New luxury performance car inspires new noodle dish.
On a sunny Sunday afternoon, our Japanese-language reporter Masanuki Sunakoma walked through the doors of the Mercedes-Benz showroom in Tokyo’s swanky Roppongi neighborhood. You might recognize Masanuki as our staff member who spends many of his days testing out the cheapest and lowest-priced items from Amazon Japan, so it might be hard to imagine him shopping for such high-priced transportation, but he wasn’t there to get a car, but to get lunch.
That’s because the Roppongi Mercedes Me Nextdoor, as the showroom is called, has its own soba noodle restaurant, Minatoya3.
Minatoya3 is a joint venture with Tokyo soba restaurant Minatoya, and they just added a new item to the menu, a dish of meaty stir-fried noodles called niku yakisoba. The debut of the niku yakisoba coincides with the launch of the new Mercedes-AMG GT, and even takes a few design cues from the high-performance luxury vehicle.
▼ Mercedes-AMG GT
After ordering at the restaurant’s counter, Masanuki took a seat on the restaurant’s terrace, which was enclosed with a plastic sheet that let in the sunlight while keeping out the still-chilly early spring breeze. Soon enough, his food was before him, served on a classy ceramic plate.
The color of the noodles is strikingly golden, as a reference to the AMG Solar Beam paint that serves as the Mercedes-AMG GT’s image color in promotional photos. The noodles get their color by having egg mixed in with the flour.
An extra-special touch comes courtesy of the soft-boiled egg that’s served on the side. Cracking that over the noodles and mixing it in gives them an even more vibrant color.
And for the finishing touch, a generous sprinkling of sansho (Japanese pepper). The visual result was an air of bold elegance, Masanuki thought, again matching the sort of vibe Mercedes is going for with the AMG GT.
The niku (“meat”) part of the niku yakisoba comes in the form of strips of pork, and there’s also sliced green onion amongst the noodles.
Taking a bite, Masanuki found that the niku yakisoba tastes like it looks. The sansho in particular gives it a strong presence right from the start, firing his taste buds with a sense of rapid acceleration. The egg, though, brings things to a clean, mellow finish, much like a capable but shock-absorbing suspension.
At 1,000 yen (US$7.60), Mercedes Me Nextdoor’s niku yakisoba isn’t the cheapest plate of noodles in Tokyo, but it’s an excellent value for this level of quality and class…
…and it’s a much more easily attainable luxury than the car it’s inspired by.
Location information
Mercedes Me Tokyo (Roppongi branch)
Address: Tokyo-to, Minato-ku, Roppongi 7-3-10
東京都港区六本木7丁目3番10号
Open 11:30 a.mm.-7 p.m.
Website
Photos ©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]