Japanese Soup for the Fluish Soul

I know I already wrote once about Japanese Oriental, but I feel compelled to write an update on a dish I had there recently.  It all started Sunday night: I had been feeling perfectly normal all day, and Husband and I were at a party when all of a sudden, still feeling relatively normal, I said "I'm getting sick."  Husband, I believe, laughed at me, but it was true: I awoke Monday with a fever and a feeling like I had been dropped onto something very hard from a very high place.  Being a typically germaphobic sort, I spent the entire day trying to remember the exact moment I had forgotten wash my hands.  I really should have taken up some sore of forensic investigation.  But I digress.

I typically hate it when people write about how sick they are on their websites, so why am I being a hypocrite?  Because I would never want to diminish the restorative powers of Udon, that's why.

"I need udon!"  I demanded, "nothing else can cure me!"  Husband had never been to Japanese Oriental, and it was as good a time as any.  Typically I have the shrimp tempura udon, but this time the nabeyaki udon caught my eye.  This version, which is completely different from the one in my Japanese Kitchen cookbook, is the delight of any soup-loving person who is sometimes disappointed by the lack of variety it offers.  Aside from the requisite fat and chewy udon noodles, the very good broth contains shrimp tempura, cabbage, a tempura-coated omelet, surimi (aka crab stick) tempura (it is the most prominent item in the picture, looking kind of like an octopus), fish cake, carrots, mushrooms, scallions and a poached egg!  20 minutes of slurping later and I felt like a new person.  40 hours of CSI and Law & Order on the sofa, a gallon of orange juice and 10 gallons of water, and I felt even better.  But I'm going to credit the udon.

Therefore I urge you, winter-weary Columbusites (so what if it was 55 degrees today?), sally forth to Japanese Oriental, and fortify your soul with some udon.  You will not be disappointed.

info:  Japanese Oriental Restaurant 2283 N. High St Columbus (north Campus) 614.299.6544