Yakisoba (fried buckwheat noodles) is a standard food in Japanese cuisine which can be found in restaurants, food stands, and convenience stores across the nation served in a variety of ways such as on hotdog buns or in an omelet.
There is also a variety of instant yakisoba noodle packs among which is the decades old Peyoung brand – loved by Japanese people of all ages for its delicious taste and easy preparation.
Occasionally the company releases special flavors like curry and super-hot, but this time they came out with perhaps the most unexpected flavor of all: yakisoba flavored yakisoba.
■ The True Identity of “Peyoung Yakisoba”
The fact is, a lot of yakisoba both instant and fresh isn’t yakisoba at all. Rather than the soba (buckwheat) noodle the name implies, the noodles are made like regular old ramen noodles and as such is much more similar to (if not exactly like) Chinese chow mein, yakisoba’s predecessor.
But when opening up Peyoung Japanese Style Yakisoba Yakisoba the noodles look thicker and have a pale brown tinge as if they were actually rolled from buckwheat flour. Also instead of the sweet yakisoba sauce generally used, this comes with a variation flavored with mentsuyu, a sauce typically eaten with true soba noodles among other dishes.
There is also a pack of green onion and tempura flakes for an added Japanese taste.
■ How to Make
Like other Peyoung yakisoba this is easy to make. Just add 500 mL of hot water and let sit for three minutes. Then drain the water and add the sauce and toppings.
If you want firmer noodles you should let them sit for a further two minutes.
■ Taste Test
Resident yakisoba aficionado Yoshio was the first to try out Japanese Style Yakisoba Yakisoba. Immediately he dug in and took a huge mouthful.
“Whooooaaaa!!!” he shouted causing everyone to think he burnt his mouth. He was okay, however; shocked but okay. This clearly wasn’t soba.
“The… mmm… hell is this?” he said shoveling another ball of noodles into his mouth “they call this yakisoba… mmm… but there isn’t any soba in… slurp… this. What a rip-off!”
Then it occurred to him. This was (real Japanese) yakisoba flavored (Peyoung instant brand) yakisoba and it was really good. It’s deliciously meta!
The others in the RocketNews editing department concurred – this was something totally new in the realm of instant yakisoba and something worth checking out.
In the end we recommend trying this at least once. It’s a completely new taste that a lot of people would probably get into.
As for Yoshio, he’s inspired to try it again with a real Japanese style mentsuya sauce that’s served with original soba rather than the Japanese mentsuyu style yakisoba sauce that’s eaten with original Peyoung Yakisoba style yakisoba.
Got it?
Original Article and Photos by Yoshio
Source: Peyoung (Japanese)
[ Read in Japanese ]