Cold noodles and curry noodles are proven successes, but cold curry noodles is a new roll of the culinary dice.

Nine times out of ten, or heck, 99 times out of 100, when we walk through the doors of Cocoichibanya (a.k.a. Cocoichi), we’re there to get ourselves some piping hot curry rice. And yes, on our most recent visit to Japan’s biggest curry restaurant chain, we did get curry…but we had no rice, and no heat either.

That’s because as of this month, you can get cold curry noodles at Cocoichi too.

Now, it is true that Japan has a variety of cold noodle dishes, such as hiyashi chuka (cold ramen noodles with sliced ham and cucumber) and zaru sobs (cold buckwheat noodles with shredded seaweed). And yes, curry udon is a thing too. But cold curry udon? That’s something you won’t normally encounter in Japan, so when we heard that that’s exactly what Cocoichi has added to its midsummer menu, we had to try it and see if they were incredibly clever or completely mad.

The Chilled Curry Udon is priced at 990 yen (US$6.85) for eat-in, which is actually a little more expensive than we’re used to Cocoichi meals being. The photo looked tasty, though, and included the parenthetical reference that you get a piece of chicken tempura as part of the deal, so we put in our order.

In addition to the chicken tempura, there’s also grilled eggplant, lettuce, and okaka (bonito flakes) in the bowl, and, of course, the curry and noodles.

If you’ve never had curry udon before, you might be assuming it’s the same as curry rice, just with noodles replacing the rice. Actually, though, curry udon uses a mixture of curry roux and dashi (bonito stock) broth, and depending on the ratio and exact recipes used for each part, there can be some pretty big differences in terms of texture and how harmoniously the flavors blend together…and Cocoichi has done an excellent job.

Both the curry and dashi notes are bold and flavorful, but they complement each other instead of competing to conquer your taste buds. The broth is also fairly thick, which helps it cling to the plump, firm noodles so that you’re getting the full flavor in every bite.

And true to its name, the Chilled Curry Udon’s broth and noodles are both legitimately chilled. There’s no mistaking them for ordinary curry and udon that’s just been left to cool down to room temperature. They’re refreshingly cold and extremely satisfying to dig into on a swelteringly hot afternoon.

Even the toppings were great, with the tempura chicken a nice cut of meat and the grilled eggplant a classic example of one of Japan’s favorite summer vegetables.

The only possible problem is that the portion size might feel a little on the small side if you’ve got a big appetite, but thankfully Cocoichi also allows you add any of the many toppings it offers for curry rice to the Chilled Curry Udon, so if you want to add a pork cutlet, fried chicken, or even the traditional curry rice veggie combo of potatoes and carrots, those can show up in your bowl too.

So while the idea is a little unusual, Cocoichi’s cold curry noodles have thoroughly won us over. As a seasonal item, the Chilled Curry Udon will be available for a limited time, and it’s also not offered at all Cocoichi branches, but with more than 70 branches in Tokyo alone offering it (as per the nationwide list here), it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

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