Freshness is all-important to Tadashi Takahashi. Every...

Freshness is all-important to Tadashi Takahashi. Every morning at 7:30 a.m., Takahashi can be found in the kitchen of his Gardena restaurant, Kotohira, making fresh udon noodles. He will be back at 2 p.m., making another batch for the dinner crowd. Fortunately, this noodle master enjoys the work. In fact, he says, “It’s fun to make noodles.”

Kotohira, an attractive restaurant highlighted by beams of pine wood, round white lanterns and Japanese prints, is named after Takahashi’s hometown in Japan, which is in an area famous for noodles. The recipe, simply wheat flour, salt and water, is more than 1,000 years old. A round udon noodle is about the length of spaghetti, and about seven times as thick.

The heart of the menu is, of course, the udon noodles and their various accompaniments. For the noodle connoisseur, Takahashi recommends the kama-age udon ($4.75), where the pure taste of the noodles comes through without any distractions. It is simply a bowl of unadorned noodles, with a soy dipping sauce on the side. Plain noodles never tasted so good.

The house specialty is the shoyu udon ($4.50), which is a bowl of udon noodles topped with tempura lace, dried bonita shavings, green onions and freshly grated ginger. Shoyu udon is featured in one of the most popular dinners, the Kotohira combo ($7.75), where the noodles share the plate with two large shrimp tempura and various vegetable tempura, such as Japanese pumpkin, eggplant and string beans.

Another favorite is the mini katsudon combination ($7.50), where the udon noodles are topped with fish cakes and scallions and served with a pork cutlet over white rice.

A very good soup is the nabeyaki udon ($6.75), in which noodles are mixed with shrimp tempura, shiitake mushrooms, and fish cakes.

Good news for kids: slurping is encouraged, because in Japan, slurping is a sign you are enjoying your noodles. Nothing pleases chef Takahashi quite as much as a dining room full of slurping sounds. It’s like Beethoven to his ears. Maybe that’s why he says making noodles is fun.

Kotohira is at 1747 W. Redondo Beach Blvd., Gardena. (310) 323-3966. Open seven days a week , 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Cash only.