Okay so here’s something completely different for the most part. You’ll possibly remember my review on Maruchan’s Kitsune Udon? Well, this looks the same except its in a bowl whose label has more of a green label. I found the name after a search on Google as all I could read was Oriental Noodles. So something interesting I found was what this stuff’s title translates to – green raccoon! Here’s an except from a page on thisnext.com:
“Tanuki is an animal that closely ressembles a raccoon. When you see ‘tanuki’ on a noodle dish it means it has some fried tempura batter on it (tenkasu). That’s right…just the batter, not actual tempura. Warming and tasty anyway, a great cool weather snack, and a change from instant ramen! “Tan tan tanuki no….” oops Mom might read this..”
Pretty strange! Anyways, it should be about ready to eat so let’s get these picture dealt with…
Some dry seasonings – not exactly sure what’s in them, but its a lot of powder.
So from something I read the noodles are buckwheat. Definitely a bowl with some different things going on isn’t it? Well, Let’s give it a try…
Click image to enlarge. I had absolutely no idea how tasty and enjoyable green raccoon is! Actually, it is a great little bowl of soup. The noodles aren’t very firm, but they’re a little different due to the buckwheat basis. The soup broth kind of has a bit of a miso thing going on I think. The little pizza looking thing turned into some tempura with bits of peas and other stuff going on – maybe some puffed rice too. I liked it – different from what I’m used to! 4.125 out of 5.0 stars. Get it here.
This is an old post, so you may have figured it out, but….
The excerpt explaining the meaning of ‘tanuki’ is referencing a popular Japanese drinking song at the end. ‘Tan tan tanuki no kintama wa, kaze ni yurarete bu-ra bu-ra…” etc., which translates to something like “The tanuki’s testicles are swaying in the wind….” It’s pretty charming.
[…] I found interesting is the little raccoon character. As we have seen before in Maruchan’s Midori no Tanuki and the Yamamoto Ponpoko bowls, raccoons have a ‘lucky’ thematic reference. Neoguri […]
I thought this bowl of noodles was lacking in flavor a bit. Its deffinately not bad by any means. I prefer the red version better though as it has more flavor to it.
shirataki noodles are made from konyaku (devil’s tongue jelly).
Anyway, Tanuki is good luck because the mythological tanuki has an enormous scrotum. Just thought you should know, and that’s probably what the quote was about on thinknext.com.
Thanks for the great review! Soba are my favorite noodles. I will definitely try this now.
Yeah I did a review of Yamamoto Ponpoko tat I did a whole thing about those Tanuki 🙂
Glad yoou liked
– TRR
[…] In this nice little green package beats the heart of a legendary figure in Japanese culture! The tanuki (also known as a raccoon-dog) can be found in front of many ramen shops in the form of a small statue. Tanuki brings good fortune and luck! In this bowl is a round disk of tempura – and it’s really good! Along with excellent buckwheat noodles and a fine broth, add nothing as it’s just perfect. Full review here. […]
Saw an article in the newspaper today about you and wondering if you had tried the shirataki noodles and if so, what do you think about them.
Shirataki? I’m not sure – do you mean Shirakiku?
The Ramen Rater