Nakau is a huge, nation-wide chain of "Kyoto-style" udon and rice bowls from Osaka. Given that I could find it everywhere, I never had the inclination to visit. Not to mention, their menu options of rice bowls and Kyoto-style udon didn’t sound particularly interesting.

“Kyoto-style,” or more commonly known as “Kansai-style,” differentiates itself from the Kanto (Tokyo) variant by using a lighter soy sauce and seaweed broth. “Kanto-style” uses a darker soy sauce and fish-based broth. This generally means Kansai udon is lighter and has a nice non-fishy, umami savory taste.

So when they recently offered their Granblue Fantasy collaboration, I figured it was time to try it. (To be fair, it wasn’t for me.) I sadly missed out on their Evangelion collaboration earlier this year… woe is me.

While their beef and chicken bowls are good, undoubtedly the star to me is their Kyoto-style chicken udon, which is surprisingly way more deliciously light and full of chicken flavor than I expected. Of all the (admittedly not *that* many) variants of udon I've had, this was one of the more unique ones. If I had known their chicken udon was this good, I definitely would've stopped by earlier!

Nakau is just another great example of finding good food all over Japan, even at chain restaurants.

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.