Omi Champon
What is Omi-Champon?
Omi Champon
Omi champon (近江ちゃんぽん・おうみちゃんぽん) is a champon noodle dish eaten mainly in Shiga Prefecture, mainly in the Kansai region and elsewhere. It is known as one of Shiga’s local noodle dishes and one of Shiga’s local gourmet specialities. Shiga speciality, Hikone speciality, soul food of Shiga.
One of the ‘champon noodle dishes’ eaten mainly in Kyushu and Shikoku, including Nagasaki and Obama, Minamata, Amakusa, Karatsu and Yawatahama.
It originated more than 50 years ago in Hikone City, where it was born in 1963 at the noodle restaurant ‘Okabe’, the predecessor of the current ‘Chanpon-tei So-honke’.
Today, Omi Champon is available in Hikone City and other parts of Shiga Prefecture, as well as in urban areas such as the Kansai region and Tokyo, and has become increasingly well-known in recent years as a local noodle dish and B-class gourmet food originating from Shiga.
As for chanpon, ‘Nagasaki champon’ is nationally known as champon, and the main difference between Nagasaki champon and Omi chanpon is that Nagasaki champon is based on pork or chicken bone broth, while Omi champon uses a Kyoto-style broth made from kombu and bonito flakes, with soy sauce added to the Kyoto-style broth. The soup is characterised by the addition of vegetables such as cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots and spring onions, as well as pork and other ingredients.
It is also characterised by its use of only vegetables and pork instead of seafood such as prawns, clams and squid as in Nagasaki Champon, and is made by simmering the ingredients, soup and Chinese noodles in a small pot (hand pan) instead of stir-frying them in a wok as in Nagasaki Champon.
