NEW YORK - The Atkins diet has never appealed to me. A world without pasta, rice and potato is hard to live in. However, when I want to satisfy my carbohydrate crave and yet enjoy a low calorie meal, I cannot think of any other food but soba.
Traditionally, soba noodles are native Japanese noodles made of buckwheat and wheat flour. The ideal proportion is 80 percent buckwheat and 20 percent flour and they are available in dried form in supermarkets. Of course, they taste best if freshly made by hand.
Honmura An is a restaurant specializing in soba noodles. The elegant and sober dining room on the second floor in a fashionable Soho building contains a glass-enclosed room where a chef is constantly mixing water and organic flour to make their exquisite soba dough. He constantly presses the dough to achieve smoothness and eliminate all the air. He then rolls it into thin squares around a wooden pin making it increasingly thinner before cutting it into noodles roughly the size of spaghetti.
The most common type is zaru soba. The noodles are boiled and cooled with cold water, arranged on a plate with a small straw mat under-liner and served with a soya-based dipping sauce called tsuyu, as well as wasabi (the green condiment familiar from sushi), nori seaweed and negi (Japanese leeks). The mostly Japanese clientele slurp the noodles avidly. I was informed that slurping is not considered impolite in Japan and I try to slurp as well- to the amusement of my dining companions.
The moment the noodles have been all eaten, the courteous servers bring out a pot containing the hot water that the noodles were boiled in. They then add it to the dipping sauce for you to drink.
I am told that this whole dish, which runs $9.50, contains only 140 calories. Considering that appetizers include other healthy choices such as Japanese wild greens, seaweed salad and blanched asparagus with a sesame seed dressing, all priced under $8.00, dieting while eating deliciously and without breaking the bank is not that all farfetched.
Naturally, Honmura An offers other popular soba noodle soups served in beautiful ceramic bowls and with different toppings. My favorite is the tanuki- hot soba noodles with crispy tempura flakes and scallions. If I’m not calorie-counting I also like to order the silky fried tofu served in a mushroom broth or the crispy chicken meatballs.
Refreshing green tea is served throughout the meal, but a smart selection of sake is also available with the able staff on hand to identify the various styles.
Fresh fruit for dessert is the perfect finale in my effort to shed a few pounds. After all, pulling your credit card from your wallet to pay for such an experience is far less strenuous than running a few miles.
Honmura An
170 Mercer Street
(between Houston & Prince Streets)
(212) 334-5253
Open daily for dinner
All major credit cards accepted
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