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Great Debate: Curly vs. flat saimin noodles

By Catherine Toth Fox • June 21, 2011 • Food

It’s not breaking news: people in Hawaii love their noodle dishes.

And we’re not afraid to debate them, either.

Case in point: Nonstop’s Mari Taketa (@nonstopmari) sparked a spirited online debate with her blog about saimin — and how much she doesn’t like it.

Ask anyone from the Islands and they’re tell you where to get the best saimin, ramen, oxtail soup, pad Thai, pho, chow mein. You name a noodle dish, and local folks will have something to say.

Even when it comes down to the noodles themselves.

I was talking with Rainbow Drive-In owner Jim Gusukuma the other day and he mentioned that he switched the saimin noodles he had been serving from flat to curly noodles.

“It makes a difference,” he said, smiling.

Is that true? Do noodles make that much of a difference? And are saimin noodles — slightly thicker than fine Chinese egg noodles and ideally a bit chewy — really better curly?

curly noodlesflat noodlesFoodGreat DebateHawaiiJim GusukumaRainbow Drive-Insaimin
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5 Comments

  • Reply hawaii2000 June 21, 2011 at 10:17 am

    Given a choice, I’d prefer curly over flat, but that is pretty low on the list of items that matter when it comes to saimin. At the top of that list, at least for me, is the dashi, which makes or breaks a good saimin.

  • Reply Catherine Toth June 21, 2011 at 11:04 am

    Jim said curly noodles hold the flavor more; they don’t wimp out. Guess I gotta go today and sample it! 🙂

  • Reply oldshoes June 21, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    interesting. i did not know that. hmmm……can one get half and half?

  • Reply Kimo.Watanabe June 21, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    Gotta go with curly noodles for Saimin, but would have to agree, that for me it’s more about the dashi. The internal debate for me is pho or Saimin.

  • Reply M June 21, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    Hello Cat, I like all kind noodles. Give me a bowl or plate of noodle no matter what kind and I’ll finish it.

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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