We have been to the Soba Noodle Azuma in NJ, and their sister restaurant Soba Azuma in NYC. They do offer more than just soba dishes at both locations. And on chilly days, hot soba or udon dishes are just perfect. So, we went to Soba Azuma a few times recently, during a really cold days.
We had some appetizers to share between the two visits. We had Fried Yuca Potato with Mentai Mayo ($5.50). It was thick and potato-y, soft with crunchy exterior. The mentai mayo had a generous amount of mentaiko, we could really taste it, with a nice little kick. Great comfort item!
On our second visit, we got Crab Cream Croquette ($7). We actually wanted to order this one during our first visit, but they were out of it… We were happy to hear they had them available on our second visit! They came fresh out the flyer, very hot! Super crispy exterior was holding creamy filling, packed with flavor… It was really good!
For the main, we tried a few hot dishes during our two visits. Our favorite was Pork Kimchi Nabeyaki Udon (17). It had a good nice kick to it from kimchi, cleans out your sinuses. It was really filing with loads of veggies, and a good amount of pork. Udon was cooked nicely, and pork was tender, both soaking up the tasty kimchi-flavored broth. It was delicious!
It was really filing with loads of veggies, and a good amount of pork. Udon was cooked nicely, and pork was tender, both soaking up the tasty kimchi-flavored broth. It was delicious!
The dish that I was excited about was Fried Chicken Curry Soba ($16.50). It sounded good, and the photo looked really good too. However, it but didn’t live up to my expectation…
The photo of this dish on their menu showed nice thick curry poured over the soba. But, the actual dish looked very different… The broth was curry-flavored, but watery and not thick at all. It still had a good aroma and flavor of curry though, but not great. Karaage were really good, plump and packed with flavor, almost surprisingly good. Speaking of surprise, the curry used for this dish was beef curry, I found some beef chunks in there, which was a bit strange, having with fried chicken… It was good though, very tender. Carrots were so soft and almost sweet, I really liked those carrots!
Another dish we tried was Miso Nikomi Udon ($16), with chicken, egg, bean curd, nappa cabbage, mushrooms, scallions and fish cake.
The miso-flavored broth was very nice and comforting. It had a nice sweetness from miso, earthy and rich broth, perfect dish on a cold day. It had a good amount of veggie and other ingredients. The egg cooked perfectly to let us have some egg porn… The bean curds soaked up all the tasty broth, it was really good!
We also tried a few desserts too. We had Matcha Tiramisu ($7.50) with red bean paste and whip cream. It was pretty good. It was creamy with strong matcha flavor. Sweet azuki bean and lightly whipped cream went well with the matcha.
But then, I must say I enjoyed the Black Sesame Mont Blanc ($7) a bit more. It was quite amazing! First of all, I really liked the way it looked, something about dark grey strings of mini-mountain…
And it tasted even better than it looked. The cream coating was velvety with great sesame flavor. In the inside, it had fluffy sponge cake holding up light cream inside like a precious jewel. It was delicious!
The service was polite and friendly, we were well taken care of. It is good to have an authentic Japanese restaurant that serves these types of comfort food, like a home-cooked meal. They have so many other great sounding dishes for the cold weather, so I am sure we will be vising again and again!
Soba Azuma – 251 West 55th street New York, NY 10019