FOOD .

Soba Up


	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Dec 18, 2007

Forget eggnog and anthropomorphized slabs of baked molasses and butter — 'tis the season for slurping up noodles. You can find an especially heart-warming bowl of yakisoba at Maido!, the Japanese supermarket-slash-lunch counter in Narberth.

Be warned, though. The menu of authentic home-style Japanese fare here is concise — you won't find tempura or even made-to-order sushi, which is considered a luxury food in Japan (though there are little to-go boxes of pre-fab maki in the deli case). Instead, the focus is on the hearty plates available at street stands and department stores, from sticky rice balls draped in sweetly marinated sheets of tofu to golden-sauced chicken curry served over rice.

On an especially wintry day, the okonomiyaki, aka Japanese pizza, hits the spot. The thick round of egg beaten with flour is embedded with pink pickled ginger, green shredded cabbage, scallion and tiny shrimp, then griddled to an outer crisp — a frittata with a thousand flavors and textures. The whole heavy mass of it is topped with zig-zagging squiggles of Kewpie mayonnaise and a fruity, sweet-sour vinegar sauce, vibrant green ao-nori flakes and a layer of translucent pink bonito flakes that quiver a bit unnervingly from the heat of the pancake.

Then, of course, there's the yakisoba, tubular wheat noodles pan-fried and tossed with shrimp or thin-pounded slices of pork, threads of carrot, bell pepper and cabbage plus a tangy Worchestershire-soy gravy. A fine dust of toasted seaweed and a little nest of fuschia-stained pickled radish add extra crunch and zip. Wash it down with a cool glass of smoky, funky barley tea — a sort of earthy iced coffee. Here's where that exclamation point punctuating Maido!'s name comes in.

Noodle cravings sated, you can browse Maido!'s stock of rice vinegar, lychee gummies, matcha powder and Hello Kitty paraphernalia and pay for it all, including your lunch, at the front checkout line. If Santa doesn't know about this place, someone really ought to tell him.

(e_ludwig@citypaper.net)

Maido!

36 N. Narberth Ave. Narberth

610-747-0557, maidookini.com

Hours: Sun., 11 a.m.-5 p.m; Tue. —Sat., 10 a.m.- 7 p.m.; closed Monday.