Nyumen

Nyumen is the warm preparation of somen rather than a separately invented dish, and it is tied to the history of somen itself, whose making in Japan is most strongly associated with the Miwa district of Sakurai, Nara, around Omiwa Shrine. Tradition holds that somen-making here goes back well over a thousand years; this great antiquity is a long-repeated claim rather than a firmly dated record, but Miwa's standing as a historic centre of somen is well established, and by the Edo period Miwa somen was a prized product sold across Japan. Because somen keeps as a dried pantry staple, eating it hot in dashi gave a year-round and especially cold-weather use; nyumen is eaten across Japan but is particularly associated with Nara, where it is favoured in autumn and winter.

A clear, pale gold broth, lightly steaming, with the thin noodles settled beneath. The somen is delicate and soft — far finer and more tender than udon or soba — and almost dissolves on the tongue, so the bowl is more about the broth than the bite. The dashi reads clean and savoury, the toppings give small contrasts of texture, and a touch of citrus or yuzu lifts the nose. Soothing and easy to eat, it is the bowl reached for on a cold day or when appetite is low. The noodles soften further the longer they sit, so it is best eaten promptly.

Somen owes its fineness to its making: the wheat dough is repeatedly stretched while brushed with vegetable oil, which lets the strands be drawn out extremely thin without tearing and is what allows somen to be far finer than other Japanese noodles. The broth is a kakejiru built on dashi — kombu and katsuobushi (or shiitake) — whose depth comes from umami synergy, the glutamate of kombu reinforcing the inosinate of dried bonito (or shiitake's guanylate), seasoned lightly with soy and mirin so the soup stays clear and does not overwhelm the fragile noodles. Because the very thin somen overcooks fast, it is boiled separately and only briefly, then combined with the hot broth so the strands hold their shape rather than turning to mush.