We Finally Found Asian Food Worth Ordering at SOJA Food in Cordoba

Finding decent Chinese food in Cordoba City is tough. There are places that claim to sell Chinese food, but in most cases, the order ends up being garbage. Don't believe me? Try ordering from Buda Town. You'll get mostly overcooked rice, very little chicken or meat, and whatever does come in the box is often tough to chew unless you have canine teeth. But ordering good Chinese food in Cordoba City wasn't always so difficult.

Back in 2015, we discovered a Chinese restaurant called Jardin de Jade, but they shut down in 2016. Then there was a place called Xiongmao, which offered really great Cantonese food in Cordoba City. What we liked most about their food was that, in addition to being delicious, they also provided generous portions at a decent price.

Unfortunately, the delivery-only business took a financial hit during the pandemic. This forced them to return to their native Venezuela, where they continue to offer their food in Caracas. So, for several years, we found ourselves struggling to get by without good Chinese food in general.

Then, quite by chance, we discovered a place called SOJA Food.

I initially scrolled right past this place on Instagram because the word soja means soy in Spanish, and I generally associate that word with healthy food or health fanatics, neither of which applies to my husband or me. Then, through the miracle of the algorithm, SOJA Food popped up on our feed again. When we took a closer look, we realized they were selling what appeared to be a blend of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean food. But, like a lot of new places that catch our attention, a few red flags popped up.

• First, they only had a handful of Instagram posts.
• Second, they had virtually no photos of the actual food items.
• Third, they relied heavily on AI for the images they posted, which isn't necessarily an issue. I love AI. But when you're selling food, you need to be as authentic as possible with your images.
• Fourth, there were no comments or likes, at least not initially. They have since grown in popularity, though they continue to have very few posts.
• Fifth, they only make food for delivery on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays
• And sixth, the names of the menu items were confusing. What I mean by this is that their fried rice with beef, chicken, and pork was listed on the menu as Yangzhou, which is the name of a prefecture level city in eastern China. Then there were the rice noodles, which, while popular throughout East and Southeast Asia, originated in China. However, they were named Kyoto, after an ancient historical city in Japan. It seemed as though they were just randomly picking the names of cities from Japan and China and slapping them on their menu, figuring that no one in Cordoba City would know the difference. In fairness, most people around here wouldn't notice anything.

On the other hand, a big plus was that they were located in Cordoba City, and they had everything we had been craving.

So, the hubs and I continued to debate whether to order from them or not. I mean, the menu made our mouths water, but the red flags I mentioned earlier made us wonder if this was some kind of scam to get people to transfer money to them. We thought, "What happens if they don't deliver the food after we make the transfer?"

Ultimately, we decided to take a chance, so we placed an order for about 60,000 Argentine pesos, plus an additional delivery fee for the Uber driver. Was it worth it? Absolutely YES!!!!

The packaging alone told me that they take pride in what they do. Unlike some restaurants, the boxes were securely taped to ensure they wouldn't accidentally open and spill during delivery. The quality of the boxes was pretty decent, too, which I, as a customer, appreciate very much!

We ordered the Yangnyeom-Chikin, which literally means seasoned fried chicken in Korean. It's nice and spicy, too! It's listed under the name Seul, which is likely the Spanish spelling of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea.

We also ordered the Tian-Suan Ji, which is Chinese for sweet and sour chicken, and the Yangzhou, which is fried rice. But, as I mentioned earlier, Yangzhou is the name of a city in eastern China. It's not an actual translation of the dish itself.

Like most places that sell Chinese food, a lot of the items come in those tiny little boxes, which might look a bit disheartening at first. But I swear there was so much food packed into them that it was almost magical.

In fact, we had so much food that we were able to divide it into three separate meals: dinner that night, dinner the following night, and lunch the next day (or as we prefer to call it: 1st dinner, 2nd dinner, and 1st lunch)

Believe it or not, this was how much food we had left! And don't judge the condition of our oven. It's very hard to clean.

So, the big question remains: Is SOJA Food Chinese, Japanese, or Korean?

Well, after doing a little research, I discovered that what they offer is an Asian fusion menu rather than food that specifically focuses on one country. For instance, the gyozas, which are Japanese dumplings, are also listed under the name Utsunomiya, which is a city in Japan. I also learned that gyozas were originally brought to Japan from China after World War II.

In the case of the spring rolls, they came from China, which is no surprise since they are under the menu category of Xiamen, which is a city in China..

Now, if we had to choose between the two, we'd say that the dumplings beat out the egg rolls. But, all in all, the food was fresh, delicious, and well seasoned.

Alright, so maybe the menu was a little confusing at first. But we eventually started to realize that they were using the names of the places where each dish originated rather than the actual names of the dishes themselves. Other than that, their Asian fusion menu is to die for, and we are already looking forward to the next time we get to order from SOJA Food again.