I have always wondered why on Earth anyone would eat soba noodles cold. In fact, before coming to Japan, I had no idea there was any kind of noodled served cold at a restaurant. Until now I tried to keep always going for the hot noodles thinking it is prepared in a completely different way. Turns out that may not be the case...
Last week I went to a nice, authentic looking Japanese restaurant for some tempura over soba noodles and this time I did not see anywhere in the menu a specification for whether or not the noodles would be hot. Instead they were cold but the nice waitress also brought this red, seemingly strange wooden thing. As it turns out, it's just hot water to pour over the noodles which are actually brought in a special plate which has a little grill to allow for the hot water to drain down.
1 comment:
Hmm.. are you sure it's just plain water? When I went to a soba-specialty restaurant in Japan, I was told that it's actually the water used in cooking the noodles. It's healthier and one was supposed to use it at the end of the meal to dilute the seasoned soy sauce you've been dipping the noodles in so you can drink it. I always thought the mat the noodles sit on is to keep them dry from the ice underneath used to keep the noodles cold...
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