A downtown neighborhood Chinese restaurant (machi chuka) that's been going for over 40 years, passed down from the previous owner. The elderly owner once closed the shop, but a regular customer of Son Goku took over from the previous owner, and this renowned restaurant reopened. This restaurant doesn't have many items; there's ramen, Cantonese-style yakisoba, gyoza, and so on, but no fried rice, sweet and sour pork, mapo tofu, or the like. The most popular menu item here is the Cantonese-style yakisoba! But this time, since the summer-only hiyashi chuka started on 5/12, I came to eat that! The hiyashi chuka sauce has just the right tanginess, so even a stomach with no appetite gets its appetite back in one go! It's also piled with toppings like cucumber, carrot, bean sprouts, and roast pork, and the noodles are slippery and go down wonderfully smooth! The mini char siu bowl — the roast pork is tasty, but the homemade sauce has a rich, sweet seasoning, and it's insanely good! It makes the rice disappear fast! 《Menu items ordered this time》 ◼︎ Hiyashi chuka 800 yen (summer only) ◼︎ Mini char siu bowl 400 yen

Machi Chuka No.140" For some reason there are tons of neighborhood Chinese restaurants named Son Goku. This one is along Sakai Route 12, a place long known for its Cantonese-style yakisoba. Across the road, beyond the pond, is the police academy. Actually, this is a place I used to stop by occasionally decades ago. Back in an era with almost no social media, it was featured in magazines like Amakara Techo and Meets., and since I wasn't a regular, what stuck with me was the owner's attitude every time I ordered the yakisoba, like "That again?" Long story short, the owner has changed. I came in on a weekday afternoon and ordered "Cantonese-style yakisoba" and "large rice". The shop has 2 female staff; the interior is old but neatly kept. The friendliness and atmosphere are good. Since they're not trained cooks, of course you can't call them efficient. After a short wait, the plate that came out was a large serving. A large yakisoba with loads of stir-fried meat and vegetables — based on everyone's reviews I'd imagined something small with a reduced portion, so it was "an unexpected treat". The large rice also comes in a slightly bigger bowl, so it looks like less, but as you eat it, it really is a large serving. ･I personally think "you can tell how service-minded a shop is by its rice portion and price," so this amount for 200 yen gets a passing grade. ... because some places are really awful. ･Some reviews say it's pricier than under the previous owner, but honestly, a shop that's thinking about closing doesn't raise prices in the first place. During COVID there were no customers, so they must have held back even more. Given the recent price surges, it's on the better side. Take a look at other restaurants' menu price lists. On Maps they casually post menus from 5 years ago~. Compare them. ･It's true that compared to before, "the noodles seem less charred / the sauce seems less thick," but it's within an acceptable range. It's way better than eating while looking at a scowling old man's face lol. Wok tossing is all about experience above all, so I hope today's staff stick around for good. ･Looking around the shop, they were selling "Son Goku T-shirts". If you're going to do that, I think you'd be better off making another menu item besides the Cantonese-style yakisoba into a tasty selling point. "Chinese restaurants are evolving through the generational change too." These days there are good ankake yakisoba places everywhere, after all.

A neighborhood Chinese restaurant loved by regulars for many years! The signature Cantonese-style yakisoba is plenty filling even in the regular size✨ The thick sauce clings to the medium-thick noodles; it's light yet deeply rich. The abundance of vegetables is another plus. The gyoza, eaten with a special miso sauce, have thin skins and are juicy. With the garlic flavor and the savoriness of the pork, they're so good you'll want seconds✨ The Cantonese-style yakisoba, gyoza, and assorted roast pork are also available for takeout. It was a lovely place that makes me want to go back! 《Menu items ordered this time》 ◼︎Cantonese-style yakisoba 750 yen ◼︎Gyoza 350 yen

Son Goku", a casual Chinese restaurant that has long been hugely popular with locals. It was famous for the gyoza and Cantonese-style yakisoba made by the owner, who trained at "Akaman" in Kobe, but then it suddenly closed! It closed completely once, but the current owner inherited the previous owner's recipes and reopened it. The specialties are the "Cantonese-style yakisoba ¥650" and "gyoza ¥300". Don't forget the white rice ¥150 too (lol) The Cantonese-style yakisoba is an ankake yakisoba: Chinese noodles fried until browned and crispy, topped with a mellow Chinese-style sauce full of vegetable flavor. The pepper comes through nicely and it's delicious. It goes well with the chewy medium-thick noodles too, Good! The crispy thin-skinned gyoza are very juicy. The faint garlic flavor and the savoriness of the pork are irresistible. The rule is to thin the special miso sauce with soy sauce and vinegar lol. This goes great with white rice too. Many people eat in, but what stood out were the neighbors getting takeout.

The hugely popular menu item is the "Cantonese-style yakisoba". Ingredients such as pork, onion, and Chinese cabbage are stir-fried with a special stock made from chicken and pork. Once thickened, it's placed on top of Chinese noodles that have been steamed and then grilled until the surface is fragrant. The gentle yet rich sauce lets you enjoy two textures: crispy and chewy. This neighborhood Chinese restaurant was loved in Sakai for 44 years, but in Reiwa 4 it closed once due to the elderly owner's declining stamina. However, a married couple who had been regulars for about 20 years inherited the recipe from the previous owner and revived it. The previous owner gladly agreed, happy that the flavor would live on, and the couple, who had no restaurant experience, mastered the recipe. It reopened with the same storefront in the same location.