Yokoi: For the ORIGINAL Nagoya Ankake Spaghetti Taste

If you've ever visited Nagoya, you'll probably have heard of ankake pasta or spaghetti. This dish has become well-liked by the people of this city. It has made it's way into guide books as one of the dishes to eat while in Nagoya. This spaghetti is unlike any other noodle dish you'll find in Japan.

So what is ankake spaghetti? It can be described as thick spaghetti that has been boiled, then sauteed in lard or oil in a pan, and topped with a peppery tomato-based meat sauce thickened with starch. At an ankake restaurant the variety in the menu comes from your choice of topping. The veggies often include green pepper, onion, tomatoes and mushrooms or corn. Then there are the fried toppings such as pork cutlet and breaded shrimp, fish or oysters. Other popular toppings may include eggs, wieners, ham, bacon, clams and ground meat patties.

What differs largely between shops is the sauce. Some are spicy, some are more peppery, some use more tomatoes, others taste more like demi-glace sauce. Since lard is widely known to be unhealthy, there are some restaurants that advertise that their healthy ankake pastas are topped with plenty of veggies and that do not use lard.

At Yokoi, you can try the original Nagoya ankake. They claim to be the creators of this popular dish. I have tried many ankake restaurants and recently I was able to try Yokoi's version.

Pork Piccata Ankake

This is the pork piccata ankake. Unfortunately the dish did not come with a vegetable topping, but at least there was a small salad (coleslaw) served on the side. In Japan, piccata are slices of meat coated in egg and pan-fried. While the dish in the photo looks quite plain, the sauce is rather concentrated with quite a black pepper punch. It is gloopy (the norm for ankake sauces) due to the starch slurry used to thicken it, but this helps to coat the thick noodles. The pasta is boiled al dente and becomes slightly dryer when put in the pan, but this also makes the sauce become the star ingredient. Their sauce reminded me a little bit of Swiss Chalet dipping sauce (you'll know what I'm talking about if you're Canadian!). I liked that it wasn't overpowered by pepper, and you can tell by the depth of flavour that it uses broth that has been simmered for days (it is demi-glace based). The meat was soft and not overcooked, thanks to the coating of egg sealing in the juices. 

Overall, a good ankake, but my advice is to eat it before the noodles cool and you can feel the lard solidify of the noodles, or just make sure to coat the noodles in the sauce well.  The family restaurant atmosphere makes it a bright and suitable place to have a hearty lunch. 

Area: Just north of Nagoya Station, KITTE Nagoya B1F  名古屋駅、KITTE名古屋B1F

Restaurant: Yokoi KITTE Nagoya-ten ヨコイKITTE名古屋店

Map and Website: https://yokoi-anspa.jp/shop/ヨコイkitte名古屋店

Hours: 11am-11pm (LO 10pm)