What does “Yokote Yakisoba” mean?
“Yokote” is the name of a city in Akita Prefecture, the northern part of Japan and “Yakisoba” means stir-fried noodles usually seasoned with Worcester sauce. Then, it has now been clear that Yokote Yakisoba is a special kind of yakisoba. It is a specialty of Yokote City and loved by locals so that you can find tons of restaurants which have Yokote Yakisoba on their menu in the city or the areas nearby.
Yokote Yakisoba is defined as below by “Yokote Yakisoba Noren Kai” which is a group or organization to make it more popular.
1. Using thick and springy noodles (mainly produced by local noodle factories).
2. Seasoned with Worcester sauce topped with some special ingredients depend on each provider.
3. Cooked with cabbage, minced pork, and topped with a sunny side up egg (the white is done, the york is raw).
4. Served with Fukujinzuke (a kind of Japanese pickles).
This is a major definition of Yokote Yakisoba, however, you may realize that many restaurants have their unique recipes that are not exactly following above. For example, you can have Yokote Yakisoba with steak or stewed meat instead of minced one at famous restaurants. Sometimes it served with salad on the same plate, or even curry on it, though it is almost always topped with a sunny side up egg. Please try squashing the egg york and mixing it with the noodles and other ingredients, then the york makes yakisoba’s taste creamy and mild.
Yokote Yakisoba Big Four
Yokote City
Every fall season Yokote town holds “Yokote Yakisoba Big Four Competition” to decide the annual four best yakisoba restaurants. The participants do the competition in a huge field and make temporary booths so that ordinary people come and try their Yokote Yakisoba. Usually, 10 restaurants chosen by secret investigators participate in the match. After tasting most of them, the people decide which restaurant was the best for them and vote with chopsticks they used.
The latest big four (in 2019) are:
Idehataya: Yakisoba with Yokote black beef
Hokkaiya: Yakisoba with bulgogi
Fujiharu Shokudo: Special Yakisoba
Steak House Sfida: Yakisoba with beef Soboro (cooked minced meat)
At these restaurants, you can enjoy a variety of Yokote Yakisoba. Each of them is very different but also have something in common. If you have not decided when to visit Yokote yet, you should go there in the fall season to visit that competition. You can be served half potion of Yokote Yakisoba at each booth so that you can enjoy every dish of competitors. Or, simply visiting whenever you like but staying in the city for several days to find your best yakisoba restaurant should also be a good idea.
