What Is Wafu Pasta?
Italian noodles, Japanese flavors. Here is a short guide to Japanese-style pasta, and how we serve it in Torrance.
Japanese-style pasta, in one sentence
Wafu (和風) means "Japanese style." Wafu pasta is pasta cooked with Japanese ingredients and seasonings, such as soy sauce, butter, mentaiko (spicy fish roe), mushrooms, seaweed and matcha. It is not Italian food with a Japanese garnish. It is its own cuisine, eaten every day across Japan.
How it is different from Italian pasta
- Umami first. Many dishes are built on soy sauce, dashi or butter–soy instead of only olive oil, tomato or cheese.
- Japanese ingredients. Mentaiko, Japanese mushrooms like maitake and shimeji, and matcha show up next to familiar Italian ones.
- Its own classics. Mentaiko spaghetti and Napolitan, a ketchup-based spaghetti, became everyday favorites in Japan in the second half of the 20th century.
How Pasta Stories serves it
At Pasta Stories, every dish is named after a region of Japan and inspired by what that region is known for. New regions are added over time. A few examples from our menu:
- Fukuoka: mentaiko, Fukuoka's signature food, in a cream sauce with shrimp
- Iwate: three kinds of mushrooms finished with butter–soy sauce
- Kyoto: cream pasta finished with matcha
- Yokohama: Napolitan, the retro Japanese coffee-shop classic
- Nagano: A5 Shinshu Wagyu, flown in chilled from Japan and never frozen
Where to try wafu pasta in Torrance
Pasta Stories is inside Tokyo Central at 3665 Pacific Coast Highway, Space #2, Torrance, CA 90505. Free parking is available in the Tokyo Central lot, and no reservation is needed. We are open Sunday–Thursday 11:00 AM–7:30 PM and Friday & Saturday 11:00 AM–8:00 PM.