Which Sendai restaurant invented hiyashi chūka in 1937?

Sendai restaurant Ryutei is widely credited with inventing hiyashi chūka in 1937.

Ryutei developed the dish as a cold noodle option for hot weather, when Chinese restaurants in Japan often suffered declining summer sales. Its early version was called liangbanmen, a name derived from a Chinese-style cold noodle dish. The modern Japanese name hiyashi chūka, meaning “chilled Chinese,” became established later.

Hiyashi chūka consists of chilled Chinese-style noodles topped with colorful ingredients such as cucumber, ham or char siu, sliced omelet, tomatoes, and pickled ginger. It is usually finished with a soy-and-vinegar dressing or a sesame-based sauce.

The origin story is sometimes described as a popular theory because references to other cold Chinese-style noodles existed earlier. Even so, Ryutei’s 1937 Sendai origin is the standard attribution in Japanese food histories and the canonical answer to this quiz question.