Photo/Illutration A dish of “yakisoba” pan-fried noodle topped with curry sauce and a sunny side up fried egg served at Oban-ya in Joso, Ibaraki Prefecture, on July 26. (Kazumichi Kubota)

JOSO, Ibaraki Prefecture--A local diner came up with an unusual hit when it combined two of Japan's favorite dishes, “yakisoba” pan-fried noodles, normally eaten as a snack, and curry rice.

Despite the unlikely combination, a plate of pan-fried noodles topped with curry sauce has become the main offering at the Oban-ya eatery.

It offers a regular serving of yakisoba for 380 yen ($2.80), a “curry yakisoba” plate for 480 yen or 580 yen when it is served with a fried egg sunny side up on top.

Owner Akio Kamezaki, 78, and his wife Kinuyo, 76, said the secret of the yakisoba is to use a “chuno” sauce (Worcester sauce in medium thickness) and a regular Worcester sauce, which make the noodles taste mellow.

The Kamezakis prepare fresh curry sauce each day using two kinds of roux.

When they opened the diner more than 40 years ago in a small neighborhood, they mainly served “oban-yaki” cakes filled with sweet bean paste and only added yakisoba to the menu later.

The diner started offering curry yakisoba to meet a request from a volleyball team whose members were mainly in their 20s. The team members wolfed down the pan-fried noodles with curry sauce poured over them.

Members of another team also started ordering the combo.

Akio could not recall precisely when they started serving the dish, but said it was several years after Oban-ya opened.

The Kamezakis run the diner with the help of their daughter and a grandchild, but cooking the yakisoba is left to Kinuyo.

“I plan to continue as long as my health holds up,” she said.

Curry yakisoba appears to be on the cusp of becoming a local specialty as other restaurants have also started to serve the dish, attracting customers from other prefectures after it was featured in a YouTube video.

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