Shige’s Saimin Stand
70 Kukui St, Wahiawa, HI 96786
(808) 621-3621
Temporary Hours: Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 8pm
IG: @shigessaiminstand
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ShigesSaimin/
Neighborhood: Wahiawa
History
“It’s just after 8:30 a.m. and Ross Shigeoka is well into finishing the first of four batches of saimin noodles he plans to make today.
He’s already mixed the noodle dough recipe—a straightforward combination of eggs, water, all-purpose flour and salt—in a big plastic bowl with a shamoji (Japanese rice paddle) until fluffy and dry, almost like oatmeal. The dough has been rolled out with a weighted PVC pipe, a method Shigeoka’s grandfather perfected with a bamboo pole. Now, Shigeoka feeds flattened dough into the maw of a circa 1957 Japanese noodle-making machine that rolls and cuts the fresh egg noodles that are the star ingredient of the namesake dish at Shige’s Saimin Stand.
In about two hours, the doors of this friendly, hole-in-the-wall eatery in the central Oahu town of Wahiawa will open. People will order bowls of Shige’s iteration of the old-style, born-in-Hawaii noodle dish without glancing once at the rest of the menu. Many will order their saimin with an accompanying skewer of grilled teriyaki beef. Some won’t. But after a full morning of noodle making, all will be right in Ross Shigeoka’s world.”
Source: https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/noodle-star-shiges-saimin-stand-oahu
