Soba-meshi (Fried Chinese noodles and rice) was invented from a request of a regular customer
As I have introduced, there are many kinds of dishes that are made on a hot iron plate in front of customers in Japan; okonomiyaki, yakisoba, and monjya-yaki. You can eat a hot dish and enjoy sharing conversations with a shop owner and customers in front of the big hot iron plate. Restaurants where these dishes are provided are not only eating places but also social meeting places.
Soba-meshi is a mixed dish of fried noodles and rice. It is said that a regular blue-collar customer of an okonomiyaki shop in Kobe, Japan asked an owner to mix yakisoba (fried noodles) from the shop with the cold rice in his lunch box on an iron plate. Because of the unique texture and flavor of the mixed two ingredients (Chinese noodles and rice) and the large enough portion of the dish, soba-meshi then spread throughout Kansai (the western part of Japan around Osaka).
