Oh My Dot: Create your own noodles with the help of a robot chef in Tokyo

New soup noodle specialty store lets you customise your perfect cup of noodles.

On 29 April, a unique soup noodle specialty store opened in Shibuya, Tokyo. Called “Oh My Dot“, the store offers over 500 possible combinations of noodles, with customers choosing from 10 kinds of soup and three kinds of noodles to create their ultimate blend of ingredients.

The vast choices are facilitated by a robot, which puts the meal together for you. Customers simply choose up to three types of “dots“, which contain soup ingredients, before selecting one noodle from either Hong Kong Noodles, Pho, or Short Pasta. Then, the final step is to choose up to four toppings from the four available.

The price for a cup of noodles varies depending on the number of soup dots you choose — 590 yen (US$4.39) for one, 690 yen for two, and 790 yen for three.

▼ If you’re stumped by all the choices, staff are on hand to give you a recommendation.

When our reporter Mr Sato visited, staff suggested he try pho noodles with the following three soups dots: sesame, bonito, and mala, a spicy seasoning made from chilli and Sichuan peppercorn.

▼ Mr Sato added an iced coffee to his order and paid for his meal — cashless payment only.

As soon as you complete the order process, the machine in the middle of the store whirs into action, making precise movements to pick out your dots.

Within moments, the soup dots are added to the noodles, topped off with toppings and heated before serving.

▼ Mr Sato’s soup noodles (left) and iced coffee (right)

It didn’t look particularly appetising at first, but hey — if it tasted good, Mr Sato would be a happy customer.

Lifting out the toppings for a closer look, Mr Sato found they looked very similar to Cup Noodle fillings.

Taking a slurp, Mr Sato was immediately happy with the staff recommendation, as the combination of sesame and mala worked to create a delicious flavour similar to dandan noodles. The addition of bonito provided an extra depth of flavour with umami notes, making every slurp delicious.

Who knew robot cooking could taste so good? The price was reasonable and the ordering process fun, so Mr Sato was ready to give this place a full five stars, but then, as he came closer to the end of his meal, he realised the only implement he had to scoop out the bits at the bottom was the fork he’d been given.

The cup was relatively deep, so it was difficult to remove the noodles from the bottom with the fork. At this point, Mr Sato was yearning for a pair of chopsticks so he could finish every last morsel in his cup.

Sure, it was a small thing, but Mr Sato has high standards so this tiny detail bothered him. It also brought back memories of his frustration as a child, when he once had to eat cup noodles with a plastic fork while on vacation at a beach house. At the time, the noodles splattered everywhere and he couldn’t finish them properly so he felt this past noodle trauma was returning to haunt him.

Still, fork dramas aside, the noodles tasted great and the store was unique, so Mr Sato says he’ll happily return again to try some other combinations. Only next time, he’ll bring a pair of chopsticks with him.

Store information

oh my DOT / オーマイドット
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Udagawa-cho 13-17 Tokyo Rise Building Basement 1F
東京都渋谷区宇田川町13-17 ライズビル 地下1階
Open: 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Closed over the New Year holidays

Related: TECHMAGIC
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