When tempura is served on top of udon soup, what is the dish called?

When tempura is served on top of udon soup, the dish is called tempura udon.

Udon is a thick Japanese wheat noodle served in a hot broth, and tempura udon combines that soup with a piece of tempura, commonly shrimp or a vegetable fritter. The fried topping may be placed on the noodles just before serving, allowing its batter to remain partly crisp while also soaking up broth.

The name changes with the noodle or serving style. Tempura served with soba, Japan’s buckwheat noodles, is called tempura soba or tensoba. Tempura served over steamed rice in a bowl is tendon, short for tempura donburi. Tenmusu is different again: it is a rice ball containing tempura shrimp.

Tempura is commonly served in noodle soups throughout Japan, where the contrasting textures are part of the appeal. The hot dashi-based broth softens the coating over time, while the noodles provide a chewy counterpart to the seafood or vegetable topping.