Don And Udon Review: Beef Don At $5.50 And Unagi Don at $7 At Chinatown

I’ve learnt to stave them off with instant noodles or chye png (economical rice) most of the time, but they obviously aren’t at all similar. Good hawker stalls have a number of tasty dishes that can compete with restaurants, so I decided to check out Don and Udon in Chinatown Complex, which is a Japanese hawker stall with meals from $4.50 to $7.

Cheap Japanese Stall At Chinatown Complex | Don & Udon Food at Don And Udon I was curious to try Yaki Udon ($4.50) for a change from rice and soupy noodles. A large and shallow bowl came filled with a brown mix of stir-fried noodles, scrambled eggs, cabbage shreds, and was topped with a fried chicken cutlet and seaweed.

The cabbage gave the soft and slightly chewy noodles crunchiness, and the scrambled eggs made it feel like a satisfying mouthful. Sadly, the udon wasn’t well-seasoned despite its deliciously brown colour and tasted rather flat.

The chicken cutlet that came with it helped to savour the udon. The dish came with slices of stir-fried beef and onions on top of rice, garnished with sauce, and black and white sesame seeds. The onions were slightly charred and with the soft, warm rice, it balanced the saltiness of the dish.

A slab of unagi sat on a wet omelette and Japanese rice, garnished with seaweed and sesame seeds. The unagi looked deliciously brown and a bite into its flesh tasted satisfyingly sweet.

It looked like a small piece but it balanced well with the rest of the dish. Unagi dishes are one of my favourite orders at Japanese hawker stalls so I was happy with my belly satisfied. Their Ebi + Udon Set ($5) was a soupy bowl of udon and a separate dish of three deep-fried ebi (prawn).

The miso soup the udon came in was rather disappointing, lacking body and savour. There wasn’t much taste for the udon to soak up so it was unappetising, and the kelp and kamaboko (Japanese fish cake) toppings couldn’t save it.

The ebi was arranged on top of shreds of raw cabbage, drizzled with Thousand Island sauce, and was crunchy without leaving grease on my lips. Ambience at Don And Udon It wasn’t hard to spot Don & Udon from the array of stalls in Chinatown Complex. Her menu in addition includes Japanese curry dishes at $5 and bento sets from $5.50 to $8.

There were hits and misses at Don and Udon but I can’t help but praise the Unagi Don. Their noodle dishes need more flavour but I’d love to have their Yaki Udon again if the noodles were better seasoned since it’s so affordable.