The extra-large tempura soba
Nissin Donbei Tempura Soba — Japanese Buckwheat Cup, 143g
$7.69
$5.38 per 100 gYou are looking at this one
The range
Which one do I need?
-
-
The extra-large kitsune udon
Nissin Donbei Kitsune Udon Extra Large — Fried Tofu, 131g
$7.68
$5.86 per 100 g -
The small export cup
Nissin Donbei Kitsune Udon Cup — Fried Tofu, 82g
$3.98
$4.85 per 100 g
Product information
About
Nissin's extra-large soba cup: buckwheat noodles in a dark, bonito-heavy broth, with a battered fritter you drop in at the end so it stays crisp. Buy it if you want the big Japanese soba cup rather than another udon; if what you remember is the sweet fried tofu, that is the kitsune udon instead.
On the cup: 日清のどん兵衛 特盛天ぷらそば［東］. Soba is the buckwheat noodle; the 天ぷら is a battered fritter with small prawns in it; and the shichimi, a seven-spice blend built on red chilli, is mixed into the powdered soup rather than coming in its own sachet.
What you're getting
- Taste: Dark and savoury rather than delicate. The broth is led by bonito with a soy backbone and a slightly sweet edge.
- Texture: A straight, firm soba noodle you can slurp. Left sitting in the broth the fritter softens and turns chewy; kept on top it stays crunchy right to the end.
- The crispness is yours to time: On at the end for crunch, in at the start for a soft, soaked batter. Nissin built it for the first; plenty of people in Japan do the second on purpose.
- It is a big cup: 143 g, 102 g of it noodles. Plenty of people say it is more than they can finish in one sitting.
- Not the Donbei you have seen in the shops here: The cup sold around Sydney as "Donbei Tempura" is an 83 g export cup and it is udon. This is the 143 g soba one Japan sells.
- Allergens: Contains crustacean, wheat, gluten, buckwheat, egg, milk, sesame, fish and soy.
- Allergens, one more: Australia's allergen chart has no buckwheat category, so buckwheat cannot appear in an Australian allergen box — check the ingredients, not the chart; ours is the fuller list. The Japanese pack does declare it.
The broth is dashi: a stock of dried bonito, or katsuo, which is smoked skipjack tuna shaved into flakes, with soy behind it. Nissin makes this cup in two versions, one for eastern Japan and one for western; this is the eastern one, the darker and more soy-forward of the two. It stands three minutes, where the kitsune udon cups take five. Pour to the line inside the cup, and put the fritter on after the water, not before, unless you want it soft.
Ingredients
The maker's ingredient list, translated from the Japanese pack. Anything after the break is an additive — the Japanese label lists those separately.
Fried noodles (wheat flour (manufactured in Japan), buckwheat flour, vegetable oil, vegetable protein, salt, soy sauce, dextrin, bonito powder, sugars), tempura fritter, soup (sugars, salt, bonito seasoning, powdered soy sauce, fish powder, onion seasoning, spring onion, wakame seaweed, shichimi seven-spice, hydrolysed protein)
modified starch, seasoning (amino acids etc.), phosphate (Na), calcium carbonate, caramel colour, flavouring, acidity regulator, antioxidant (vitamin E), carotenoid colour, pH adjuster, red yeast rice colour, vitamin B2, tea extract, vitamin B1.
Contains crustacean, wheat, buckwheat, egg, milk, sesame, mackerel and soy.
The printed label on the pack is always the authority on ingredients and allergens, not this page — please read it in full before you rely on our summary. If you are unsure about an ingredient, contact us.
Allergens
The maker declares:
- Allergens
-
- Crustacean
- Wheat
- Gluten
- Buckwheat
- Egg
- Milk
- Sesame
- Fish
- Soy
- Dietary notes
-
The soup carries hydrolysed protein, a savoury flavouring broken down from wheat, soy or animal protein, and Nissin does not say which, so this is not one to buy as a vegetarian product even setting the fish aside.
The printed label on the pack is always the authority on ingredients and allergens, not this page — please read it in full before you rely on our summary. If you are unsure about an ingredient, contact us.
Details
- Maker
- Nissin Food Products
- Prefecture
- Osaka
- Made in
- Japan
- Net contents
- One cup: 143 g, of which 102 g is noodles
Our guide
How to eat it
- Decide before you pour: the fritter goes on at the end if you want it crisp, or into the cup before the water if you want the batter soft and soaked. Nissin's own instruction is to add it at the end, just before eating.
- Peel the lid halfway, take out both sachets, tip the powdered soup in, then pour boiling water to the line inside the cup, about 490 ml.
- Lid on for three minutes, then stir gently. This is a soba cup and it is three minutes, not the five the kitsune udon takes.
In their own words
What Japanese buyers say
- What they like
I prefer Donbei's soba to the udon. The tempura is nicely crisp.
どん兵衛はうどんよりはそばの方が好きです。天ぷらはサクサクして良い。
from monolog
- What they like
It's the East-Japan version — a katsuo-led soy broth, and the big prawn fritter, wakame, spring onion and sesame all suit the soba.
東日本版の商品で、鰹出汁メインの醤油スープに、大きな海老の天麩羅・ワカメ・葱・胡麻等の具材が、蕎麦と良く合います。
from monolog
- What they grumble about
Really good! The extra-large is honestly too much for one, so I had half — but I want it again.
すごく美味しい！さすがに特盛は1人ではムリなので半分！でもまた食べたい！
from monolog
- What they like
Best to snap the after-added tempura in half — soak one half, keep the rest crisp.
あとのせ天ぷらは半分に割って、半分はひたひた、残りはサクサクで食べるのが良い
from monolog
- What they grumble about
Wanted it on the way home from drinking. Regretted not getting the regular size.
飲んだ帰りに食べたくなりました。普通サイズでよかったなと後悔しました。
from monolog
- What they like
The regular size can leave you short, but at this size you're genuinely satisfied.
通常サイズだと物足りなかったりしますが、さすがにこのサイズだと満足出来るみたいです。
from monolog
- What they like
I always keep the extra-large stocked at home — women eat the big size perfectly happily too.
特盛は必ず家にストックしてあります！女性も普通に大盛りを頂きますよ
from monolog
- What they grumble about
I'd take a slightly saltier broth — the fritter's oil dilutes the dashi.
もう少ししょっぱい汁でいいかなー、かき揚げの油でせっかくの出汁が薄まっていると思う。
from monolog
- What they like
Crisp after-added tempura, real chew from the extra-large noodle portion. The dashi-rich broth is one you end up draining. Certain to buy again.
天ぷら後乗せサクサクで特盛りの麺の食べ応えありのボリューム。スープも出汁がきいててついつい飲み干してしまう一杯です⭐︎また購入する事間違いないです。
from monolog
- What they like
I'm an add-the-tempura-later person; I crack a raw egg in before the water.
天ぷらは後で入れる派で、お湯入れる前には生卵入れて美味しく頂いております。
from monolog
Real quotes from Japanese review sites (monolog), translated by us. We show no star rating from those sites.
The maker
Where it comes from
- Nissin Food Products
- Osaka
Donbei launched in 1976 in the first bowl-shaped instant noodle container the industry had made. The tempura soba followed about three months after the kitsune udon, and the East and West broths have been different recipes since the beginning.
The crisp fritter is a dated invention rather than a marketing line: Nissin's own history records the "add-it-afterwards" method in 1992, built so the tempura keeps the texture it has out of the packet. In 2024 the split went further than the broth: the noodles, the fritter and the seven-spice blend are now made differently for East and West too.
Product facts here are checked against the maker's own page: nissin.com (opens in a new tab)
Often bought together
-
Nissin Donbei Tempura Soba — Japanese Buckwheat Cup, 143g
$7.69
You are on this one
