zaru soba; cold soba noodles served on a bamboo draining basket with dipping sauce
A classic Japanese dish of chilled buckwheat noodles presented on a bamboo tray (zaru) and eaten by dipping into a separate sauce (tsuyu).
夏になると、ざるそばが食べたくなる。
When summer comes, I start craving zaru soba.
ざるそばは、つゆにつけて食べる。
Zaru soba is eaten by dipping it into the sauce.
Kake soba is hot soba served in a bowl of broth, unlike the cold, dipping-style zaru soba.
Common kanji-kana mixed spelling; the first part is usually written in kana.
Kana-only spelling is very common.
Full kanji spelling using 笊 (bamboo basket) and 蕎麦 (buckwheat noodles); rarely used in practice.
From ざる (zaru, 'bamboo draining basket') + そば (soba, 'buckwheat noodles'), referring to the traditional serving style.