Cosy Hifumiya serves housemade Japanese udon noodles by day before transforming into a roaring izakaya at night

“You’ve ne'er been to Hifumiya before?” bellowed my person successful disbelief.

I softly sucked successful immoderate aerial done my cheeks: 1 of my involuntary reactions erstwhile I don’t cognize what to say, and I’m trying to bargain myself immoderate reasoning time. No? Yes? Sort-of?

In my defence, I reckon I had 3 coagulated reasons for having to hesitate earlier answering. First: I had been to Hifumiya and eaten and drunk extensively, but lone aft acheronian erstwhile the edifice transforms into Jigoro, a lively Japanese izakaya. (More astir this two-businesses-one-space conception later.)

Second: I’ve tried to deed this specializer udon noodle store a mates of times implicit the years but was enactment disconnected by the lunchtime queues that, a person tells me, tin sometimes widen close onto Murray Street.

Guests assistance themselves to tempura fried vegetables, skewers of grilled chickenhearted and different items to power-up their lunch.Max Veenhuyzen

And finally: of the 3 main Japanese noodles, udon is my slightest preferred truthful I seldom cheque for it erstwhile I’m eating out. It’s not that I hatred udon, of course. It’s conscionable that Japan’s pale, chewy wheat noodles airy successful examination and deliciousness to the eggy drawback of ramen ovum noodles (and not to notation the ramen universe’s infinite operation of broths and toppings) oregon the earthy, nutty joys of soba: the country’s beloved home-grown buckwheat noodles.

Think of ramen and soba arsenic the archetypal 2 Die Hard movies with udon representing the remainder of the franchise.

As it turns out, udon tin beryllium conscionable arsenic enjoyable arsenic immoderate noodle from Japan, oregon immoderate state for that matter. Or astatine slightest it tin beryllium erstwhile it’s made by Daisuke Hiramatsu, the proprietor and flour whisperer down Hifumiya.

Born successful Japan’s Okayama prefecture, Hiramatsu learned to navigator astatine accepted kappo (“counter”) restaurants earlier heading to Perth successful the aboriginal 2000s to marque sushi astatine the city’s celebrated Jaws restaurants and astatine Matsuri. While kappo and sushi eating is synonymous with high-end restaurants and dishes and plates affluent successful seasonal symbolism, Hiramatsu’s extremity crippled was to unfastened a spot that was everyman successful spirit: enter, the affordable, nourishing bowls of udon noodles that he’d devour aft schoolhouse successful his hometown of Kurashiki (intriguingly, besides the birthplace of jeans successful Japan). And truthful Hifumiya came into being successful 2018.

Named aft the accepted Japanese words for one, two, 3 and 4 – the better-known ichi-ni-san is derived from the Chinese pronunciations for numbers – the sanction represents Hiramatsu’s hopes to found a caller commencement for Japanese nutrient successful Perth. On paper, the thought mightiness work arsenic self-aggrandising, but arsenic those aforementioned luncheon crowds attest, Perth seems to beryllium onboard.

At immoderate fixed time, the make-up of the queue and the packed eating country covered successful blonde timber and Nipponese ephemera looks similar a cross-section of the CBD crowd. There are suits. There are students. There are unit of assorted levels of seniority from adjacent Royal Perth Hospital. There are nutrient writers yet eagerly awaiting their archetypal sensation of housemade udon noodles and questioning their beingness choices implicit the (at least) past six years.

Because portion the queue mightiness look agelong and intimidating, it moves rather rapidly acknowledgment to an ingenious cafeteria-style ordering strategy and what seems to beryllium an unspoken knowing among diners that Hifumiya is simply a hit-and-run prospect, not slightest due to the fact that the luncheon hr timepiece is ticking.

The strategy works similar so: guests enactment up until it’s their crook to order; you drawback 1 of those ubiquitous achromatic and red-rimmed Japanese lacquer trays past archer the pb udon navigator your order. It’s kosher to usage crockery numbers alternatively than names to expedite the process, truthful saying “number four” alternatively than “warm kamatama mentai udon” is perfectly fine.

The paper is divided into 2 main categories: udon noodles served successful a accepted lukewarm broth, oregon udon noodles served successful a chilled bukkake-style broth. Please don’t Google the latter, conscionable cognize it’s a morganatic Japanese term. Noodles travel successful some regular (from $8.80) oregon ample (from $9.80) sizes but, truly, the quantity of nutrient 1 gets successful a stock-standard vessel of udon volition beryllium much than capable for most, not slightest if you’re going to supplement with a mini atom vessel (donburi; from $4.50) topped with each the tasty things, oregon drawback a fewer items from the blistery nutrient show holding prepared fried items.

Think plus-sized fritters of shaved veg bound successful a aureate tempura batter ($5.50); triangles of crumbed fried mackerel ($5.50); oregon skewers of extra-golden nuggets of fried chickenhearted karaage ($5.50). You astir apt weren’t counting connected bulking retired luncheon with those add-ons, but considering you’ll person to walk the blistery container to wage for lunch, it’s much than apt your willpower volition crumble. Consider yourself warned.

But backmost to the noodles. They’re made in-house utilizing Japanese machinery and, appropriately, a precise udon-specific noodle flour that’s milled successful Japan utilizing West Australian wheat that is shipped to Asia, processed past sent backmost here. Like truthful galore elements of the existent nutrient system, each this transport mightiness dependable unnecessary and adjacent environmentally irresponsible, but it’s hard to reason with the extremity product: slippery, supple noodles of singular and rewarding chew.

When Hiramatsu archetypal started making noodles successful 2018, helium tried utilizing section flour nonstop from the Wheatbelt, but the unpredictable macromolecule contented made things tricky. (He says the medium-protein percent of the Japanese-milled flour is important for udon success, arsenic is the percent of ash – 0.38 per cent, trainspotters – which helps springiness the udon noodles their airy colour and tensile strength.)

He besides says that portion he’s gotten amended implicit the years, he’s inactive learning and, similar baking bread, fermenting pizza dough oregon immoderate process involving flour, seasonal and climatic considerations travel into play during the day-long process that involves mixing and ageing the dough.

During lunch, Jigoro’s ace squad of noodle cooks enactment non-stop, cutting noodles, boiling noodles, washing noodles and serving noodles, each astatine a speedy gait to support the enactment moving and the eating country turning.

The entry-level kake udon ($8.80) is the simplest and astir affordable mode to spot what Hifumiya and Hiramatsu are each about. Consisting of thing but the location kakejiru broth (unlike astir accepted dashi broths, this broth isn’t made with kombu seaweed, but 5 antithetic kinds of dried seafood that Hiramatsu sources from Japan, including the dried babe sardines often utilized successful crockery stocks from his region) and those outstanding noodles, it’s different acquisition successful little being more.

While Japanese nutrient is simply a cuisine that respects history, it’s besides unfastened to alteration and absorbing further influences. See the curry options among the lukewarm noodles with the udon slicked successful a substance of the location broth and sweet, comforting Japanese-style curry: curry recovered its mode to Japan via the navy, who needed a nutritious repast that could provender an full vessel of sailors connected the cheap.

While the imminent accomplishment of wintertime (any time now) means acold udon’s support beingness is accelerated approaching, you could inactive sneak successful a vessel of thing similar the toriten ($16.80) which stars chickenhearted karaage, lettuce and a tartar condiment that, arsenic you enactment your mode done the bowl, mixes with the broth to make an intriguingly addictive crockery dressing-style experience.

Hifumiya is simply a vibe. I’m bittersweet it’s taken maine this agelong to get aboard the train. (My person from earlier says helium went 10 times successful the archetypal 2 weeks of opening.) And portion the country doesn’t pump with the aforesaid sake-fuelled vigor it does erstwhile it becomes Jigoro astatine night, there’s surely nary shortage of beingness successful the space. And successful the interests of encouraging would-be operators to deliberation extracurricular of the container erstwhile it comes to concern models, exposing truthful galore radical each time (Hifumiya does 500 bowls a time during the week and up to 700 connected weekends) to the pros of 2 antithetic concern concepts operating retired of the 1 abstraction tin lone beryllium a bully thing.

In these economically challenging times, doesn’t an “alternative” opening attack similar this dependable similar a safer enactment past taking connected six- oregon seven-figures’ worthy of indebtedness to unfastened determination caller earlier adjacent making your archetypal sale?

Japanese nutrient civilization has contributed overmuch to the mode modern-day WA eats and drinks. We tin find sushi successful supermarkets and buying centres everywhere. The savoury fermented soybean paste miso has been embraced wholeheartedly by chefs. Eaters gladly queue for superb housemade udon noodles astatine lunch.

What different elements of Japanese – and so different countries’ – nutrient civilization could we incorporated into our life?

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