing your udon, place it in a hand-held strainer and dip it into the hot water in the blanching machine beside you to blanch it.
The recommended blanching time is around 10 seconds, but adjust it to your preference.
After blanching, drain the udon thoroughly, return it to the bowl, and use the broth dispenser beside the blanching machine to pour broth into the bowl.
After the broth dispenser, proceed to the side dish counter.
There are side dishes such as tempura and other fried foods, rice balls, and yakitori on display, so take whatever you like.
The side dish counter also has free toppings and condiments, such as green onions and tenkasu (tempura bits), which you can add to your liking.
Finally, pay at the register beside the side dish counter.
Once you have paid, sit wherever you like and enjoy your meal.
After eating, return your dishes and utensils to the return counter beside the register.
To order Meigen GO, please do so at the udon serving area.
Popular and Recommended Menu Items
Here are some of Kurashiki Meigen’s popular dishes and the restaurant’s recommendations.
Kake Udon
At Meigen, the signature dish is kake udon (small).
Cook the noodles in hot water yourself, add the broth, then top with chopped green onions and tenkasu to finish.
Even before you eat, the broth’s pleasant aroma wafts over. The thick udon noodles are satisfyingly hearty.
The noodles have a pleasantly chewy texture and a firm bite, and taste delicious coated in the broth.
The broth tastes slightly sweet, with its rich flavor spreading across the palate alongside a touch of sweetness and just the right amount of saltiness.
The main restaurant offered two types of broth, mild and spicy, but Kurashiki Meigen serves only one type: mild broth.
The broth for kake udon (mild) is made mainly with bonito and kelp, with three types of soy sauce added.
Its flavor has hardly changed since the original restaurant opened in Okayama.
One distinctive feature of Meigen is that it does not use iriko, the dried sardines commonly used in udon broth.
This gives it Meigen’s own refined flavor.
Kurashiki Meigen offers a wide variety of toppings, making it appealing to customize your udon with all kinds of ingredients.
A popular variation on kake udon is “niku-tama udon,” topped with beef and an onsen egg.
The broth’s flavor, the sweet-and-savory taste and aroma of the simmered beef, and the mellow richness of the onsen egg yolk come together in an irresistible combination.
Bukkake udon (cold)
I tried the cold Bukkake udon (small).
After you order, the udon is served with sauce and shredded nori seaweed on top. Add chopped green onions, tenkasu, and other condiments yourself.
Bukkake udon is one of our most popular dishes, alongside kake udon.
This is a different trend from the main restaurant, where kake udon is overwhelmingly popular.
Bukkake udon is a specialty of Kurashiki, so I think the image of “Kurashiki means bukkake udon” has taken hold.
The sauce is served sparingly, and you mix it with the toppings as you eat.
The dark-colored sauce is sweeter than the broth served with kake udon.
Coat the noodles thoroughly with sauce, and enjoy the marriage of the sweet sauce and the noodles.
A popular topping combination for bukkake udon is “tori ume oroshi udon,” topped with shiso plum, grated daikon, and chicken tempura.
Since this was cold bukkake udon, the chilled, sweet sauce paired perfectly with the refreshing grated daikon.
The sweet-and-sour flavor of the pickled plum further brought together the refreshing taste.
The fragrant chicken tempura added to it whets the appetite.
Tempura
I tried the three most popular tempura items at Kurashiki Meigen.
The most popular item, in first place, is “chicken.”
Many people choose it as a udon topping, such as in the “tori ume oroshi udon” bukkake udon mentioned earlier.
The batter is crisp and fragrant, and the chicken is a generous size.
Its satisfying heartiness is probably another reason it is so popular among the tempura options.
In second place is “shrimp.”
Shrimp tempura is a classic topping for udon and a familiar sight on the menu.
It is also consistently popular at Meigen.
The crisp, fragrant batter pairs perfectly with the plump shrimp.
In third place is the hearty “squid tentacles.”
They are very large and make quite an impression.
The fragrant, crispy batter and the chewy, springy texture are superb.
There are special scissors in the side-dish area, so you can cut them to your preferred size.
Apparently, “chikuwa” is also about as popular as squid tentacles tempura, tying for third place.
Squid tentacles and chikuwa tempura are overwhelmingly popular at the Okayama main store, ranking first and second in tempura sales.
It’s interesting to see how preferences differ depending on the location!
Meigen GO
“Meigen GO” is a takeout-only menu item and is very popular.
It comes in a container like a coffee shop cup, filled with one serving of udon and toppings, making it easy to carry around.
Meigen GO, launched in summer 2023, was well received, and the menu has grown from two varieties to four.
The varieties of Meigen GO are as follows:
- Yamakake Mentaiko GO (main ingredients: grated yam and mentaiko)
- Niku GO (main ingredient: beef simmered in sweet soy sauce)
- Onsen Tamago GO (main ingredient: soft-cooked egg)
- Ume Chicken GO (main ingredients: pickled plum and shredded steamed chicken)
Meigen GO is also available at the main store, but apparently it was created with sales at Kurashiki Meigen in mind.
The Bikan Historical Area is a tourist destination, so many people stroll around.
Meigen GO was created in response to the idea of making a product unique to Kurashiki that would suit this setting.
While walking around the Bikan Historical Area, we spotted many tourists carrying cups from “Yamau Coffee Stand.”
They were taking photos with the cups and posting them on social media.
Seeing that, we thought, “That’s it!”—and Meigen GO was born.
Enjoy udon while strolling, taking a break on a bench or somewhere similar.
Take a photo with Meigen GO at your favorite spot and post it on social media.
Meigen GO is a takeout-only udon menu item built around that concept.
Why not take Meigen GO along as you explore Kurashiki?
Kurashiki Meigen is a new restaurant opened by Meigen, known as the original self-service udon shop.
We interviewed Hirai Hidekazu, president and representative director of Meigen Co., Ltd.
Interview with Hirai Hidekazu, President of Meigen
Kurashiki Meigen is a new restaurant opened by Meigen, known as the original self-service udon shop.
We interviewed Hirai Hidekazu, president and representative director of Meigen Co., Ltd.
A pioneer of self-service udon shops, opened in Okayama City in 1972
I’d like to hear about how Meigen was founded.
Hirai (hereafter, Hirai)
The idea for a self-service udon shop came from my father, the previous owner, Hirai Yoshikazu.
When he set out to open an udon shop, he decided on the condition of “one bowl of kake udon for 100 yen” because of the available startup funds and to differentiate the shop from the many competitors.
I’ve heard that at the time, 100 yen for a bowl of kake udon made a strong impression, and he felt this was the only way to compete with the many other shops.
To meet the requirement of serving a bowl of kake udon for 100 yen, he came up with a “full self-service udon shop,” where customers helped with part of the serving process.
But then an unexpected obstacle arose.
Because this was unprecedented, the public health center would not grant permission on hygiene grounds.
The issue was the hot-water bath used to warm the udon.
The cooking area had to be separated from the dining area, so cooking equipment such as the hot-water bath could not be placed in the dining area.
There was, however, an exception: yakiniku restaurants.
They have cooking equipment at each table in the dining area, where customers grill their own meat.
My father, Yoshikazu, reportedly asked the public health center official, “Our hot-water bath is like the grill and hotplate at a yakiniku restaurant. Customers are allowed to grill meat at yakiniku restaurants, so wouldn’t it be all right for our customers to warm their udon in the hot-water bath?”
The official was convinced by this argument, and the public health center eventually granted permission.
It seems explaining the decision to their superiors was a struggle, though…
And so, in 1976, Meigen opened along Prefectural Route 45 (Okayama-Tamano Line) in Hirai.
At first, they apparently struggled to get customers to understand the self-service system. But customers enjoyed warming the udon themselves and choosing their own tempura, and it was especially popular with children.
Gradually, more regular customers came, and thanks to them, we now welcome many customers.
It was apparently groundbreaking to obtain permission from the public health center and open on a large scale as a full self-service udon shop.
However, the term “self-service udon” did not yet exist at the time, and it was not a term coined by our shop.
It came into use later.
Opening a second location in the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area to reach new customers
Could you tell us how you came to open a second location in the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area?
Hirai
Originally, another restaurant was operating in the building that now houses Kurashiki Meigen.
However, that restaurant closed, and an acquaintance of mine bought the property. Then my acquaintance asked me, “Would you consider opening an udon shop in the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area?”
I had also been thinking about opening a branch.
Thankfully, customers come to our Okayama main store from a wide area.
I thought that if we had a shop outside Okayama City, it would be convenient for customers in nearby areas.
Kurashiki was just the right place.
However, the main store is in the suburbs.
By contrast, the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area is not suburban, and it is also a tourist destination.
Many customers at the main store come for lunch during work, with their families and children, or in groups of older people.
We expected the customer base to be quite different in the Bikan Historical Area, with many tourists from Japan and overseas. We also thought that many people would be unfamiliar with full self-service udon shops.
That led us to see the new shop as a kind of showcase for our Okayama main store, introducing people to the full self-service udon shop concept.
The Bikan Historical Area, visited by people from across Japan and around the world, is an ideal place for a showcase, isn’t it?
And so, in March 2023, Kurashiki Meigen opened in the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area.
The first major challenge: the difference between Okayama and Kurashiki water
What challenges did you face when opening?
Hirai
Making the dashi.
At first, we planned to make it inside Kurashiki Meigen. But no matter how many times we tried, it never tasted the same as at the main store.
The ingredients and seasonings were exactly the same, and we took the temperature and humidity into account. Even so, for some reason, the taste was always different.
After investigating various possibilities, we found that the cause was the water.
The main store uses water from the Asahi River.
Kurashiki, on the other hand, uses water from the Takahashi River.
I was surprised by how much the water from the Asahi and Takahashi rivers affected the taste, and learned a great deal from the experience.
We wanted the flavor to be consistent with the main store, so we decided to make the dashi for Kurashiki at the main store and deliver it along with the noodles.
At the main store, kake udon comes with a choice of two dashi flavors, mild or strong, but in Kurashiki, we offer just one mild dashi.
This reflects local taste preferences.
Noodles crafted to pursue flavor with a distinctive approach
I’d like to know what makes your noodles special.
Hirai
The noodles for Kurashiki Meigen are all made at our Okayama main store.
The flour we use is domestically produced.
We have a flour miller blend wheat from Hokkaido and Kyushu in specified proportions and supply it to us.
We also don’t add extra gluten or tapioca flour during the noodle-making process. We’ve taken care to make noodles that bring out the natural flavor of the wheat.
Without gluten or tapioca flour, the noodles are a little less chewy and firm. To make up for that, we introduced a machine that mixes flour and water in a vacuum. Mixing them in a vacuum keeps air from getting into the dough, giving the noodles their chewiness and firmness.
We make minor adjustments to the noodles repeatedly and irregularly, continually refining them.
We keep working to make them even more delicious.
Features unique to Kurashiki as well
What sets the Kurashiki location apart from the original?
Hirai
The original location offers a wide variety of dishes, including curry udon and ice udon, in addition to its signature kake udon.
In Kurashiki, we narrowed the menu down to four types besides our signature kake udon: shoyu, Bukkake udon, and zaru udon.
We added walnut udon, an original Kurashiki menu item, bringing the basic menu to five items. Walnut udon has a loyal following.
Kurashiki is also known for Bukkake udon.
So Bukkake udon is ordered very frequently in Kurashiki, and kake udon and Bukkake udon are like our two signature dishes. That’s something you won’t find at the original location.
We’ve also prepared a wide variety of toppings in Kurashiki. The original location offers toppings too, but Kurashiki has a greater selection.
On the other hand, Kurashiki has a much more limited selection of side dishes such as tempura and rice balls.
The original location is also known for its wide selection of side dishes. But in Kurashiki, we chose popular items from the original location.
That’s because many customers at the original location, which is in the suburbs, come for a full meal, whereas customers in Kurashiki tend not to eat as much. Since it’s in the Bikan Historical Area, a tourist destination, many customers stop by for a light meal or dessert, or to sample food as they walk around.
Another difference is the customer service.
Many people aren’t familiar with the full self-service system, so if we sense that someone is unsure what to do after entering, we speak to them right away and explain how the restaurant works.
We also post instructions on how to use the self-service system, and provide them in English for international visitors.
International visitors especially enjoy the self-service system, and we often see them happily taking photos and videos.
International visitors also eat a lot of tempura.
Many people pile their plates high with tempura and eat more of it than udon.
Future plans
Could you tell us about your future plans, things you’d like to try, and any challenges?
Hirai
Our biggest challenge is staffing.
We want to run the business in a way that inspires more people to think, “I’d like to try running a restaurant” or “I’d like to work at an udon shop”.
One thing we’d like to do is open more branches.
Kurashiki Meigen, our second location, is in a tourist area, but we’d also like to open a location in the suburbs that’s easy to reach by car, like the original.
Another thing is that we’d like to create menu items and events unique to the Kurashiki location.
We’d like to offer dishes that reflect the character of the Kurashiki area, such as ones that make bold use of local specialties.
We also think it would be interesting to plan collaborations with local people and organizations.
Now that we’ve opened in Kurashiki, we’d like to incorporate the area’s distinctive features and culture.
The second location of the original self-service udon shop: Kurashiki Meigen
There are few self-service udon shops near the Bikan Historical Area.
That’s why the opening of Meigen, the original self-service udon shop, in the Bikan Historical Area is attracting attention.
The appeal of the full self-service system is the fun of blanching the noodles yourself, adding the broth, and choosing your favorite side dishes.
Why not experience the appeal of self-service udon at Kurashiki Meigen?
Kurashiki Meigen details
| Name | Kurashiki Meigen |
|---|---|
| Address | 3-12 Honmachi, Kurashiki City |
| Contact | 086-441-0707 |
| Parking | None |
| Hours | 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. |
| Closed | Open daily |
| Payment methods |
|
| Reservations | Not accepted |
| Seating | 48 seats total (36 indoors) ・5 tables for two ・3 tables for four ・4 Japanese-style seating areas for four ・2 outdoor benches for two ・2 outdoor benches for four |
| Smoking | Entirely non-smoking |
| Restrooms | Western-style toilet |
| Families | Strollers allowed Children’s tableware available |
| Accessibility | Wheelchair access available (there is a step at the entrance, so assistance is required) |
| Website | Kurashiki Meigen official Instagram |
What would you like to know about Kurashiki?
Enter a search term to find articles on this site
When we first opened, my father, the previous owner, forgot to add iriko while making the udon broth.
And it turned out to be incredibly delicious!
So we decided not to use iriko.
By chance, a flavor unique to Meigen was born, and it is still loved today.