Japanese Udon Dining Kakunosuke in Wijk 05 Oost

Kind servers, nice atmosphere! Definitely recommend “Shiitake No Fukumeni”, it’s absolutely delicious and unique! The rest was okay, good.

Very nice atmosphere, great food and very nice personel. Just like their other restaurant its a really authentic japan experience. Have been multiple times and it is always just as good.

I have mixed feelings for the foods at Kakunosuke. The menu is limited to Udon and some small dishes. The food presentation is simple and attentive, especially sticking to Japanese concept. You will not find any bokchoy on the dishes here. On the other hand, the foods are not value for money due to small portion size versus price. If you are a big eater like me, you will sure be paying a lot or stay hungry. The sliced beef is the better option than what pork I ordered. When I saw grilled iberico pork, I expected grilled fragrant pork meat. Unfortunately the pork was more braised than grilled. The service was good and very polite. We came in early and the place was quite empty, but we still only got window seats. I really don’t know how it happened

I shared a torigyoza, okonomiyaki, and tofu and had a shougayaki udon as a main. The okonomiyaki looked a bit small but having one or two appetizers with the udon was enough.

The udon with ribeye & and the one with iberico pork were fantastic! Kind staff and tasty variety of starters to share as well.

Zeker een aanrader als je naar een restaurant wilt met goed smaakvol eten en een keer een andere ervaring wilt dan je standaard Utrechtse restaurant. Verder waren de medewerkers zeer beleefd en aardig.

Just a great restaurant with delicious, honest dishes and nice, friendly staff!

Best udon I’ve ever had. Extremely friendly waiter who made small talk. I was all alone on a Friday at 5 PM as the first customer and the cozy jazz music in the background, along with the stellar service and food made me make another reservation on the spot. Absolutely recommended! See you again soon, Kakunosuke!

The udon here is absolutely fresh and boasts an incredible texture, truly one of the best I've ever had. I opted for the beef udon, which was a hit with my friend too. Despite being quite full from brunch, we couldn't resist trying some side dishes, settling on gyoza and pickled mackerel, both of which were delightful. If we had more room, we would've indulged in even more of their tempting side options! For those who enjoy sake, they offer a wide selection to choose from, although I'm not much of a sake drinker myself. Having previously visited Kounousuke, which specializes in Don, Kobonosuke's focus on udon was a refreshing change and definitely worth recommending. The staff here are exceptionally friendly, adding to the overall positive experience.

Really nice place. The udon was extremely tasty. The service was also really good, above average. Definitely will be back!

Excellent Udon dining. I haven't had anything I haven't liked. Het is heel lekker.

The food itself tasted alright but the portion is sooooooo small! 18 euros for a tiny bowl of carbs is insane. I ordered okonomiyaki as an appetizer and it was tiny plus there was barely any sauce / bonito flakes. Some of the ingredients in the udon bowl was cold, including spinach and egg. There was only one person working in the kitchen so there was a bit of delay as well. I added extra fish cake on the side for 3 euros and I got 2 tiny pieces 😭

Everything about the experience is great, atmosphere, presentation of the food etc. But the food misses soul, that thing you can't write down in a cookbook. If they cut the price by 20% it would've been 4 stars.

I'm not even sure where to start. We ordered the Kitsune Udon, the vegetarian broth was bland and not special at all, the portion size was okay regarding the noodles but the topings were definitely on the low side. We had additional fried onions which were not home made but store-bought gebakken uitjes, I find that rather disappointing. The other udon with egg came with broken egg shell inside it - that can happen but shouldn't. The starters were okay but small and rather pricey for the quality offered. Another minus point was definitely the service. There were quite a few times during the evening where we sat waiting without food and drinks and felt rather ignored by the waiters. So, a lot of time was spent waiting for the waiters to take orders and bring the food. However, once our time frame was up (a two hour time frame to have food in - which would have been fine, if we hadn't had to wait so long every time), the waiters were very fast all of a sudden to just place the bill on the table (unrequested...) and start tidying up while we were still having our dessert and tea. It felt like we were being swept out. Cash wasn't appreciated either. Overall, that was our first abs last time dinning here. The prices aren't reflected in the quality of the food.

Restaurant we went to with high expectations and left very disappointed. The starters, which are not tapas, people should stop calling things that are not tapas, they were expensive, scarce and bland. A big disappointment was the Okonomiyaki as I had heard about it and it didn't live up to expectations. The udon were good but scarce. A shame because for €40 per person we left disappointed and hungry, in fact we went to look for another place where we could have some dessert.

Unfortunately, this was a fairly dissapointing version of Japanese fine dining. Not only was the food underwhelming, the atmosphere inside the restaurant was sparse and cold. The "grilled" iberico pork was a bowl of wet pulled-pork, absolutely saturated with overwhelming ginger sauce. It came with a dollop of mayonaise or some kind of sauce, and a handful of something dry that resembled thinly chopped dried udon. Not at all what we expected. The chicken dumplings were okay, but nothing special. Sadly, the mixed vegetable tempura lacked any taste whatsoever. We shared a bowl of sukiyaki udon, but it wasn't really warm. The only thing that stood out was the sweetened shitake, which packed the most flavour out of anything we ordered. We shared some tea, but for 6,80 I imagined a little more than two cups total. Burnt rice does not make for a good tea, but that's a matter of opinion. Japanese style, I guess. From what we were told, the menu had some recent changes. Not for the better, unfortunately. Not to mention price-wise, I think there are better options.

tldr: i got hyped up by my friend and other reviews before coming, but i ended up leaving a tad bit disappointed we ordered okonomiyaki as a starter but it wasnt really an okonomiyaki (as i was told by my bf who went to japan lol) - it was super small (like half the size of a normal one at most) and it didn't really taste like one so we started off a bit disappointed.. we weren't told this but looking at other reviews you were apparently supposed to have 4 or so starters before the main?? to be honest looking at the prices of the starters i didnt really expect that at all, since they are 7 or 8 euros each. then the udon was alright but quite bland, like the okonomiyaki was too. i guess for the few udon restaurants we have here in the Netherlands the variety and options you have at this restaurant are enormous, but for the price i would probably pass next time. service and ambience were really really nice though!!

Het eten is hier fantastisch. Japanse smaken komen goed tot hun recht. We kregen 1 ander gerecht dan we hadden besteld, we kregen veel excuses en het personeel wilde dat direct rechtzetten. We vinden het zonde om eten te verspillen, dus hebben we dat alternatieve gerecht gewoon gegeten, daar hadden we zeker geen spijt van. Echt een aanrader als je echt Japans wilt eten!

Wil je echt eens Japans eten moet je hier zeker geweest zijn! Ons favoriete restaurant, vergeet niet de Iberico porc in gembersaus!

Dit restaurant is echt een aanrader!! Het eten is echt top, de bediening is aardig en de sfeer is goed! Wij aten met zn tweeën en hadden drie voorgerechten + udon noodles op en dat was de goede hoeveelheid. De cocktails zijn echt een aanrader, je drinkt er zo drie van leeg. Het restaurant is klein en daardoor kwam het eten snel op tafel. Ik raad de cabbage met miso saus aan als voorgerecht met de Japanese stewed beef met soft boiled egg, die twee voorgerechten waren zoo lekker!!

Lekker authentiek eten, vriendelijke bediening. Prijs is aan de hoge kant. Sommige voorgerechten op de kaart waren niet verkrijgbaar.

Amazing food, perfect portion sized and very friendly staff!

After seeing the reviews for this place I was very excited to try it and had a very high expectation which ultimately was not met. The food itself was okay but a little bland and definitely not worth the price point. They also recommend taking 4-5 starters which I believe is probably too much along with a main dish. We ordered one starter and once again, while it was good, it definitely was nothing spectacular. Overall, I don’t think it’s a bad place but it did not live up to expectations, especially considering the prices of the food.

The food was amazing! Everything was so well balanced. Highly recommend the Iberico pork (very 'in your face' flavourwise) and the torikawa ponzu (pretty mild, but very balanced) - they make a great pairing, too! The Yuzu Sour cocktail also accompanies the food really well. Definitely will be coming back

One of the best restaurants in Utrecht. The portions have a very good size and all the dishes are full of flavour. Seats inside and a few tables outside too.

Amazing authentic Japanese food and atmosphere. Loved it!

Great flavor, great food, vegetarian options and good price. A bit dark inside

Had a nice Udon dinner, both mains were tasty and generous. The eggplant starter was also very good. The green tea ice cream was amazing.

Lovely service. Udon beef noodles we're fantastic. Best Japanese restaurants in Utrecht. Recommended chicken dumplings and seafood tempura. Thank you !

Absolutely divine. From the friendly service, to the food that was served fresh, tasteful and above all authentic. Also Mochi the resident cat was very very cute. 10/10 will recommend a good Udon here always!

Onopvallend in de Burg. Reigerstraat zit deze Japanse Lounge in een niet te breed pand. Ik was hier samen met een stel dat al een paar keer door Japan getrokken zijn en de keuken erg goed kennen. Zij komen hier erg graag en ik snap nu waarom. We aten een paar hapje vooraf met o.a. Japanse paddestoelen, als tussengerecht de Yasaigyoza en ik als hoofdgerecht de Shougayaki udon (noodle soep met Iberico vlees). Het was allemaal verfijnd en smakelijk. De noedels hadden een prachtige dikte en bouillon en vlees waren heerlijk. Als ik in Utrecht zou wonen dan zou ik het wel weten, hier vaak eten.

Uniek traditioneel Japans eet tentje in Utrecht. Klein en sfeervol. Je wordt ontzettend goed geholpen door de eigenaresse die je van alles weet te vertellen over de gerechten en de heerlijke sake's. Bijzondere gerechten die je niet snel ergens anders vindt.

We're looking for Udon place (it's hard to find one) and this one definitely the best place in Utrecht. Different take on Udon from Marugame but it's delicious ⭐ also great menu choices, and good price to value. Oh yeah love the ambience, especially the window table!

Food was yummy but it took 30 min for the waiter to take our order after bringing us our menus. We eventually had to flag them down to take our order.

Delicious. Loved the broth, the egg perfectly poached and the udon noodle was just perfect. The torikawa ponzu was my favourite.

We have been lucky enough to decide on this restaurant during our stay in Utrecht. We start with some good gyozas that, thanks to a minimalist yuzu vinaigrette and a touch of sansho pepper, become something extraordinary. Delicious well-prepared and seasoned udon, and a generous mochi round out a perfect dinner. The chef cooking between the tables in her semi-open kitchen, and an attentive and pleasant room staff, as found in few restaurants, make this restaurant a must-visit. Thank you Kakunosuke team!

Had a dinner there. Tried udon and various starters there. Loved the food and atmosphere.

Het eten is kwalitatief ontzettend goed! Vers bereid, erg lekker, perfecte temperatuur en heel mooi geserveerd! Als je wil kennismaken met verschillende Japanse gerechten moet je hier zeker heengaan! Personeel is super vriendelijk en komt meermaals langs om te vragen of alles naar wens is. Prijs-kwaliteit verhouding is ook goed. Wij zijn helemaal enthousiast en komen zeker terug!

Real ramen, starters offer good selection of Japanese food some with western twist.

We were pleasantly surprised by - well, just about everything! The food is great, the staff are very friendly and helpful and the ambiance is great. Our daughter, who stayed in Japan for six months, assured us that the dishes are what can be expected in a Japanese tapas bar. Of course the fact that a lot of the guests were Japanese is a good sign as well! Highly recommended.

Gisteren met twee personen wezen eten. We waren heel benieuwd naar deze authentieke Japanse ervaring. Ten eerste hadden we het idee dat onze drankjes (yuzu sour en gin tonic) niet veel alcohol bevatten. De tonic had ook geen prik (meer). Het bier was overigens wel lekker. We hadden vier voorgerechtjes, de kip gyoza was hiervan het lekkerst, maar het varkensvlees met gembersaus was niet overal even warm, op sommige plekken zelfs bijna koud, wat bij ons het vermoeden wekte dat het in de magnetron was opgewarmd. Het was ook veel te zout. De wagyu was zeker ook niet de prijs waard, je krijgt misschien een paar gram vlees en het is ook niet warm. De udon zelf was oké, goed warm en de noedels hadden een goede textuur. Ook wel leuk dat je nog extra toppings kan kiezen voor 1 euro per stuk. De service was overigens wel goed en attent. Maar uiteindelijk zou ik hier niet terugkomen en het ook niet aanbevelen.

Very nice Japanese restaurant, everything is so delicious!

First of all, you need to make a reservation. They give 2 hour slots on busy evenings. I have been to Japan and some items on the menu were average for sure. To share we had edamame, torikawa ponzu: baked chicken skin (it was okay), chicken gyoza (best one in the appetizers), kakiage: fried seafood and veg tempura (very underseasoned and boring), takoyaki (good-ish but not memorable) and okonomiyaki (nothing like the ones in Japan and incredibly tiny). The Sukiyaki Udon was the highlight. Curry Udon was also tasty. The sake we had was also delicious. Yuzu Sour was tasty but very light in alcohol content. My recommendation would be jumping straight to the udons. Even though we shared many appetizers (the waitress explains how many you should order per person when you arrive) we were still very hungry after we finished all of them. The udons are filling though. The appetizers are quite expensive for their quality and come in tiny portions.

Super lekker, perfecte ervaring van Japanse keuken in Oudwijk!

nice place to eat udon (there aren't that many in Utrecht so if you're really craving for udon...go for it) the starters are nice to eat and make you ready for the real deal (udon bowl) they advise you to take 2 to 3 starters per person but that's if you're really hungry if you're okay/not that hungry...i'd say share 2 to 3 starters with your partner instead of each.3 starters. we chose the okonomiyaki, takoyaki balls and it was nice to try i guess... (it doesn't really fill you up but you snacked a bit) the udon bowl is reasonable it will definitely fill you up including the soup (just a tip take the sukiyaki one...that one has a lot more toppings...) i had the beef bowl and it didn't came with any toppings...they do offer extra toppings for 1 euro per piece so that's up to you.

Delicious japanese dishes. The portions are good too and friendly staff. The place was full during the week so it is preferred to book in advance

We had been by the other restaurant from the same owner next to vaartsche Rijn and we were so happy we decided to try this one too. Unfortunately experience was not equally memorable. Food is too overpriced and the offer not that exceptional. Personnel is certainly very friendly though.