Hatsu Udon, Grangetown, Cardiff: review

It’s a warm evening, verging on sultry, in Grangetown as I arrive at Hatsu Udon: 26 degrees as I sit, and I’ve spent the day on one of Cardiff’s busiest street food stalls. Clearly, cold noodles are going to be A Good Thing.

There are a dozen or so countertop seats overlooking the long galley kitchen, but my back won’t thank me, so I take the window table and watch the team of five working quietly.

It’s obvious the menu here is in love with noodles. They take them seriously here: quality control matters to the extent they make their own to a traditional recipe: just wheat flour and salt water, following traditional methods. None of the extras you might find in packaged noodles, like tapioca flour.

Every day, that bulky Shinuchi hardware is busy. Importing that can’t have been cheap. But it’s the engine that drives what they do: freshly made udon noodles in nine combinations, five hot, four cold. They are the heart of what Hatsu do.

Elsewhere: tonkatsu, gyoza, tempura, karaage. That chicken is a treat, marinated in soy, ginger, mirin, sake and ginger: well seasoned and lightly done in its starch batter, it has body and bite. It’s an encouraging start.

Bukkake (literally, ‘splashed’) beef udon bowl has plenty going on. Feel free to get messy with it: those noodles have a lovely, springy chew, and that broth is tangily compelling. An insistent mixture of soy, mirin, bonito flakes, kombu and dashi, it is clearly the result of some thought. (Owner Joseph tells after dinner that the beef- short rib- is sliced to a uniform 1.8mm thickness). A scattering of tempura sprinkles is an intriguing touch, bringing interest and changing textures as you progress brought the bowl.

There’s a nicely done tonkatsu pork chop with its dark, glossily viscous  ‘cutlet sauce’ and I’m done for now. Vegetarian options, are limited as are halal. That is probably something they’ll want to reconsider here on Penarth Road, though as Joseph explains, using imported Japanese ingredients can be tricky, with traditionally-fermented soy containing small amounts of alcohol many Muslim diners may feel uncomfortable eating. (In 2017, UAE banned Japanese Kikkoman soy sauce for this very reason).

I found a lot to like and appreciate here, with a community feel to the place: tables of families laughing and joking, the sort of thing Grangetown does so well. You’ll find similar in others nearby, places like Al-Madina and Lahore Kebabish: a sense of cohesion and connection often missing elsewhere. You’d be well advised to explore Grangetown, because places like Hatsu continue to make it one of Cardiff’s perennially undervalued places to eat.

146 Penarth Rd, Cardiff CF11 6NJ