Morioka Jaja-men / Chitantan Soup
Jajamen is one of three infamous noodles of the city of Morioke in Iwate prefecture, along with Wankosoba and Reimen.
The dish consists of a bowl of thick, udon-like noodles, with cucumber and green onion and a dollop of special meat-miso sauce, which you stir together before eating.
The appearance, smell and taste really reminded me of spaghetti bolognese, although the flavour was somewhat different after I’d added a variety of sauces and toppings including garlic, fingers and pepper.
But Jaja-men is a bizarre dish in that two-thirds of the way through eating it, you convert it into a soup, after hot water and a beaten egg are added to the remaining meat-miso sauce and noodles.
It was honestly one of the strangest and most unique dishes I’ve had in Japan and whilst the soup was average, the initial Jaja-men was the kind of dish I could definitely see myself eating every week if I lived in Morioka.
Restaurant: 白龍(パイロン), Haku-ryu
Address: 5-15 Uchimaru, Morioka, Iwate Prefecture 020-0023
