One fine day, I was wandering around in Osaka, and I noticed a vending machine. That's not unusual (welcome to vending machine wonderland), but I hadn't seen a machine full of frozen food before.
This one was selling all kinds of ramen and gyoza, in cold packs to take home and heat.
They're popping up all over the place, as part of a neat idea from the Maruyama noodle company. 'Noodle Tours' vending machines bring Japan's most popular ramen dishes to the suburbs. They're accessible all year round, you don't have to talk to anyone, and you can enjoy that authentic noodle soup taste back in the comfort of your own hovel. I mean, kitchen.
At the time of writing, Noodle Tours had installed vending machines in these prefectures: Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Shizuoka, Nagano, Osaka, Hyogo, and Hiroshima.
I'll edit in an English version if they ever make one, but for Japanese readers here's the Noodle Tours website:
As awful as it is to admit, the first time I was standing in front of this vending machine... I wasn't in the mood for noodles. A wasted opportunity! Lucky for me, the gyoza packs were still in stock.
(There also isn't an English version of the menu on the machines, as far as I know. Go by the pictures instead - each item is numbered.)
25 pieces of gyoza for 1,000 yen, you say? That's a pretty average price. The same as you'd pay at somewhere like Gyoza no Osho, except they only serve 6 gyoza per plate.
With hot food vending machines, you have to wait until it's done cooking before you can take your prize home. No hanging around with this - it drops a frozen pack straight out.
You don't have to follow any super special cooking instructions (unless 'use a frying pan with a lid!' counts), so I baked them and hoped for the best. Here's what trying to fit 25 gyoza on a small baking tray looks like:
How I managed to arrange them all well enough to stay on, I may never know.
(Why is that the 'before' photo and not the 'after'? ...I burned them. I set the grill temperature too high, and every damn gyoza went black around the edges. I can laugh about it now, but there's no pic. That'll teach me not to use the frying pan.)
The gyoza are a good size, but they're less filled than I expected. That makes the skins feel a bit heavy. They go really well with ponzu sauce, and probably with plain soy sauce as well.
Are they any better than what passes for Chinese-style fast food in Japan? Not really. But that doesn't make them bad. It's like comparing a Big Mac to a craft burger - you (mostly) get what you pay for.
Verdict: 7/10 - for the gyoza. I'll rate the vending machine when I go back for the noodles.