Soba and udon are Japan's traditional noodles. Soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour, and are thin and brown or gray in color. Udon noodles are made from white flour, and are quite wide. Although some establishments specialize as soba-ya or udon-ya, especially in regions known for one or the other, most restaurants offer both, with the same set of dishes available in either noodle.
There are two main ways of eating these noodles — hot and cold. If eaten hot, the noodles are served in a bowl of steaming soup, with toppings placed in the soup or on a separate plate. If eaten cold, the noodles come on a plate of their own, cold and slightly sticky. Cold noodles are eaten by dipping them into a small bowl of broth, which can itself be either hot or cold depending on the establishment.
The soup is usually quite thin, flavored with soy sauce and fish stock. Some common dishes:
- Zaru-soba / Zaru-udon — cold noodles with dipping sauce, nothing else
- Mori-soba / Mori-udon — hot noodles with no toppings
- Tanuki-soba / Tanuki-udon — hot noodles with small bits of fried tempura batter
- Kitsune-soba / Kitsune-udon — hot noodles with a piece of sweet fried tofu
- Curry-soba / Curry-udon — hot noodles strongly flavored with curry
- Ten-zaru-soba / Ten-zaru-udon — cold noodles with dipping sauce and tempura
- Tempura-soba / Tempura-udon — hot noodles with tempura, usually two large shrimp