Hawaii's Share Your Table

Most people in Hawai‘i think saimin is Japanese. But food historians believe the dish has Chinese roots and was likely heavily influenced by the many Japanese entrepreneurs who founded small noodle shops here and married their ramen tradition with Chinese sai-mien.

Ramen, Japanese noodle soup, has a dashi base (made from fish and seaweed) and employs thick udon noodles. Sai-mien (meaning “thin noodle” in Cantonese) is made with a pork (or pork and chicken) broth and noodles about the diameter of knitting yarn; there’s a slightly fishy background from ingredients such as dried shrimp or abalone and a distinctive saltiness from the fermented mustard greens called chung choi.

Island-style saimin often has a Japanese dashi base but uses Chinese-style thin noodles. And it’s a whole meal, heartily topped with sliced roast meats, hard-boiled eggs, kamaboko (fish cake), omelet strips and even teriyaki beef or chicken skewers. Here, we learn the Chinese way. This makes a delicate broth; the longer you reduce it, the more pronounced the flavor. Some saimin stands simmer the broth overnight.