Soba restaurant chain’s claim leads us to cross the standard line of where tempura is supposed to go.

Japan figured out long ago that tempura and noodles are a winning combination. While not every bowl of soba or udon has tempura in it, the ones that do consistently put smiles on diners’ faces, making tempura a common topping choice at restaurants or for people cooking at home.

But one combination you’ll never see is tempura and ramen. Yes, despite being the most wide-open of Japan’s three major noodle types in terms of experimental flavors and ingredients, tempura ramen is something that’s just simply not done…which is why the following tweet caused a bit of a stir among foodies in Japan.

▼ “Were you aware? Tempura as a topping and ramen go super great together.”

Almost as surprising as the assertation and photos was the source of the claim, Fuji Soba, one of Japan’s most popular casual soba restaurant chains.

Now, when faced with an unfamiliar innovation, you should never automatically dismiss it out of hand, but neither should you immediately swallow it whole. It’s important to test out new theories for yourself, so that you can come to your own conclusion as to their veracity. It’s especially important to do this when the process is getting your boss to pay for your lunch, which is how our ace reporter Mr. Sato wound up at the Shinjuku branch of Fuji Soba in downtown Tokyo, not far from SoraNews24 HQ.

▼ Fuji Soba’s full official name is Nadai Fuji Soba, but no one ever uses the “Nadai” part in conversation.

All Fuji Soba branches, of course, serve soba, and they serve tempura too. However, some locations, including the Shinjuku one, are also now serving ramen.

▼ ラーメン = ramen

As a matter of fact, Fuji Soba has three kinds of ramen, a standard “Old-fashioned Ramen” for 530 yen (US$3.40), miso ramen for 580 yen, and niboshi ramen, made with dried sardine fish stock, also for 580 yen.

▼ The meal ticket vending machine buttons for the Old-fashioned, niboshi, and miso ramen.

Now, ordinarily Mr. Sato would have selected the Old-fashioned ramen for this test. However, looking at the Fuji Soba tweet that had him embarking on this edible adventure in the first place, the photo shows a piece of kakiage tempura (a ring of diced vegetables) in a bowl of niboshi ramen. So if that’s the broth that Fuji Soba chose to showcase in announcing its endorsement of the idea of putting tempura in ramen, Mr. Sato figured it must be the broth that they felt made for the best combo of all.

After handing his meal ticket for the niboshi ramen and a 170-yen kakiage to the restaurant staff, Mr. Sato sat and waited, and before long they placed his noodles in front of him., and his tempura too.

Honestly, even the visual felt unnatural to Mr. Sato. Somehow the kakiage, which had come in its own dish placed behind the bowl of ramen, seemed awkwardly uncomfortable and shy.

Following proper ramen-tasting protocol, Mr. Sato started with a spoonful of broth. As expected, it had a seafood essence to it, but it was milder than he’d expected, without any harsh bitterness, and a clean finish.

All three types of Fuji Soba ramen appear to use the same noodles. They’re a classic style, a little on the thin side, and paired with the broth they make for an enjoyable, unpretentious flavor that a wide range of people would like.

But again, Mr. Sato wasn’t here to eat ramen, he was here to eat ramen with tempura. So while it went against the noodle norms he’d absorbed over decades of dining in Japan, he picked up the kakiage with his chopsticks…

…and placed it in his bowl of ramen.

Hmm…yep, no two ways about it – it still looked weird to him. But hey, “looks weird, tastes great” is a combination we can deal with (it’s a lot better than the other way around), so Mr. Sato went in for a bite, and…

…things were still a little weird.

Now, to be clear, it didn’t taste bad. The ramen was good, and the tempura was good too, and putting them together didn’t ruin the flavor of either contributor. That said, something about the experience made it hard for Mr. Sato’s brain and taste buds to focus. When he took a bite, his immediate mental reaction was “Oh, I’m eating soba, right?”, which would then self-correct as the ramen flavors came on. The mixture of noodles, warm broth, and tempura made it impossible for him not to think of soba, and while his taste receptors eventually started telling him “This is ramen” right away, he could never completely shake the soba-like subliminal sensations.

▼ Expressing his impression visually, Mr. Sato says that it was like the feeling of soba (そば) kept forcing itself into any cracks in his perception that what he was eating was absolutely ramen (ラーメン).

Now, for someone else who hasn’t spent their whole life with the idea that tempura is for soba but not for ramen, this combination might seem more palatable. However, the fact that Mr. Sato couldn’t shake the feeling that something was less than ideal about the pairing, even after eating the whole bowl, suggests that there might indeed be something discordant in the flavor profiles of ramen and tempura, something that isn’t an issue when using tempura as a topping for soba or udon, and it’s probably got something to do with the broth.

Generally, soba and udon use the same broth, with soy sauce and dashi (bonito stock) as the primary ingredients. Compared to ramen broth, soba/udon broth is lighter and less “busy,” which lets it play nicely with the oil in tempura breading. Setting a piece of tempura afloat in a bowl of soba/udon lets the tempura soak up some extra flavor from the broth, and the oil of the tempura also gives the broth a bit more substance.

On the other hand, ramen broth tends to be a lot heavier. Even lighter ramen broths tend to have much stronger flavors and more oil than soba/udon broth, so adding tempura to the mix gives you a double dose of heaviness, but of slightly different types that might not blend together so much as compete for your taste buds’ attention, a distraction that might make it difficult to settle in and fully enjoy the meal.

But again, after trying it Mr. Sato doesn’t think that ramen and tempura are a bad combo, just that tempura is a much better topping for soba and udon, and he can see why that’s the orthodox style. If you want to give ramen and tempura a shot, though, you’ve got the green light from Fuji Soba.

Restaurant information
Fuji Soba (Shinjuku branch) / 富士そば（新宿店）
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 3-14-25
Open 4 a.m.-3 a.m.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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