【食記】Soba Koh - East Village, Manhattan

309 E 5th Street (between 2nd Ave & 1st Ave) New York, NY 10003 (212) 254-2244

 

位於曼哈頓東村一隅的 Soba Koh 是一間口味非常正宗的日本蕎麥麵店。走到店門口，就會看到師傅在現場桿麵，因為蕎麥麵不行桿好等著用的。

店裡的座位不多，但是木質的裝潢，磚牆的質感，讓人有溫暖的感覺。

我點了晚餐時段的早鳥特餐，（傍晚 5:30 到7:00 為止）一份要美金19.50，小費與稅金另計。套餐中有包含以下的餐點；

免費飲料（清酒，葡萄酒，汽水或是冰烏龍茶） 

白蘿蔔絲沙拉撒上柴魚片

茶碗蒸

蕎麥冷麵或是蕎麥熱湯麵


綜合天婦羅（有一隻炸蝦，一塊炸魚，一塊炸茄子，炸南瓜與炸日本甜椒）


一球冰淇淋，可選香草或是綠茶口味


蕎麥冷麵旁邊另有附上新鮮的山葵泥與細細的蔥花，可以加入沾麵的柴魚醬汁中增添不同的風味。

我聽過吃蕎麥麵的行家說，吃蕎麥冷麵時，第一口要先不沾任何佐料，藉以品嚐蕎麥麵純粹的微微香甜味。沾蕎麥麵的柴魚醬汁時，也不要把整坨麵整個沾到醬汁中，只要把麵的三分之一沾上醬汁，這樣麵的纖細味道不會被蓋過去。

這家的麵煮得剛剛好，麵體不會軟爛，也有表現出蕎麥細麵的口感。天婦羅炸得不油不膩，麵衣酥脆，食材新鮮，值得推薦。白蘿蔔片口感清脆，入口清甜，也是一道淡雅的開胃小菜！每一道菜的表現都有水準之上喔！

Very AUTHENTIC soba (buckwheat noodle) place in NY!  You can see the chef kneading the soba dough and cutting the noodle fresh on the spot!

I tried the Early Bird menu, the price is $19.50 and the menu is available from 5:30pm to 7pm.  It includes

a free beverage (house sake, house wine, soda or ice oolong tea)

a daikon radish salad with bonito flakes,

Japanese steam egg with crab meat (chawanmushi),

cold soba noodle or hot soba noodle soup

mix tempura (consists a prawn, a piece of fish, pumpkin, eggplant and a Japanese pepper)

vanilla or green tea ice cream

Thinly sliced spring onion and a small dollop of fresh wasabi also come with the cold soba noodle.  These are for you to add into the soba dipping sauce to bring out different flavor.  Make sure the wasabi is fully incorporated with the dipping sauce, cos eating a big chunk of wasabi can be "too exciting" for your nose (try this when you have stuffy nose, it does work!).

Also, try to taste your first mouthful of soba noodle without dipping the sauce. You can taste the fresh, sweet and delicate flavor of the noodle.  When you dip the noodle into the bonito flavor dipping sauce, just dip 1/3 of your noodle into the sauce.  If you dip too much, the flavor of the sauce will overpower the delicate flavor of the noodle. 

(English comment was posted on yelp.com on June 13, 2009)