If it's nearby, try it for ramen! Sakaeya ​​Honten, the birthplace of "hiyashi" ramen (Yamagata Prefecture)

When it's hot in the summer, you crave something cold, right? And one thing that seems like it should be easy to find but is surprisingly hard to come by ischilledramen!

In Hokkaido, chilled Chinese noodles are sometimes called chilled ramen, but this chilled ramen is not chilled Chinese noodles!just regular soy sauce ramen with soup that's "chilled" by adding ice.

It seems that this dish has been invented in various regions throughout Japan, but its origin is said to be Yamagata Prefecture! This time, we'll be introducing "Yamagata Specialty Cold Ramen," which was created at Sakaeya ​​Honten in Honmachi, Yamagata City

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Cold ramen from a long-established restaurant founded in 1932

It all started on a hot summer day in the Showa era when a customer asked, "You have cold soba noodles, but why don't you have cold ramen?"

The first owner of Sakaeya ​​Honten decided to make cold ramen, but encountered a problem during the cooking process: the fat would solidify if the soup was cold

After about a year of research, in the summer of 1951, he developed a method of chilling beef broth, filtering the fat, and using bonito flakes and kelp to make the stock. The original chilled ramen used beef broth and beef roast pork

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Current Sakaeya ​​Main Branch's cold ramen

When you order the cold ramen at Sakaeya ​​Honten, you'll find kamaboko and cucumber in the center as toppings, which are not often found in regular ramen. Bean sprouts are also unusual for a soy sauce-based ramen

The thick soup becomes just the right balance as the small pieces of ice melt. Combined with the fact that it's "chilled," the noodles have a firm texture and are extremely satisfying to eat!

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There are a wide variety of cold ramen available today!

Checking the menu at Sakaeya ​​Honten, I was surprised to find that they have 14 different variations of chilled ramen ! This time I went with the classic "chilled ramen," but next time I'd like to try the "super spicy chilled ramen."

Souvenir cold ramen sets are also available for purchase at the register

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summary

In fact, Yamagata is a hotbed of ramen, boasting the highest ramen consumption in Japan. Chilled ramen can be said to be a local dish that suits Yamagata's unique climate, where summers are extremely hot due to the influence of the basin

Soba noodles are of course delicious, but we also recommend cold ramen if you're traveling to Yamagata during the hot summer!

As a side note, there seems to be some debate in the world of chilled dishes"hiyashi"or"hiyashi"(with a different kanji character). However, following the spelling used by Sakaeya ​​Honten, we have standardized it to "hiyashi" (with a different kanji character).

Sakaeya ​​Main Store <Information>

• Name: Sakaeya ​​main store
• Address: 2-3-21 Honmachi, Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture, 990-0043
• Phone number: 023-623-0766
• Official URL:https://sakaeyahonten.com/

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