The Udon Obsession Begins
This post starts as a throwback to 2018. The destination – Yume Ga Arukara in Cambridge, MA – the first udon only restaurant in the greater Boston area. In the university hall of Lesley University, there was a line of what must have been 30-50 people snaking around the corners of the food court. At the head of the line was the newly opened Yume Ga Arukara, with handcrafted tables for about two dozen people made by chef Tsuyoshi Nishioka’s wife. There were two people working the entire restaurant. In what seemed like a carefully choreographed dance, one chef pulled the freshly made udon noodles from the machine and dropped it into the hot water bath while the other chef assembled the bowls of niku udon.
In a fleeting moment, the entire bowl was gone.
The experience was ephemeral, but that bowl of udon is forever seared into my memory.
The light broth with a hint of citrus tickled my taste buds as the smooth udon noodles glided effortlessly through. As someone that craves protein with every meal, I don’t even remember thinly sliced beef. The udon and the broth were truly the star of the show. At that moment, I understood why Bon Appétite ranked it #8 in their top 10 best restaurants of the year in America.
I wanted another bowl or perhaps two more bowls, but I was conscious of the long line behind me. You can feel yearning of the crowd waiting behind me. I’ll just have to come back another day I told myself.
Yume Ga Arukara means “because I have a dream”, a theme carried over from their sister restaurant Yume Wo Katare which means “speak your dream”. I dream that I could experience that first bowl of niku udon again.
Back to Present Day: Trying the Seaport Location
My wife and I found ourselves in Boston this May for a wedding, and I just had to try Yume Ga Arukara again. This time, we headed to their new location in Seaport. While I got the hot niku udon, Ashley got the spicy-hot niku udon – a new addition that I didn’t recall from the original location. The niku udon was fantastic, but I did not find it to be as magical as the first time that I had experienced it.
Perhaps it was the ethereal, intimate atmosphere of the Porter Square location. Or perhaps the visual of the udon noodles being freshly made in front of me primed my brain for an experience that wasn’t replicated at the Seaport location.
Despite my thoughts on the Seaport location, Yume Ga Arukara will always hold a special spot in my heart as a culinary pillar of what to expect from a bowl of udon. This was the restaurant that sent me, and the rest of Boston, on a chase for ever better niku udon. It is thereby not a coincidence that Yume Ga Arukara sparked a renaissance of Japanese dining in Boston, particularly for udon restaurants.
Final Verdict: Would We Snort Again?
Overall, I think the Seaport location continues to serve a fantastic bowl of niku udon. We will definitely snort again and recommend you check it out! They are also opening a location in NYC for the diehard New Yorkers out that the refuse to step food in Boston.
Written by,
Jimmy
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