Marugame Seimen's "Tomatama Curry Udon" vs. "Udon Meshi": A Taste Comparison, and Ryuji Recreates the Tomatama at Home

The food had just been picked up from the shop, and since the employee there was a fan of Ryuji's, they were asked for a photo. The container said "Please consume within 2 hours," so they decided to reheat it slightly before eating.

Ryuji voiced frustration that the person in charge of filming had forgotten the camera and gone home to get it. The gist was that food reviews require eating the food fresh, so if you're going back to get something, you should say so first; there are priorities. Partly because of this, they started eating with Kuwata, who for some reason was at the house.

The takeout Tomatama Curry Udon came with the udon and the soup in separate containers. Opening them released a strong aroma of garlic and spices, and Ryuji explained that you pour the soup over the udon to eat it. One of the people present said they hadn't known it was available for takeout.

The first reaction after tasting was that it was "pretty spicy," with curry at the center of the flavor. Ryuji said that from the product name they had imagined a flavor with tomato at the forefront, but in reality the tomato was only "subtle," and it was a little different from what they had expected. Overall, they took it as being close to a "dashi curry." The soup was properly thickened, and one person described it as a "light curry udon." The toppings were a small amount of meat and egg drop, and the meat didn't stand out much.

As for the noodles, everyone agreed that they hadn't gone soggy even on the way home from the shop, and that they were good, as expected. According to Ryuji, the item is popular, and when they went it had just sold out, "ending with me." They said it made sense that it was popular.

The ratings were two A+'s. The reasons given were that it pairs extremely well with udon, is well balanced, and isn't heavy. Ryuji described it as "the udon you want to eat in the coming season." On the other hand, some felt they wanted a bit more substance in the toppings. In response to the point that there weren't enough toppings, whether meat or anything else, the view was offered that it's probably designed with toppings like tempura in mind, which they hadn't bought this time.

Ryuji said that lately they've enjoyed recreating chain restaurant products in the form of "how I'd make it if I did it at home," and that it's become a personal trend. It's also for people who don't have a Marugame Seimen nearby, they said. In this episode too, they announced they would recreate it later.

Next up was the "Udon Meshi," bought as a new venture by Marugame Seimen. It comes in two varieties, sauce flavor and green onion flavor, and is like sobameshi with the soba replaced by udon. It had reportedly been cooked on a griddle in the shop.

The first reaction to the sauce flavor was a blunt "it's not good." The soba in sobameshi has a springy bite, but this udon was gummy, bringing out the worst parts of the noodle. The udon had more presence than the rice, and one person compared it to "convenience store yaki udon after the condensation has dripped off." The view came up that maybe it went soggy because it was taken out, since it's originally a dish finished on a griddle. On the other hand, Ryuji also said "I feel like it's a fundamental issue," reflecting that if you think about why udon meshi never existed before, maybe this is the result.

The green onion flavor had pork, plenty of cabbage, and a punchy, garlic-heavy seasoning. Some said they preferred it to the sauce flavor, but it was still a bit gummy. On hearing that the price was 790 yen, one person reacted, "that's pretty expensive," and the conversation turned to how the salt-sauce gyudon might be a better choice.

As an improvement, Ryuji suggested frying the udon more thoroughly in oil, to the point of making it crispy. However, they also acknowledged that the busy store operations at Marugame Seimen probably couldn't accommodate that. The two concluded that it seemed workable depending on the cooking method, but might not be suited to fast food. One person also questioned whether the operations had been fully tested before it was released.

The ratings were harsh. For the sauce flavor, one person gave it a C, saying they didn't understand why it had been released and that the gap with the Tomatama was too big. Ryuji took this as lower than their own rating, and said that as an udon lover, they felt Marugame might not have needed to venture into this. The opinion was also voiced that it had lost all of udon's good qualities and only showed its bad ones. The green onion flavor got a C+, treated as slightly better than the sauce flavor. However, Ryuji repeated that the difference in ratings was small, and that the problem was not the flavor but the texture. Someone also said it seemed to get worse and worse as it sat, so perhaps it isn't something to eat as takeout.

Because the Udon Meshi results were so terrible, Ryuji said they "want to save" things and moved on to recreating the Tomatama Curry Udon. Ryuji had previously made a recipe by imagining "it's probably like this," but after eating the real thing, it was apparently completely different. So this time is positioned as a revision made while referencing the actual product. The recipe is for one serving.

Ryuji said "5g" and cut the garlic by feel, but when weighed it came to 7g. Ryuji's position is that garlic tastes better the more you add, so a little extra is fine. The ginger was about 5g, and when weighed it was almost exactly that. These are finely minced.

In between steps, they mentioned that recreation videos are so much fun that they end up filming nothing but recreations instead of their own dishes, creating a filming backlog. They added some self-deprecation, asking whether that's really okay for a cooking researcher. Many viewers have also responded with "I tried making it," and they recalled that they had previously recreated Horie's Wagyu Mafia yakisoba, which was delicious.

60 to 70g of pork scraps are chopped fairly finely, because the meat in the original was also finely chopped. The home version has more meat, and Ryuji said udon tastes better with about this much in it. They added the speculation that Marugame Seimen probably doesn't put in this much, since it wouldn't be profitable.

Since the original reportedly uses fresh tomatoes, they prepared fresh ones. The amount is about 100 to 120g. Their impression of the original was that it had something of a hot-and-sour soup quality, but the acidity wasn't strong, so it was probably fresh tomato. In the original, the tomato wasn't so much dissolved as included as an ingredient, with its shape faintly remaining. So it's cut into dice so that its shape remains a little. One small tomato is plenty, and they said that since Marugame Seimen surely can't spend that much on it, even this is probably too much. They added that if using canned whole tomatoes, it might be better to sauté them first.

Sauté the garlic and ginger in 1½ teaspoons of olive oil. They cautioned that the stainless steel pot they were using conducts heat easily and is prone to scorching, so sauté over low heat. Even while working, some black scorching appeared, and they explained that when heat conduction is too good, it's like searing directly. Next, add the pork.

As for the curry flavor, Ryuji judged that it tasted more like Indian curry than home-style curry roux, so it was probably curry powder. Add 300cc of water (600cc for two servings) and bring to a boil over high heat. The original soup had a thickness that wasn't strong but was there, and the plan is to create that thickness with potato starch.

For the flavor base, they judged that it had a dashi quality but wasn't just dashi, so they made a "double soup" by adding chicken bouillon to half a tablespoon of Hondashi. Ryuji described it as containing dashi but not having had dashi made from scratch. Since the original's flavor was fairly strong, they used half a tablespoon of chicken bouillon as well, the same as the Hondashi.

Once it boils, add 1 tablespoon of curry powder. They used Indian Curry; S&B is fine too, but it will be a bit spicier in that case. When the tomato was added at this point, one person reacted that it was starting to smell like the original. However, Ryuji thought the amount of tomato might be a little more than in the original.

Adjust the flavor with salt and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce. The key point is to taste before thickening, since it's hard to taste after. Their impression was that the original was "seriously thickened," so they added 1 tablespoon of potato starch dissolved in water. In parallel, thaw the frozen udon for about 3 to 3½ minutes.

Use 1 egg. Ryuji speculated that the original might not even contain a whole egg. The egg goes in after thickening with potato starch; turn the heat to low and, while it's bubbling, pour it in thinly as if drawing a line. This keeps it from clumping and produces fine bits like in the original. Ryuji emphasized that "this can only be done after thickening."

To finish, add a pinch of salt. Also, because the original's description said "accented with sesame oil," they drizzled about 1 teaspoon of sesame oil at the end. Ryuji explained that the sesame oil adds an "oriental aroma." They poured the curry over the thawed udon, and since photos showed the original topped with green onions, they scattered chopped scallions to finish. Of the result, they said "it's basically the same thing," and introduced it as a "generic Tomatama Curry Udon" almost identical to the original.

Right after tasting, Ryuji said, "In both flavor and punch, it's surpassed it," and noted that it also had a lightness that showed respect for the original. The others chimed in with "I could eat this forever," "I'd order this," and "it's definitely good." Some also said the amount of egg was just right and it didn't feel like overeating.

On the tomato, everyone agreed that it doesn't assert itself much in the recreated version either. Ryuji speculated that this might be what happens with fresh tomatoes. The clear difference from the original that Ryuji pointed out was sweetness: the original is slightly sweeter. They said adding a little sugar would make it almost indistinguishable from the original.

Ryuji said they definitely want to add rice to the leftover soup. You can add rice in Marugame Seimen's dining room, but takeout doesn't come with rice. The advantage of making it yourself is that plenty of soup is left over, making it easy to mix with rice into something like a curry risotto. There was enough soup left that even 200g of rice was fine, and they added a pinch of salt to make it into a "curry udon meshi" of sorts. They laughed and ate the single strand of udon left in the bowl as a "bonus."

The people who tried it all said "this is insane." The sesame oil gave it a Chinese touch, which goes well with rice. A risotto-style version with grated cheese sprinkled on top was also well received. Asked whether it was better with or without cheese, the answer was "they're different things, so you should eat both."

During the tasting, the way of adding the egg came up again. Without potato starch, the egg forms large clumps, but when the soup is thickened, you can drizzle it in like threads so it comes out fine. This is kakitama, and Ryuji explained that it also gives the egg a springy texture. It's a technique used in Chinese soups such as hot-and-sour soup. One person remarked that it was interesting how you could taste curry, Chinese, and Japanese dashi all at once.

Ryuji revealed that even though it may look like they always nail recreations on the first try, they do fail sometimes, and on many occasions they've shelved a failure and reshot it at a later date. Today the Tomatama Curry Udon turned out well and they felt content, so they wanted to end there. They also said that if they attempted to recreate the Udon Meshi and failed, they wouldn't recover, and left open the possibility that they might take their own revenge on the Udon Meshi later.

Finally, one person said that having it recreated made them feel anew that "Marugame is amazing." Their assessment was that it takes considerable grit for an udon chain to put out a menu item with this curry seasoning, and on top of that it's genuinely delicious. Ryuji wrapped up by encouraging anyone who has eaten the original and wants to make it at home too to try their "generic" version.