Chilled noodles are perfect summer meal, but which ones do not reign over the top?
My Japanese-language reporter P.K. Sanjun wants to do only one thing when it is more or less hot than it is currently. It’s not as hot as it is a long way to go eat hiyashi or cold noodles. Soba, udon, spaghetti, egg noodles all-eat, especially if they are cold.
Luckily for him, he didn’t have to go very far to find something for his hungry appetite, because he had his local branch of 7-Eleven were able to save the day with eight kinds of cold noodles!
Of course, P.K. couldn’t just pick one from the delicious-looking array of cold noodles. So he decided to buy the eight and test whether one was Chilled Champion, a title he just put on right there on the spot, but still seemed highly valued.
The Hiyashi Chika (Chinese-style chilled ramen noodles) was a 550 yen soupspan (four,62 dollars) which was first played during Chilled Championship battle.
While P.K is an avid fan of hiyashi chuka, he rarely gets them from a convenience store or restaurant, as it tends to be cheaper than shop-bought versions. In spite of that, P.K had high expectations for that pick.
But six-Eleven year old hiyashi chuka was so delicious. The cucumbers and bean sprouts were crisp, but the real hero of the dish was the soy sauce broth. The smell of lemon was refreshing. In P.K.’s expert opinion, the degree of consistency was perfection. In fact, it was so delicious that P.K. even contemplated buying it again in the future.
The Tomita Tsukemen stood beside the plates, while Thick Tonkotsu and The Shellfish (691 yen) were the last of the three.
This dish is part of an annual collaboration between 7-Eleven and Tomita Ramen, a restaurant often quoted in Tokyo as one of the best ramen shops, with a slightly higher price.
As long as possible, it was expected to be a collaboration with an acoustic restaurant like Tomita Ramen. The seafood flavours were excellent, and it was a great addition to the seafood dish. P.K. anticipated the noodles could have a strong impact, but they were in fact pretty good-looking noodles.
Next up, a taekhoel with three kind of Tempura (560 yen).
P.K. was really glad to see some udon in the mix, and the Bukkake Udon was the only competitor of the day to feature udon was excited to find out how that would continue.
While the chicken was pretty good, the muciura (fried crab sticks, maitake mushrooms and fried chicken) didn’t go well with the chicken. It was an ambitious combination of foods, but unfortunately did not stick the landing, according to P.K.’s opinion.
What about the next contender, the Cold Soba Noodles with Tororo (Grated Yam) with 420 yen of meat?
Cold soba noodles are the absolute summer classic. Even though the phrase aint broke, dont fix it perfectly in this case. The barley was sweet, and the curl of yam, the okra was great and the dried seaweed and wasabi was cherry on the cake.
The quantity of perfection it showed to this dish was too high, so that P.K. could happily eat it every day from now on.
The Bang Bang Chicken with a Spicy Sesame Dress (470 yen) is very easy.
Mixing shredded chicken with spicy sesame dressing, bang-bang chicken is another safe summer staple, and 7-Elevens version ticked all the boxes.
That’s exactly what P.K. thought it was was. It wasn’t exactly life changing but the spicy sesame dressing was too good to overlook. It got two thumbs-up from Kowan.
As in the last two meals, that was classic, but P.K. wanted to turn his attention towards something a bit less unusual: this Salad with Chicken, Vegetables, and Spicy Cod Rucking Cream (30 yen).
There wasn’t much to eat in this dish, with the salad and spaghetti hiding in the salad a bit on the small side, but this was by far the most delicious dish P.K. had eaten so far today, in spite of the spicy cod roe cream. This is very tasty because the recipe for the food (and the sauce). The pasta has a taste of shiso (perilla leaf) that P.K. found really delicious.
Sure, the salad couldn’t look as fancy as the others, and there weren’t as many ingredients as the other, but it was a bowl with hot noodles all in all.
Next up were the Salad for Pasta with Chicken, Vegetables and Sesame Sauce (330 yen).
Like the chicken noodles in bang, this dish was served with a sesame dressing. The pork in the bowl is healthy, but if the P.K. were being honest, the taste was pretty a little average.
It was good enough, though, but in spite of P.K.’s expectations, it didn’t exceed the Yenga’s expectations.
The last bowl included in the list was the Pasta Salad with Chicken, Vegetables, and shishi dressing (320 yen).
At first glance, this one definitely seemed to be the best tasting out of the whole bunch. Because P.K. saved it until the end of the night, this one was probably the best tasting.
Unfortunately, it proved pretty unexceptional.
It was OK, but even though he was eating it, P.K. knew that would be the first time he’d ever bought this dish. Served with fried chicken, the tartar sauce was unnecessary. It felt like a huge mix of ingredients that didn’t actually work well.
For the ultimate dish, all the seven-Eleven ahm-ts-ah-gay noodles were quite beautiful. The top of the P.K.s picks are noodle chuka and yam tororo and roe-style shrimp.
But P.K., who is the chilled champion? you may think. Dear reader, it’s still too early to announce the winner. As for the next purpose of P.K.’s business, it will be time to try the tahini noodles of other convenience stores like Lawson and Family Mart. This is supposed to be a fun season.
Rather than relying on the new updates on cold noodles, I wonder if it’s an answer.