Tsuta’s Chef Yuki Onishi brings three Filipino dishes into one bowl
Tsuta, the world’s first Michelin-starred ramen restaurant, is breaking both language and taste barriers with a new soba bowl. Inspired and driven by his desire to create a dish that’s especially AND exclusively for Filipinos, Chef Yuki Onishi presents Tsuta’s newest addition to their menu: the Sang La Tan Tan Soba.
Ramen is one of the most popular Japanese dishes all over the world. With this, Tsuta has made sure that their newest addition was made with greatness: a combination of oils, sauces, and Chef Yuki Onishi’s unique Dashi. The signature dashi is a combination of chicken, clam, and fish broth, creating a delicate, multi-layered burst of umami flavor.
Chef Yuki Onishi
Inspired by Filipino flavors, Chef Yuki has blended the restaurant’s signature dashi and Shoyu Tare (made with 2-year-old soybeans sourced from Wakayama Prefecture) while combining locally-sourced ingredients which are peanut paste, chili, and white cane vinegar. The soba is then garnished with sauteed minced crispy pork and leeks before serving. As a result, the Sang La Tan Tan Soba is a marriage of Filipino flavors: sour with a hint of sweetness mixed with the tradition of spicy Japanese Tantanmen.
Sang La Tan Tan Soba (Php 390)
Bent on creating original flavor profiles, Chef Yuki Onishi completely conceptualized the bowl after months of research and experimentation. Soba was chosen to make the dish healthier, while tantanmen was incorporated to bring out the boldness of Filipino flavors. As for the local ingredients, the peanut paste ground in-store is reminiscent of kare-kare. The local white vinegar brings in sourness like that in sinigang, while the minced crispy pork is Chef Yuki’s take on the holy grail of Filipino cuisine: sisig.
On Tuesday, April 3, Chef Yuki let the media and guests have a taste of the new soba bowl and we were honored to take on the bolder and heavier creation. The first bite of Sang La Tan Tan Soba was already full of flavor, but it was on the third bite that one could taste the spiciness of the tantanmen.
The broth gave us a unique experience of tasting kare-kare in a bowl of noodles. Fans of sisig will surely enjoy the pork mixed with bits of chicharon (pork rind) and leek that gives even more intensity to the flavors in the bowl. It was like eating three whole meals of your favorite Filipino dishes in one bowl of noodles, and we could not have wanted anything else.
The Sang La Tan Tan Soba (Php 390) is part of Chef Yuki’s Philippine Original Series which include his own take on Japanese staples: Gyoza, Karaage and Green Tea Pudding. It will be first launched in the Philippines, with Tsuta’s branches in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan following soon after.
Tsuta’s Original Philippine Series, including the Sang La Tan Tan Soba, will be available for a month starting April 7 with one Original to be highlighted per week.
