Niigata Yakisoba

Niigata Yakisoba is known as “The Soul food of Niigata” is something warm, affordable, and delicious to Niigata residents and is well known from its legacy of Niigata-Italian Cuisine. No other is as known as the salty cooked up noodles with vegetables with a poured on sauce as Niigata Yakisoba that is referred to as “Mikazuki Sauce” [Crescent Moon Sauce]. It is said to be a Worcestershire Sauce, however those who have tasted it know that it is a mixture of a complete “Yakisoba Sauce” that is lighter in flavor so that it goes well with sauces while adding a complimentary flavor, so if they are being polite they refer to it also as “Niigata Worcestershire Sauce”. The noodles are a “medium-thick sized” traditionally, however there are “medium sized” noodles, and “thin-sized” that are made of wheat flour noodles. It is standard to eat many of the dishes with a fork.

Gyoza is a common set addition to Niigata Yakisoba due to the popularity of the Gyoza from the restaurant “Friend” in 1963 that pairs noodles with the ever popular gyoza dumplings with a side of pickles. In 1955, a sweet shop called “Nagaoka Manju Honpo“ was the predecessor of “Friend“ was opened in the basement of “Marusen Department Store“, JR Nagaoka Station, where it followed the cutting-edge American fast-food culture. Anticipating private-car culture in Japan and in Niigata the company would have a drive-through select items that could easily be eaten on the go, so not only was gyoza a food that could be eaten on the go when it was not a common food item in Japan at that time. Nagaoka has since then really specialized in making people identify yakisoba being a part of food that could be eaten on the go, meanwhile Niigata City keeps on pushing the development of Itaria in its own way..

Niigata Yakisoba had evolved in its own way, with the classic style Yakisoba that is the B-Class street food, that would be seen as a fast-food item as well as a street food and possible restaurant entree the dish had really reached many parts of the food service industry. Gyoza was now part of the dishes that would go with Niigata Yakisoba and as other areas like Itoigawa developed their Burraku Yakisoba (squid ink), and Joetsu developed their Howaito Yakisoba, Uonuma Guriin yakisoba (mugwort), and Myoko Akakura Onsen brought on Reddo Yakisoba (tomato paprika) there would be Yakisoba sides that would be part of the expected menu. For example: Various Niigata Pickles, Niigata Miso Soup, Onsen Eggs or Flat-Omelette (burraku yakisoba), Niigata Gyoza (friend restaurant), Fried Things (reddo yakisoba), Chopped Salad (itaria ryori), Vegetable sides that are either grilled or stir fried (guriin yakisoba).According to the Gourmet Ranking online the top contenders for Yakisoba thats popular in the prefecture are: Mikazuki in Bandai City, Friend in Nagaoka,  Restaurant Eika in Myoko, Tenma in Murakami, Momoenro in Tsugawa, Koyama in Myoko, and Tsukitoku Hanten.

Yakisoba Ohno is a rare-yakisoba specialty restaurant in Honmachi that uses ingredients from Niigata Prefecture. One of the workers is Yoko Shirakura who was born in Fukushima Prefecture (1977), worked as a massage therapist (20 years), and a prosciutto restaurant in Niigata Ninjo Yokocho called "Gorilla Pudding". The restaurant opened in 2024, the restaurant uses Niigata wheat flour, scratch made thick noodles, boiled and then rinsed in cold water, they have a smooth yet chewy texture. The noodles are fried them with vegetables in aromatic lard and have made it a must to put nice Ramen-style Chashu Pork on top to make it stick out. The Yakisoba sauce is starting to appeal to locals and have made this a must go spot, since the sauce is made from scratch. The original "special black sauce" has a rich, full-bodied flavor, but there is also the "special white sauce" that uses tamari soy sauce, soy sauce koji, and boiled soy sauce. Customers trying to explain it call the Black Yakisoba (Itoigawa) and the White Yakisoba (Joetsu) as existing types and that Yakisoba Ohno has made variations that are distinctly Niigata in general (Niigata Prefecture). The "condiment" it comes with is a fermented Myoko "Yuzu Kanzuri" Yakisoba often comes with "paste" but kanzuri is very Niigata. [Instagram, Things, Gatchira]

However due to the scene of Furumachi where Italian dishes would meet the times of the Meiji-era to the Taisho-era where westernization was making its mark alongside Japanese Traditions. It would be separate from Furumachi also being known not only for Niigata-Italian Cuisine, but also Authentic Italian Cuisine, and Japanese-Italian Cuisine, due to the famous chef Pietro Migliore and the Hotel Italiaken that continues to push out many great cooks through their kitchens. Furumachi would be known for its Geigi (geisha) Tea Houses, Niigata-Italian Cuisine, and adapted Motorization. There are those highly interested in history and older people who try to make food that is both Italian and Japanese that can be eaten in Kimono garments, served in either a 折り箱 Oribako (folding box) 重箱 Jubako (multilayered box) using Hashi (chop sticks) or specialized forks to keep clothes clean.

Variations of Italian noodles that are often compared to Niigata “Itarian” are: Nagoya “Ankake Spaghetti” leans more on traditional Italian Pasta noodles instead of Yakisoba noodles or a sauce and looks like a mixture of Japanese techniques with American spaghetti in how it is cooked and Italian ingredients that focuses on a thick-sauce. Shiga Prefecture “Itaria Yakisoba” it is a signature menu item at restaurant “Chashin” that has been around since the Meiji era and has been part of “Nagahama soul food” that combines the yakisoba sauce and meat sauce together instead of cooking them separately makes it Shiga-style. Okayama Prefecture a soba restaurant called “Trattoria” uses locally made Buckwheat noodles Soba made on site with a variation of Flat-Soba that is similar size to Fettucini flat-noodles and is served with a condiment of “butter-oil”. 

Going from one place to another in a hurry there are all sorts of things to eat on the go for fast-food, but in the cold there has to be something that has met both of those criteria and that would be Niigata “Italian” or better known as Italian Yakisoba. An Italian Yakisoba consists of: the thick-yakisoba noodles, the stir-fried sauce, and the sauce that is poured over the noodles. The Yakisoba was made to have the flavor of a lighter tasting yakisoba to make the main flavor become the pour sauce, but other cooks used yakisoba as a base and made italian-stir fry sauces, a few adding katsu or omelets, some even went as far as to add gourmet touch to it.

Sauces

When asking people to categorize a group of recipes of Italian Yakisoba it fell into several overlapping categories: (1.) Tomato-based [Italian, Bolognese], (2.) Cream-based [Carbonara], (3.) Kare-based, (4.) Miso-based [echigo-miso], (5.) Edamame-based, (6.) Sake-based. The noodles that families used would vary based on what they had in the pantry with some using thin yakisoba noodles or some using a larger udon like yakisoba noodle to make their italian yakisoba in a single stir fry with the sauce on the side in a pot. The varieties that were the most interesting would have interesting additions like: eggs with cream, sweet peppers with tomato, citrus with milk, edamame with shishito pepper, cured-pork with sake and mushrooms [enoki, wood ear, shiitake].

Stir Fries

The stir fry is when the noodles are being cooked with other ingredients to add a unique flavor to them, so in many cases it is important to pay attention to what's inside a stir fry toss. Italian Yakisoba is most notable for its three main ingredients of: (A.) bean sprouts, (B.) onions, and (C.) cabbage that are stir fried to get the flavor of the water out of the vegetable and infused with the sauce and oil that transfers over to a more flavorful noodle to enhance the dish.

Toppings

The toppings would be a garnish at first with a load of green onions on top that were seasoned or not seasoned, and covered with either cheese, or Japanese mayonnaise. As something to be served quickly the dish of Italian Yakisoba was a humble dish that was classified as B-Class gourmet for better or for worse, so the toppings would be following that from its origins. Eventually those who got tired of a simply small and easily accessible meal were looking for a substantial meal from the beloved yakisoba with sauce and the toppings would start to change.

Common toppings would be: Japanese Pork Sausage, Arabiki Sausage (Gr.sausage), Vaisu Sausage (Gr. weiss ヴァイスヴルスト ), Italian Gyoza, Takoyaki, Fried Things (Chicken, Wood Ear Mushroom, Shiitake Mushroom), Grilled Things (Chicken), Katsu Things (Beef). Seafoods would include: Nanban Shrimp, Surume Squid, Rock Oysters, Sole Flounder, Kegani Hairy Crab. Jumping to past [1910 Showa] there were: Tomatoes, Asparagus, Eggplant, Japanese Clams, assortments of Shrimp, assortments of Squid, Edamame, Prosciutto, Corn, Diced Garlic, Pickled Garlic Chives (substitute capers), Salt Cured Iriko (substitute anchovies).

■ Itaria Yakisoba Sauce (Yakisoba Sauce. Sake. Kombu Salt) 

■ Bolognese Sauce (Tomato Ketchup Bolognese. Butter. Garlic. Round onion)

■ Camembert Sauce (Fresh Cream Carbonara. Camembert. Butter. Bacon. Garlic. Round onion)

■ Pepperoncini Sauce (Beef Basil-Pesto Genovese. Pickled Pepperoncini. Salami. Butter. Pesto. Round onion)

■ Kare Sauce (Kare Stew. Sake. Butter. Round onion)

■ Seafood (Squid. Mussels. Buri) 

■ Vegetables (Thinly-sliced Cabbage, Tamanegi Round Onion, Green Bellpeppers)

■ Yakisoba (300 grams. Chukasoba- Egg Wheat Flour Noodles)

■ Fluffy Tamagoyaki (egg mixed with dashi stock. rolled egg on a grill)

■ Chizu Egg (sake-butter. shredded cheese on egg whites surrounding the yolk. Steam for several seconds)

■ Parmigiano-Reggiano Corn

■ Porochetta (Thick Sliced Lengthwise. Slow Braised Pork)

■ Mushrooms (julienne Maitake. Eringi. Shiitake. cut cooked in sake and butter) 

■ Braised Yakinasu (Chinese-style Braised Eggplant)

■ Thin-Senbei (Rice Cracker)

■ Black Pepper

■ Negi Green Onion

■ Shredded Nori