Nagasaki Champon

Chen Ping Shun, a Fujianese immigrant who ran a restaurant called Shikairo in Nagasaki, is credited with creating champon in the 1890s to feed Chinese students in the city who could not afford to eat properly. The construction reflects that: whatever was cheap and available, stir-fried in a wok - pork, cabbage, bean sprouts, kamaboko fish cake, squid, prawns, and often the odds of the day - then covered with a broth of pork and chicken bones, with thick noodles boiled directly in the same pot so they absorb it. That single-pot method is the technical distinction and the reason the noodles taste of the soup rather than sitting in it. Sara udon is the same ingredients over crisp fried noodles instead. The dish spread across Kyushu and beyond, and Shikairo still operates in Nagasaki with a small museum about it upstairs.

What to look for

• A one-pot method - noodles boiled in the broth itself rather than separately.
• Whatever is available - pork, cabbage, sprouts, fish cake, squid and prawns together.
• An 1890s origin - created to feed Chinese students in the city cheaply.
• Sara udon - the same ingredients served over crisp fried noodles.

When to go

All year. An hour. Lunch at the older Chinatown restaurants.

Practical notes

Quality varies widely and the tourist-facing Chinatown restaurants are not always the best. Portions are large. It is a cheap dish by origin and paying a lot for it is not necessarily better. Some shops close between services.

Nearby

Nagasaki Chinatown is where most of the older restaurants are; Dejima is beside it.