Ladies and gentlemen, we are here on the
Lower East Side of Manhattan, and I am going to
enjoy a delightful Japanese treat, soba noodles.
You may know them as buckwheat noodles.
Buckwheat is actually not related to wheat.
Actually closer to sorrell, which is sort of like
a spinach-like herb or rhubarb.
Bottom line, it's just delicious.
It's eaten hot or cold as dipping noodles.
We're gonna head over there right now.
I'm gonna try some of these different kinds of noodles.
Let's go.
(upbeat pop music)
So, I noticed some things on your signage, which is like,
it's like, good for you, like good for your body.
Yeah.
Is this true?
Or is this what people believe in Japan?
It says right here, if you're constipated--
(Junki laughs)
come into the restaurant, which is probably
one of the worst things I've ever seen,
marketing-wise to get people to come
into a restaurant, but tell me more.
Tell me about, tell me more.
Yeah so, I, it's a little bit, the healthy food.
It's like a not heavy food, so--
Okay. Yeah
So, soba is considered more of a healthy food?
Yeah, I think so.
As opposed to say, ramen?
Right.
The basically, the soba noodle is made of buckwheat,
but the ramen is made of wheat, a little bit heavier
than, I mean, yeah. Okay.
And soba is like a light.
And also Japanese love the cold noodles,
I mean, eat the cold noodles.
I love cold noodles. Oh, it's not bad.
Oh, yeah.
The dipping noodles?
You dip them.
If they wanna, kind of, the refresh,
the Japanese often eat it, the cold noodles.
Great, Junki, thank you.
Thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure.
Let's go eat some food.
(upbeat pop music)
So, we have cold noodle, cold soup.
Yeah.
Cold noodle, warm soup.
Warm soup, yeah.
And then warm noodle, in the soup.
Yes. (Kanon laughs)
There's a lot going on here.
I will definitely get the cold zaru soba.
Cold zaru soba, yeah.
The most normal one, yeah.
It's the most normal one?
(Kanon laughs)
And then, you really want me to get this one:
the mera mera. Yeah, for sure.
Oh that is--
And it's sesame paste, chicken, bok choy, okay.
Yeah, it's spicier.
Okay, I'll try it.
Okay, the mera mera.
I'll try that.
I'll try a small.
Small, yeah, sure.
(upbeat pop music)
You got these fresh buckwheat noodles,
and I think the technique here is
just to dip them in this broth.
And so we've got a good amount of broth,
the cold noodle.
It's pretty good, man.
The broth is like a chili, sesame,
and it's got a little bit of a meaty flavor
from this ground chicken
that's here in the bottom of it.
It's very savory.
And I really like this idea of dipping the noodles.
It's a lot of fun.
And also, this broth is really hot.
And so it has the added benefit of
cooling down the bite.
Otherwise, you're just gonna
burn the hell out of your mouth.
So yeah, the soba phenomenon is interesting.
Apparently, it was very popular in
the Tokugawa or Edo period.
Because people just ate white polished rice all the time,
it took away a lot of the nutrients, namely thiamine.
What they discovered was buckwheat had a lot of thiamine.
From the people who were suffering from this
Beriberi disease, which caused by lack of thiamine,
they found that it was cured by eating soba noodles,
'cause buckwheat has a lot of thiamine.
That's sort of how the reputation
for health food came about.
So this is the more traditional zaru soba.
I thought for a long time that zaru meant cold.
It doesn't.
It just, it's this, this is the--
It's the basket.
We've got bonito, fish flakes.
We've got the nori, seaweed.
Some scallions and wasabi,
and the fried garlic.
And then we got the tsuyu, which is the dipping sauce.
And this is just broth or fish stock.
And then, it's combined with like a sweet soy sauce.
And then mirin, which is a rice wine vinegar.
I'm just gonna dip.
Great.
Nice, cold, refreshing.
The noodles have a really lovely bite to them.
The fact that they're cold, means they're nice and firm.
Kind of earthy, grainy, buckwheaty taste.
Japan is a big noodle culture.
They are very proud about their tradition.
Ramen, obviously, udon, soba.
And I think this one's like, not as popular,
for whatever reason.
You know, ramen is sexy 'cause it's super rich.
But there's something to be said for just like,
a cold, clean, semi-sweet, salty, a little bit
acidic from the vinegar bite of this noodle.
You know, if you want it to be a bit heavier,
you can get this with this thicker, warm broth.
And you can get that, a flavor profile of something
that's more meaty, more rich, more saucy.
Soba,
I salute you.
Well, gonna go take a big ol' (beep) now.
Just kidding.
I really hope you enjoyed this episode of
Dining on a Dime from Cocoron on the
Lower East Side of Manhattan.
If you'd like to watch more, please click here.
These dishes are under eight pounds, seven pounds.
It's all under $10, all of it!