Dish Spotting – Cocoron's Yuba Soba

A bowl of warm noodle soup sounds great in the winter, but there’s plenty of other things I’d rather eat when summer arrives.  That’s why the Japanese invented cold noodle salads.  (Genius.)  Chilled, slippery noodles are just as refreshing as a salad and a lot more interesting.  If you’re a noodle freak, you’ve probably been to Cocoron, an noodle shop, which opened on the Lower East Side in December.  The chefs, Yoshihito Kida and Mika Ohie, met at Yakitori Totto (a favorite of ours) and Soba Totto, then partnered up to open this unassuming spot.  If you haven’t been to Cocoron, summer is the time to visit.  Cocoron specializes in homemade soba, earthy buckwheat noodles, which are used in both hot (as a soup) and cold preparations.  There’s eight kinds of cold soba to choose from, including kimchee, sesame and tororo (grated mountain yam) as well as eight dipping-style dishes labeled tsukemen. Our favorite for summer is the Yuba Dip Soba with buckwheat noodles and tofu skin, the perfect union of chilled noodles served alongside a warm, soothing broth.

Order the Yuba Dip Soba and you’ll be presented with several bowls – one with cold soba noodles, one with steaming broth (nabe), and another with satiny sheets of yuba.  Carefully dip the noodles into the nabe to cook for just a few seconds, no more than a minute, to warm, soften and release the flavor of the buckwheat before slurping them down. It’s the soft, slightly resistant texture of soba and distinct
flavor that make them so unique. (Wait too long and the noodles gets limp and lose their flavor.)  Repeat the dip-and-eat method with the yuba or any vegetables or sides you choose to add on. We recommend the scallions, chicken meatballs and grated yam.

Oh, and don’t drink the dipping broth at the beginning of the meal or you’ll have nothing to dip your noodles while you eat.  Once you’ve polished off your noodles, the waiter will bring over a red teapot, filled with the sobayu, which is the broth the soba was cooked in behind kitchen doors.  Said to have great health benefits and restorative power, the sobayu is then poured into your leftover broth and you can drink it as if it was tea. 

The best part of the menu just may be the health benefits written next to every dish.  For example, the sesame soba is said to help lower cholesterol.  If your hair is dull or dry, Cocoron recommends the yuba.  If you’re lacking calcium, try the housemade tofu, which is so silky and fresh that it’s well-worth a trip on its own.  The staff is trained to help describe menu items and show you how to eat or slurp each dish. There’s even a how-to guide provided to each diner.  Not many restaurants take the time to mind your health and guide you through a meal for less than fifteen dollars a dish. With soba this good, we’d pay a lot more.  

Cocoron
Address: 61 Delancey St., near Allen St.
Phone: (212)925-5220
Website: www.cocoron-soba.com