We were near Union Square for some errands one Saturday morning when I remembered that Tsurutontan, the Japanese noodle place was around and thought it would be a good idea to go when they open as we passed few times in front of it and there were always people waiting. After checking on Google Maps, we showed up before the published opening time of 11:30am, feeling victorious that we were the first ones there. Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that the opening time was in fact 12pm and decided to wait in a nearby Starbucks and come back 5 minutes before opening time, the rainy and cold weather not that ideal for a 30 minutes wait outside. As we went back, a small line in front of the door was already formed, with people excited when the doors opened. After giving our name, we probably waited 10 minutes for a small booth in the main dining room, not because there were that many patrons in front of us but because they were getting ready for service.

I was a bit impressed by this location as I only tried their Midtown one that is different. The main dining room (watch out for the steps and your head - fine for me as I am not as tall to worry about it), has a zen feel and I love the way they organized it with counter like seating and dining tables.

Our waiter was great: courteous, dilligent, helping for the many kinks in the service (my ramen came too fast, I did not get a spoon for instance) and he explained to us the overwhelming menu: for sure they have a lot of choices but few for vegetarians as they often use non-vegetarian stock or dashi. So, he pointed out few dishes for Jodi that I admit were beyond my expectations. The first one was the silken tofu that looks like burrata with an off-white color on the outside and is soft but not as creamy inside. This was superb though and I often tell people that this is the kind of place where they have to try tofu as the taste has nothing to do with store bought tofu that lots of restaurants serve.

Then, we shared the crispy eggplant tempura with Dengaku miso sauce that was superb: the batter was crispy and slightly greasy, with the eggplant cooked all the way through.

For her main, Jodi chose another appetizer: the grilled maitake mushroom that had truffle oil in it, elevating a bit the dish.

On my side, I went for one of their specialty ramen: the duck udon. It is made with duck breast, meatballs and Tokyo negi, a kind of leek also known as Speing onion. When I ordered, they asked me first how I wanted the noodles: thin or thick. And then the size of the dish, knowing that for the same price you can get a larger size. So I went for a large bowl with thick noodles. And for sure it was a large bowl! It was good with the broth having a nice taste and the noodles being very good, perfectly cooked. But I admit that the duck was slightly overcooked and definitely did not look like the photo as I found it tiny. Still, it was a good dish.

So overall we had a good meal at Tsurutontan and they have so many dishes that it would probably take me years before trying everything!

Enjoy (I did)!

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Tsurutontan- 21 E 16th Street, New York 10003

Tsurutontan Union Square

Jean-Philippe Gerbi