Udon Fifty, the noodle concept from Domu chef Sonny Nguyen, is set to open Oct. 22 in the former Dochi space at 1222 E. Colonial Drive in Mills 50. The 18-seat restaurant, built around a 10-seat counter and an eight-seat dining room, caps a project that has been in the works for six years and was originally supposed to launch somewhere else entirely.
According to Orlando Weekly, the restaurant is designed to mimic the mom-and-pop noodle shops found in Japan's Kanto region, and will serve both hot and cold udon prepared in Kanto, Kansai and Sanuki styles. Kanto-style broth leans on a darker, more umami-forward soy sauce base, while Kansai-style udon uses a lighter, dashi-forward broth, and Sanuki-style relies on a niboshi base made from small dried sardines or anchovies, per the same outlet's reporting. Nguyen told the publication the noodles will be made in-house using a machine he's importing from Japan.
A Pop-Up Plan Interrupted by the Pandemic
Udon Fifty wasn't originally meant to be its own restaurant. The concept was first announced as a six-seat udon bar tucked inside Tori Tori's kitchen back in 2020, Orlando Weekly reported at the time, but the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown squashed those plans before they could materialize. What began as a cramped pop-up has since grown into a stand-alone 18-seat space with its own address.
Florida business records show Udon Fifty LLC listed at 1222 E. Colonial Drive, Suite B, with Sean “Sonny” Nguyen as manager, according to Bungalower. The company changed its principal address to the Colonial Drive storefront on June 25, the outlet reported. Separately, plan review documents submitted by Udon Fifty LLC identify a restaurant planned for that same Suite B address, according to WhatNow.
Training Under a Soba Maestro in New York
Nguyen's noodle credentials trace back to a few years spent in New York studying under soba maestro Shuichi Kotani from 2017 to 2019, where he learned traditional hand-crafting techniques for soba, ramen and udon, the Orlando Weekly report notes. Nguyen has said he gravitated toward udon in particular because it's lighter than ramen while still delivering a satisfying chew and bounce.
That same training underpins the tempura program at Udon Fifty, which will use a proprietary blend of three different flours, per the outlet's reporting. Nguyen's broader restaurant portfolio already includes Domu, Gyukatsu Rose, Rion's Ocean Room, Tori Tori and Edoboy, giving the new noodle shop a built-in local following before it even opens its doors.
Joining an Already Crowded Noodle Corner
The space Udon Fifty is taking over previously housed Dochi's Japanese-style mochi doughnut shop, Bungalower reported, and it lands in a neighborhood that already has its own handmade udon destination. Zaru, a 25-seat udon restaurant from James Beard Award-nominated restaurateurs Johnny and Jimmy Tung, opened just down the street at 1114 E. Colonial Drive in 2023, next door to longtime Vietnamese anchor Tien Hung Market, according to Bungalower's earlier coverage. Zaru's menu, built on Japanese flour sourced from Kagawa Prefecture and offered hot and cold with tempura and custom add-ons, set a template that Udon Fifty's own hot-and-cold, scratch-noodle approach echoes.
Udon Fifty will keep a tight schedule once it soft opens: 4-9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, noon-3 p.m. and 4-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and closed Monday through Wednesday. A grand-opening date has not yet been announced, Orlando Weekly reported. For a neighborhood that's increasingly known for its noodle options, Mills 50 is about to get another proof point that the craze hasn't slowed down.
