Abura Soba The way to eat abura soba is different. Noodles are placed on top of the sesame oil and soy sauce-based sauce in the bottom of the bowl, and hot sauce, vinegar, and other seasonings are poured over the noodles and tossed with the sauce. In addition to hot oil and vinegar, some restaurants add mayonnaise. Aburasoba is a noodle dish similar to the mainland Chinese maze soba (noodles mixed with several ingredients), or “Ban mian 拌麺.” However, Japanese abura-soba has more ingredients and noodle volume than abura-men. It is believed that abura soba originated in the Tama region of Tokyo in the 1950s. Because of its low price and large volume, abura soba became popular among students of Hitotsubashi University and Asia University, both located in the Tama area, and is said to have spread nationwide. Common toppings for abura soba are chopped small green onions and a half-boiled egg. Some restaurants offer menma (bamboo shoots), white radish sprouts, and other toppings. Taiwan mazesoba (Aichi Prefecture) is one of the “local specialty ramen” of abura noodles. Taiwanese mazesoba was developed in 2008 by “Menya Hanabi” in Nagoya City and is a soupless version of Taiwanese ramen with its roots in the Taiwanese noodle dish “Ta-a mi 担仔麺.” However, many Taiwanese people say that both “Taiwan ramen” and “Taiwan mazesoba” are completely different from Taiwanese “Ta-a mi 担仔麺.”
