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    Home » Restaurant

    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle - New Seasonal Duck Ramen - Winter Only

    Published: Jan 22, 2018 by Jennifer Che

    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle

    New seasonal dishes: two types of Tsuta duck ramen

    This is post #1 out of 50 as part of my #50PostsIn50Days personal challenge to document my first 100 days in Hong Kong. Other posts in this series may be found at the bottom of the original post.

    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle was one of the first restaurants I got to know when I moved to Hong Kong.

    We were living in temporary housing at the time, and our apartment was located right above Hong Kong's biggest mall, Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui. Tsuta was literally less than 100 steps outside of our apartment lobby. Every time we walked home, we would inevitably pass the restaurant and the fragrant smells of the black truffle shoyu ramen would tempt me to enter in.

    I won't tell you how many times I answered that call.

    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle - Tsuta Duck Ramen

    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle - Causeway Bay location

    Moving to Wan Chai, we lost our super-ready access to Tsuta, though we soon discovered that there was another location in Causeway Bay. This location is right near Times Square on Tai Lung Street, a delightful Japanese-feeling street with all different types of ramen shops. Best part? It was only a 10-minute walk from our new apartment.

    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle - Kamo Abura Soba - Tsuta Duck Ramen

    Tsuta duck ramen #1: Kamo Abura Soba (duck oil noodle)

    Though winter here hardly feels like winter to this Boston girl, winter has ushered in a few new noodle dishes at Tsuta. If you're a duck fan, you will rejoice. Both new dishes are duck-based, and we tried both on our last visit.

    The Kabo Abura Soba (pictured above; $98 HKD or $113 HKD with egg; $12.53 USD or $14.45 USD), is a dry noodle dish where the fresh soba noodles are tossed in duck oil and served with  slices of chashu duck breast as well as fresh chopped onions, cashews, and optionally a flavored egg (ajitama).

    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle Tsuta Duck Ramen

    The dish comes with a small cup of their signature chicken broth, which is a nice, light accompaniment to the richly flavored noodles. I would recommend ordering this one if you really enjoy the chewy texture of fresh noodles and the intense flavor of duck fat. I am not a huge duck fat person, but I found that having the light chicken broth to drink with the noodles helped a lot.

    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle - Kamo Paitan soba - Tsuta Duck Ramen

    Tsuta duck ramen #2: Kamo Paitan soba

    The other new items on the menu is the Kamo Paitan soba, which is a soup noodle ($98 HKD or $113 HKD with egg; $12.53 USD or$14.45 USD). The broth is made from cooking duck bones for 5-hours, resulting in a thick broth that's full of collagen and duck flavor. The ingredients are similar, but the flavor is quite different since the intensely flavored duck broth is the prodominant flavor, not duck oil.

    Because it's a soup noodle, the noodles absorb the soup and overall the texture is a bit softer.
    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle
    Yum!

    I actually had a hard time deciding which one I liked better. At first I found the duck oil flavor to be a bit strong (unlike Bryan, I've never been a huge duck or duck fat person). However, as I went back and forth between the two dishes, the texture and flavor of the dry noodle began to grow on me a lot, and I think at the end of the meal I may have actually preferred the dry noodle.

    Honestly, both are very enjoyable and you can't really go wrong if you like duck.
    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle
    Service is pretty quick. You order and pay right when you enter the restaurant. Within 5-10 minutes, your noodles show up.

    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle
    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle

    They cook each batch of noodles to order so that the texture is optimal.

    Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle

    Ro-su Meshi

    Bryan often feels like the portion sizes at Tsuta aren't quite enough to fill him up, so he'll either order extra noodles (we did that for the dry duck noodles and it was awesome!) or a small side dish like the Rosu-Meshi (sliced pork with butter soy sauce) pictured above. For me, a single bowl of the normal ramen is just perfect and I can finish the whole thing.

    All in all, it was fun trying the seasonal menu. The Tsuta duck ramen dishes will only be around in the winter (January to March), so if you want to try it, definitely stop by soon. Personally, my favorite is still the shoyu soba (just love that black truffle sauce!), so I'll probably get that the next time I come, though I wouldn't be surprised if Bryan got one of the duck noodles.

    Lines can sometimes build up here. If you show up around or before 12pm for lunch (they open at 11:30AM), you should be fine.

    Shop 2, G/F, 18 Tang Lung St, Causeway Bay
    Hours: 11:30AM - 9:00PM

    Disclaimer – I was invited by Tsuta to come and try the new duck noodles. I did not pay for this meal, nor was I paid to write this blog post. All opinions are my own.

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    Trackbacks

    1. 100 Days in Hong Kong - Reflections + a New Challenge! - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
      January 22, 2018 at 10:39 am

      […] Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle – New Seasonal Duck Ramen – Winter Only […]

      Log in to Reply
    2. Firebird Japanese Grill & Bar Causeway Bay - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
      April 12, 2019 at 11:32 pm

      […] TeppanyakiSushi UeharaSushi Ta-keTown by Bryan NagaoOh Yasai Japanese Hot PotShari Shari KakigoriTsuta Japanese Soba (Ramen)Pak Loh Chiu ChowSijie Sichuan Restaurant Ho Hung Kee (wonton […]

      Log in to Reply
    3. Ramen House Konjiki Hotogisu - Japanese Michelin starred Ramen in Hong Kong - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
      December 5, 2020 at 11:18 am

      […] The first ever Michelin-starred ramen in Tokyo (and the world) was Tsuta. The truffle shoyu ramen from Tsuta in Hong Kong is probably my favorite ramen in Hong Kong. When we used to live in Tsim Sha Tsui, I used to go all the time. […]

      Log in to Reply
    Jennifer Che Tiny Urban Kitchen

    Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am an expat who moved from Boston to Hong Kong 5 years ago. Born and raised in Ohio to Taiwanese immigrant parents, I am a chemistry nerd, patent attorney by day, blogger by night, church musician on weekends, and food enthusiast always. Feel free to explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!

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