Nagoya Station Noodle · Flat Wide Udon
Kishimen
Photo: Shubert Ciencia / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
Nobody is sure where the name comes from: theories trace it to Imokawa's flat noodles, to pheasant (kiji) meat once used as a topping, or to noodles once cut into shapes like Go stones.
Very wide, flat wheat noodles — thinner than standard udon and quicker to cook — are served hot in a light soy-dashi broth topped with shaved bonito flakes, fried tofu, sliced fish cake and greens, or cold with a dipping sauce in summer.
Why it's made this way: The noodle developed from a flat-noodle specialty of Edo-period Imogawa (now Kariya City) in Aichi Prefecture, and Nagoya adopted the thinner, quick-cooking shape as its own defining noodle, distinct from the round udon found elsewhere in Japan.
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