Chefs’ Secrets to Slurp-Worthy Ramen, Soba, and Udon

Noodles are a pillar of Japanese cuisine and culture and the base of some of Japan’s essential dishes. Japanese noodle dishes are ever more available in major cities around the world. Among the most popular types of Japanese noodles, ramen’s reputation has gone from a perception of the cheap, microwaveable college meal in the U.S. to rightful international reverence for the craft that’s earned the noodle and bowl so much recognition in pop culture. It even has an emoji.

In the last decade, Netflix released Ramen Heads in 2017, the same year Ivan Orkin of Ivan Ramen in New York City was featured on the streaming service’s Chef’s Table. And on No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain explored soba in Hokkaido and udon in Atami, equally significant Japanese noodle dishes that represent a rich legacy of ritual and regional influence. 

Ramen’s popularity on U.S. restaurant menus grew by more than 30% from 2017 to 2022, reported Restaurant Business, and the Michelin Guide recognizes more than 40 ramen restaurants with a Bib Gourmand designation — three in Tokyo with a Michelin star. Juu-go, a soba restaurant in Kyoto, earned a Michelin Green Star for cultivating its own buckwheat field and returning food waste to the soil. And at Los Angeles’ Marugame Monzo, the legendary late Jonathan Gold said udon noodles were “elevated to cult status” as early as 2013.

I gained my reverence for the triad of Japanese noodles using Roads & Kingdoms’ Rice, Noodle, Fish as a guide on my first trip to Japan, and I recently returned to taste more. To me, you can’t experience Japan without slurping the main three types of Japanese noodles: ramen, soba, and udon. Merely smelling the steam at New York City noodle spots, like Raku, can transport me back. I’ve called on Japanese noodle authorities from Tokyo and New York to articulate the art of each specialty as only they can and then curated Food & Wine recipes for Japanese noodle dishes from experts like Sonoko Sakai, Mutsuko Soma, and Takashi Yagihashi, to name a few. Here’s a brief primer on how to make Japanese noodles before or after your next trip to Japan.

Ramen

In Japan, ramen is as ubiquitous as burgers or pizza are in the U.S., with more than 30,000 restaurants specializing in ramen. The riffable bowl that originated in China in the 1800s comprises wheat noodles, broth, miso, salt, and a base broth, called tare. Alkaline kansui mineral water is the key to the noodles’ distinct chewiness, color, and flavor, while their thickness, texture, and shape can vary. Ramen shops and menus distinguish styles of ramen by the tare, from pork bone-based tonkotsu broth to shoyu ramen flavored with a soy sauce blend. The warmth and umami of these components coming together is what makes ramen so craveable.

“It is amazing to see one of my native dishes become such an international sensation,” says chef Masaharu Morimoto, of Momosan in New York and Seattle and Atelier Morimoto XEX in Tokyo. “Ramen is so customizable that anyone can enjoy it and give it their own twist. My process in making ramen is of course treating each ingredient with respect and passion.”

Morimoto has three pointers for preparing ramen: “Let the noodle dough rest before cutting so that gluten can form and give the ramen a springy texture and chewiness it is known for. The heavier the broth the thicker the noodle should be. [And] eat your ramen as soon as it is ready because the noodles are best devoured piping hot.”

Soba

Japan’s beloved buckwheat noodle evolved from an ancient buckwheat paste similar to the country's modern sobagaki dish, says soba chef Furukawa Takashi of Ryan in Tokyo, where you can watch cooks make noodles live.

“There are records of people consuming soba as early as the 1500s, possibly even earlier,” says soba chef Shuichi Kotani of Brooklyn’s new Uzuki. “Soba has always been a part of Japanese culture and history, no matter your class throughout all the years,” though styles range from approachable tachigui, or standing, soba to the elite Edo-style soba-kiri.

“The method of making and eating soba noodles varies from region to region,” chef Furukawa explains. “These differences, such as adding grated yam as a binder or mixing tea with buckwheat noodles to make chasoba (tea buckwheat noodles) creates soba noodle culture distinct to each region.”

The keys to making spot-on soba are fresh and high-quality buckwheat flour, a water ratio that works with the weather, accuracy, and speed, Furukawa advises. “There is a ratio we often talk about called ‘kyuu wari soba,’ which defines the recipe for creating the perfectly thin and smooth soba noodle,” he says. “This means having a 9:1 ratio of buckwheat flour to binder. For us at Ryan, we don’t just fixate on this style. Instead, we monitor the taste, fragrance, and texture balance to create our own soba noodles.”

Kotani believes “good soba is only possible when in a meditative state” and advises against using too much force. “Don't try to control the soba,” he says. “Listen to the soba and the frequency it emits, feel it with all your five senses, and blend them together like Aikido [a Japanese martial art]. My ritual involves closing eyes while making soba. I also drink soba tea throughout the day to increase serotonin secretion.”

Soba can be served hot or cold with a dashi stock dipping sauce and soba-yu, the hot water leftover from boiling the noodles. The water has antioxidants and nutrients and can be mixed with the dipping sauce or sipped like soup to conclude the meal.

Udon

Udon emerged during the Kamakura period in the 14th century when wheat flour was also called udon flour, explains chef Naoyuki Yanagihara, Ph.D., of the Japanese culinary school Kinsaryu Yanagihara. He says travelers to Japan will find udon eateries in the Kansai region and Kagawa prefecture, which is even called the "udon prefecture," on Shikoku island. Southwest of Osaka and Tokyo, the island is where Elizabeth Andoh, of culinary program A Taste of Culture, associates the noodle with Sanuki: “Udon-eating there is a way of life,” she says.

Udon varies in style from Kyoto to Tokyo to Yamanashi based on dashi and seasonings. “Kyoto Kansai style uses a thicker dashi broth, flavored with light soy sauce and mirin,” says Yanagihara. “Tokyo style uses ‘kaeshi,’ a combination of dark soy sauce, mirin, and sugar, in combination with dashi made from thickly shaved bonito flakes. The Yamanashi style uses dashi broth made mainly from dried bonito flakes and flavored with miso (soybean paste).” 

His guidance for making your own udon: Rinse the noodles in cold water after boiling to make them firm and crunchy, then reheat and add to warm dashi broth. As for the dashi: “It is important to extract only the umami from each of the ingredients that will produce the dashi without producing any off-flavor,” he says.