Hello, everyone. I looove Instant noodles! I’m Japanese Snacks Republic’s Boss!

Hello, everyone~!! I looove Instant noodles too! It’s Saori from Japanese Snacks Republic!

Yep! ‘It’s Japanese Snacks Republic. Why are you guys talking about the Instant noodles?’ That’s what you just thought, right? It’s actually a great question!!

Although we mostly carry Japanese snacks, Instant noodles are also available!

So today! We’ll be sharing with you one of my favorite Instant noodles (Udon)!!

【Instant Udon】
The BEST Instant Udon Noodle EVER!
Here’s the Udon ‘Donbei’ Loved by Japanese People!!

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What Is どん兵衛 (Donbei)?

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Now I know where ‘Don’ of Donbei came from but how about a ‘bei’ part?

兵衛 （bei) was often used for male’s names in Edo era. (Just like ‘Taro’ in Japanese and ‘Mark’ in English) I’m guessing it was adopted because it sounded very familiar to Japanese. (Boss’s assumption)

What Is Udon in the first place?

Saori, what kind of image do you have for Udon?

Let’s see...... I have an image of having thick or wide noodles!

Same here. Udon is much thicker and wider than soba noodles. It is made by kneading the flour and cutting into long pieces.

Since it’s thicker and wider than soba noodles, it takes more time to boil or cook through. However, it’s more filling. By the way, Donbei’s Udon noodles are not as think as the regular udon so some people let it sit in the hot water for a longer time on purpose so they can enjoy the soggy texture!

It’s just you, no?

No way! There should be many people doing this too! Because it’s more delicious that way!!!

Kitsune (fox) Udon has a fox inside???

So you guys, have you noticed that the names of these noodles have animals’ names such as ‘kitsune=fox udon’ or ‘tanuki=raccoon dog udon’?

OMG......!? There are actual meat of foxes or raccoon dogs inside......!?

Nope! They are called that way because there are the specific ingredients in them. The one we just shared (Kitsune Udon) comes with sweet deep-fried tofu made by soybeans!

In the Japanese fairy tale, the foxes loved the deep-fried tofu, which seems to be the origin of this name. (※It’s deep-fried so do not give it to a real fox.)

And the udon that has agedama (crunch leftover pieces) as a topping inside is called ‘tanuki (raccoon dog) udon’. There are some theories as to why they were named after these animals but one of them for this tanuki udon is that they were named because of ‘tane-nuki’ (tane is the ingredient parts of tempura and nuki means ‘being without’. So it means the tempura without any ingredients.)!

What does the Donbei Kitsune (Deep-fried Tofu) taste like?

• It’s Quick and Easy! Add hot water and Wait for 5 minutes!
• An authentic Japanese taste of rich flavor with soy sauce and elegant harmony of real dashi broth of kelp and bonito!
• The noodles are a little wider! A fried bean tofu becomes super juicy sucking up all the delicious dashi soup!

By the way, the flavors of the soup are a little different depending on the region in Japan, either the eastern Japan or the western Japan. The eastern version is a little thicker and the western version is lighter and more refreshing. （※We basically carry the eastern version noodles.)

Both are delicious so you might want to compare these two!! Alright now! This is all for today! We’ll see you all in the next article!!

Bye now~!