Noodles ── Soba
Nishin Soba
Nishin Soba — herring simmered sweet, laid over soba
Dried herring simmered sweet and laid over soba. A Kyoto origin is also claimed, but Hokkaido's version is said to trace to a recipe kept by a herring-fishing family in Esashi. The Hokkaido broth runs darker and faintly sweeter.
- Origin: Hokkaido Esashi
- About 690 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
The core is migaki-nishin (dried herring) and soba. The dried herring is simmered sweet in water, soy sauce, sugar, and sake, then laid over soba in a dark soy-based broth. Hokkaido's version is said to run stronger in seasoning, its broth carrying a faint sweetness.
How it's made
The dried herring is first parboiled, then simmered slowly sweet in water, soy sauce, sugar, and sake. The soba can be served hot or cold, topped with the finished herring over a koikuchi soy-based broth.
Why it took this shape
While the dish is also said to have originated in Kyoto, Hokkaido's version traces to a recipe kept by the Yokoyama family, herring-fishing magnates in Esashi during the herring boom. From the late Edo period into Meiji, herring was dried for preservation and shipped nationwide by kitamae-bune trading ships, a trade said to have spread herring dishes to many regions in turn.
Before you go
- How to read a ticket machineShops that use a ticket machine (shokken-ki) often place their most popular items in a similar spot.
- Station food and ekiben (station bento)Where and when to find ekiben (station bento) before it sells out, etiquette for eating on board, how standing soba and udon stalls work, and where to find souvenirs sold inside the station.
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- Baniku SobaFrom the Aso area of Kumamoto: hot soba topped with horse meat simmered sweet and salty. It's said to carry the history of a region where horse meat took root as a restorative food for the injured and ill.
- Cha SobaA kawari-soba made by kneading powdered green tea, often matcha, into the buckwheat dough. It takes on a faint green tint along with tea's own aroma. It is said to be one of the playful noodle variations devised during the Bunka-Bunsei era (1804–30), alongside yuzu-flavored soba.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Hokkaido
- Asahikawa RamenSoy-sauce broth built on seafood and pork bones, topped with lard so it stays hot. A response to the region's severe winters.
- Asahikawa HorumenA local dish that crosses Asahikawa's two soul foods — soy-sauce ramen and grilled pork offal. Pork offal, cleaned and prepped to remove its odor, sits on a soy-based broth. It was devised in Asahikawa in the 2010s.
- Gatatan RamenAshibetsu's local dish gatatan, turned into ramen: a salt broth thickened with potato starch, loaded with vegetables, meat and seafood, and finished with a stream of beaten egg.
- Bibai no TorimeshiChicken and onion are cooked into rice with soy sauce, sugar, and sake — said to trace back to a Meiji-era landowner in Bibai's Nakamura district who had tenant farmers raise chickens, then served them to guests.
- Bibai YakitoriOne skewer carries the whole bird — offal, skin and all.
- Biratori WagyuJapanese Black raised in Biratori, Hidaka, founded on breeding cattle brought from Shimane in 1962 — finished slowly through harsh winters, said to give the meat a notably deep flavor.