Tag: soba

Dining at Yabu Soba, one of Tokyo’s soba temples

Kanda is home of two of the oldest and most respected traditional soba restaurants in Tokyo: Matsuya and Yabu Soba. In December 2019 I was able to get in at Yabu Soba (my attempts at Matsuya sadly failed because every time I was in the area the queue was just too long).

The visit

I guess the trick was arriving quite late (past 2pm) on a weekday, but there was no queue.

The restaurant is located in traditional building. The shop dates back to the XIX century and the name literally means “shop in the bush”, a reference to the bamboo plants that used to be found in the area. The original building was destroyed during the Kanto Earthquake of 1923, but the current building was rebuilt just a few years later and it serves as a reminder of the old Tokyo.

I ordered their standard soba noodles and a tempura mix as a side. The noodles in the hot tsuyu sauce (made out of soya sauce, konbu, and fish flakes) were exquisite. They also have udon and cold soba and dishes combining noodles with other ingredients (the soba with duck slices was quite attractive).

Their noodles are of course handmade using a ration between soba flour and normal flour of ten to one and they claim to source the highest quality soba from around Japan.

One of the feature of this restaurant is that you get a pot of soba-yu, which is the water used to cook the noodles. You are recommended to add it to the broth when it runs low. I tried it and I what I got was a tasty soup.

The tempura was probably not the most exciting side dishes (oysters and anago were available!), but it is such a traditional pair for the soba noodles that I obliged. The mix carried broccoli, shunjiku, smelt fish, lotus root (stuffed with minced chicken), sweet potato, and an oyster. Simple, but every piece was carefully fried and made out of quality ingredients. Definetely I like the side dishes in these restaurants.

The check

The check was 2,470 yen (23 USD). The soba was just 825 yen. Traditional, touristy, but still a must-go for soba.

Where in Tokyo:
2-10 Kanda-awaji-cho, Chiyoda-ku.
In Japanese: 〒101-0063 東京都千代田区神田淡路町2-10.

Soba breakfast in Ningyocho

This visit was accidental, I was just waking by early in the morning and the place was open (in fact, one of the few places open… it starts business at 6.15am and I was in the area at around 9am on a weekend). It does not have an English name, in Japanese it is called 福そば 立ち食い.

The visit

I entered and selected a dish from the vending machine (like in ramen restaurants you pay and get a ticket to hand to the cook). Everything was in Japanese, so it was pretty much random.

It turned out it was pretty much the standard soba dish that entitled me to select a tempura piece from the counter. I selected the pinkish one… I think it was some kind of small shrimps, but I need to admit that am not sure…

This was the result. A bowl of thin soba noodles with a soft-boiled egg and a thick broth. It was delicious. I ate it along with the other customers standing in front of the counter. It was 5 minutes, but a very tasty start of the day.

The check

The dish cost me a mere 490 yen (around 4 USD). I am pretty sure the soba was handmade.

Where in Tokyo:
1 Chome-16-3 Nihonbashiningyocho, Chuo City.
In Japanese: 〒103-0013 東京都中央区日本橋人形町１丁目１６−3 (Google Map link).

Memorable oyster soba noodles at Hosokawa, Tokyo

Hosokawa (from the name of the chef/owner) is a small soba restaurant nearby the Edo-Tokyo Museum. Its artisan soba are highly appreciated by locals and there is usually a queue.

The visit

Arriving at noon was not a good idea… the queue outside the sliding door was daunting. So I went back to the Edo museum, visited one more exhibit, and went back to the restaurant. Lunch rush time was over but there were still customers waiting outside, but eventually we all made it inside.

Inside I was seated at one of the four communal tables of polished hardwood. The room, without fancy decorations, felt like a refectory in a monastery. From inside the plants in front of the windows gave the impression to look at a garden, but of course it was just a side street.

I was handed the menu with English translation and I went for the oyster soba. Oysters are a customary condiment for soba noodles during the winter (it was December 2019).

Customers line up for the artisan soba, but to me the highlight of the dish were the huge and juicy oysters that perfectly complemented the broth and the noodles.

Soba restaurants usually have on the menu tasty side dishes and this establishment was not an exception. From the list of sides, I had a marinated anago (freshwater eel) that was a delicious side.

The check

I paid 2,800 yen for my dishes. Soba is more expensive than ramen and oysters and anago added up. But definitely wort it.

Where in Tokyo:
1-6-5 Kamezawa, Sumida-ku.
In Japanese: 東京都墨田区横網2-5-14.
Website: https://www.edosoba-hosokawa.jp/.