The name ‘Kotetsu’ was Tetsuya Oshima’s nickname as a child. He trained at a restaurant specialising in pork broth with soy sauce, but for his own place he chose Chinese noodles to appeal to a broader customer base. He uses three kinds of dried fish shavings to make the dashi and adds fish sauce made from squid to the kaeshi to give it more depth. The thin noodles have little water content and remain firm. Order the backfat topping if you enjoy the sweetness of pork fat.