Yakisoba-pan and UFO Instant Yakisoba

Yakisoba is most familiarly served on a plate either as a main dish or a side dish. Another popular way to prepare and serve yakisoba in Japan is to pile the noodles into a bun sliced down the middle in the style of a hot dog, and garnish the top with mayonnaise and shreds of pickled ginger. Called yakisoba-pan, pan meaning bread, it is commonly available at local matsuri (Japanese festivals) or konbini (convenience stores).

Instant yakisoba, such as "UFO", is commonly sold in Japanese supermarkets. It can be prepared simply by adding boiling water.

UFO instant "yakisoba" has a unique method of preparation. The foil lid of the shallow square container is meant to be pulled back on one end, from which you extract packets of aonori and sauce. After adding boiling water to the dehydrated noodles and bits of cabbage and meat and allowing to sit, you lift another side of the foil, revealing draining holes that will allow water to pass through, but nothing else. This leaves you with relatively dry noodles.