My lunch today - 031711

It was the last day at our Udon school of March session.  That means a lot of eating of different udon menu items. 
Students from all over Japan and even from overseas throw everything they learned over the 4-day course to make their original menu items, using their creativity.
Today, I was caught up with work and couldn't participate in evaluation session.
Then, around 2pm when I almost gave up my lunch, there appeared this bowl on my desk.

What the...  My colleague, Matsumoto made this for me, using leftover-noodle, broth, and toppings from school.  It is this huge sweet bean curd covering the enitre bowl.  When I lifted it, there it is.  Sweet beef broth and udon.  What a volume.  But, I was starving and ate it all in minutes.  It was good too.
I call this Matsumoto-special from now on with thanks to her.

How can we help?

We've been discussing about how best we can help those in need in eastern Japan, especially, people affected in Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi prefecture.  Talking to our colleagues in Sendai city revealed electricity and water are coming back up in some areas, but they are in desperate need of food, gasoline, and other daily supplies.  We are trying to deliver what we can obtain, but major roads, highways, railways, even air routes are far from recovery and closed. 
We want to let people in need have hot noodle meals, and we are trying to do so through our clients (noodle restaurants in these areas).
Sending our prayers to those suffering now, we will do what we can do to help.
If you have some good idea on what we can do to effectively help them, please let us know.



Our lovely Sendai office branch manager Kiguchi, reporting from Sendai city, badly damaged from the tsunami



Our thoughts are with everyone who's been affected by the quake

Massive quakes devasted northern part of Japan on March 11th, and a lot of people in those areas are still affected by subsequent aftershocks every 10 minutes or so. 
Although our Sendai office was hit badly by the quake and may have to relocate, all of our associates are safe and sound.  Yet, ever since the quake yesterday, we've been working phones and other means to reach our clients (noodle shop owners) in the affected areas to ensure their safety and see what we can do to help.
We are still putting our heads together to come up with what would be the best thing we can do for those devasted by the quake.

We wish this will settle soon and move towards quick recovery.

with sincere condolences and prayers,

Yamato MFG team

We served 4,000 portions of udon, soba, and ramen in 4 days!

This was the biggest 4-day event of the year at Makuhari Messe, Chiba-pref., Japan.  We've been exhibiting here for 5 years in a row, but this was the biggest booth we've ever had.
And, with never ending lines of people waiting for our great noodles of special recipes (that we prepared for this event), we served over 4,000 people. 

It was great, but what we need now is a long and nice break...  (we are exhausted...)

Foodex 2011 from March 1st to 4th

I'll be working at a booth (7D23) at Makuhari Messe (Chiba pref.)

If interested in visiting us at the booth (where you can try great freshly made noodles), refer to the following page.
http://www3.jma.or.jp/foodex/en/travel/index.html

I'll be there by Friday.

categories of noodle getting blurred

Pasta?  Udon?  Yakisoba?
This is what my wife made for lunch one afternoon.
No doubt it was freshly made noodle and very good.  But, I'm still not sure what to call it.

Feb. 10th, last session at Yamato Udon School

We offer udon school every month.  Most participants at our school are planning startups, and many of them have had no experience in restaurant or food business.  And, many have never even touched knife in their lives before attending our school.  At our udon school, we try to help them become professional of udon noodle in 6 days at our school.   


And, the last day at our udon school is devoted to making of original menu item.  Every participant must make at least one dish, using their creativity.  And, they have to use all the skills they've learned through the course to make this dish, making of noodle, preparation of broth/sauce, toppings, and presetation of the dish.  And, they laid out their dishes for final evaluation by Yamato staff who have seen and tried maybe over a thousand of various udon noodle dishes.

So, today was the day.  They are evaluated for presentation, balance in taste, color, impact to eyes and tongue, and whether it sells.

If you've neve r even cooked before in your life, as long as you have strong passion for udon, I think it'd be worth a try at our school to see whether you have potential to become a great udon restaurant owner/chef.  And, to us, everyone has a potential to at least make a great bowl of udon that can make many smile.

Yamato Noodle School:
http://www.yamatonoodle.com/noodle_school/.

The world of ramen

Ramen...  It is a kind of food with unlimited variety... 
It is what has been making people around the world crazy... 
It is what's kept people talking about it for years...

To make much more people even crazier about this noodle, we started out ramen school 6 years ago and offered it every month.  Since its start, we have seen it fully booked at least 3 months in advance.  Why is it so popular?  Because it is the only and one in the world and because of its intensity and depth.  Yet, most importantly, we offer this school for those startups and existing restaurants to succeed in their businesses.

And, it was a ramen school week  this week here in Kagawa.  And, participants created lots of unique and delicious ramen dishes.  With help of our instructors, all the ramen dishes turn great dishes at the end of the course.  These dishes are worth one week of work by participants who may or may not have any cooking experience.  Can you believe we offer it every month here? 
If you are interested in creating great ramen dishes, please contact us for more details.
And, we offer more information in the following site.
http://www.yamatonoodle.com/

Bringing delicious Japanese noodles...

Hello.  My name is Akira, working for a company, called "Yamato Mfg.", headquartered in Kagawa pref. of Japan.
This place, Kagawa, is nationally famous for its Sanuki udon noodle, thick, elastic, very chewy, white noodles.
Although it is the smallest prefectures in Japan, it is also the most fierce competition posed on udon restaurants (that are 800 of them there).  We believe the people here are one of the craziest noodle eaters in the world.  
We have spent over 35 years, developing machines, talking with our clients to continuously improve the machines and our services (that teach how to run good noodle restaurants, etc.).  We continue to strive to bring most delicious Japanese noodles to the rest of the world.  We want to make real Japanese noodles available to much more noodle eaters in the world.

Starting this blog, we aim at bringing you the news on most advanced and new noodles, those who consult with us on their startup businesses, trends on noodle shops in Japan and other countries, etc.  Anything that we think would be worth reading for those who love eating noodles.

We hope you'll enjoy our blogs and welcome any comments and opnions.
And, my colleagues will take turns to update this blog.  They'll be introduced in coming articles at their turns.


Thanks for reading!
Have a good bowl of noodle!

Our details in the following site:
Yamato Noodle