If you think soba noodles are no big deal, you haven’t tried the Salmon soba salad from Melbourne’s Shimbashi Izakaya.

It’s so good we are making it our dish of the week, despite the fact that it’s also much healthier than most of our other choices…

Image credit Shimbashi Northcote

Is that the full name?

Yeap, “Salmon soba salad” is what it says on the menu.

Where do you get it?

Shimbashi Northcote, 257 High St, Northcote VIC 3070

Why is it a winner?

We know here at Dish Cult it might seem we have a tendency to choose things that, well, might not be that good for us. What can we say? Everything in moderation, right? But every so often, a dish comes along that is so refreshing, so clean-feeling and so downright delicious that we feel all zen eating it and we just can’t get enough. That dish is Salmon salad soba from Shimbashi. At its heart is the soba, which is served chilled and topped with perfectly seared salmon, a yuzu dressing, crisp lotus root chips and a poached egg, among other salady things. If you think cold noodles could not possibly be good, you are, quite frankly, wrong. Made daily from freshly-ground Tasmanian buckwheat, the subtle flavour and hint of bite in the noodles is all the more obvious in the cold than it would be if they were swimming around in a hot soup (which we still also recommend, btw).

What does the chef say?

“
“We introduced the Salmon salad soba about 10 years ago when we opened the restaurant and we’ve refined it based on what our customers want since then. The latest version is dressed with homemade Yuzu-flavoured Japanese ponzu sauce and that’s what makes it so refreshing. We are all about the soba here and I make it daily from the best quality Tasmanian buckwheat, which we also mill every day so that it’s very fresh. Soba noodles are also full of vitamins and minerals as well as gluten-free which makes this dish very healthy too.”
„
Head chef of Shimbashi Soba Kazuma Onishi

Anything else to know?

Do your heart health a favour and get down to Shimbashi Northcote to try the dish. At the end of March, you will also be able to taste the Salmon soba salad at the newly relocated Fitzroy store at 140 Smith Street.

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