I didn't realise that there was such thing as an "Udon Noodle Artist," let alone that we had in one in Victoria. Yoshiaki Miyata, proclaims his noodle making art, "No. 1 in North America, maybe the best in Japan." That said, I'm no udon noodle aficionado and I have no idea what the scale is to rank such things, but the udon noodles were the best I've ever had.

A small, simple restaurant, the ambiance is low, but totally acceptable for the style of restaurant. The service was fairly quick and we were in and out in 30 min, having had two courses of food. The prices, especially the sushi, were quite reasonable and the selection good, but not overly complicated. My only serious complaint - the chopsticks. They were the cheapest chopsticks I've ever seen, somewhere between toothpicks and skewers, they had lots of slivers and were too small. Not a huge deal, but such lovely noodles deserve better cutlery.

 My date Debbie, and I ordered the tuna sashimi ($8.50), the California role ($4), and a piece of unagi nigiri ($2.50) and the kitsune udon noodle soup ($8.95). As I stated earlier, these were some darn tasty noodles - tender, but elastic, seriously fresh, yum. The broth was rich and not overly salty, with green onions and two pieces of deep-fired tofu. We had indicated to the server that we wanted to share everything and accordingly our soup arrived, attractively presented with two smaller bowls to serve into. 

The California roll was fresh, well constructed and not over sauced with mayo or avocado. Debbie similarly, enjoyed her unagi (bbq eel). The sashimi was fresh and tasty, but I thought the presentation was a little short and that the tuna could have been trimmed and sliced a little more carefully.  Overall, the sushi was good, but overshadowed by the noodles.

The only downfall to dining at Konpira (other than the crappy chopsticks) is that I think I may develop cravings for these noodles and they only make thirty portions of a day. So, if the restaurant gets wildly popular I could potentially have to queue for my fix. 

value of food 81/100

quality of food 78/100

service 75/100

ambiance 66/100

average 75/100

reviewed January  4, 2006