Soba So Good Experience in Japan

My first Soba noodle experience wasn’t much different from my first Ramen experience in Japan. I first had it in Japan and it wasn’t my choice in the first place to eat it.

It was past lunchtime when I ducked through the noren (Japanese curtain), into a no-name hole-in-the-wall restaurant on a small alleyway in the Yanaka neighborhood, Tokyo.

It was chosen by the tour guide, Naho Suzuki. She said the place is famous among the locals and it’s one of her favorite restaurants in Tokyo. Since we were already inside the restaurant, I thought it would be rude to tell her that I never had Soba before and I didn’t think I’d like it.

Soba You Said?

Soba are noodles made from blending wheat and buckwheat flours. It’s thin, long and white in color. Kinda like the pale cousin of Italian spaghetti. It didn’t look appealing at all to me.

I planned to forcefully eat some of it before telling Naho I couldn’t finish it because I had a big breakfast (and yeah, I actually did have a big breakfast, but usually it wouldn’t stop me from having a big lunch and another big dinner).

Hot or Cold

There were only two choices of the soba, either hot or cold. Served with either with prawn or vegetable tempura. The thought of eating anything cold was so unappetizing to my Indonesian tongue that I chose the hot soba with prawn tempura even though it was a hot spring day. Meanwhile, Naho ordered cold soba, also with prawn tempura for herself.

The soba came. I tried and I appreciated it more than I thought I would, but it really wasn’t my thing. it lacked the deep flavors of ramen which I like. I forced myself to slowly finish it, promising myself that I would never need to eat it again.

Naho told me that in Japanese culture Soba is considered a symbol of longevity for their thin long appearance. In reply, I told Naho that it was my first time eating it and her eyes went big. She then asked me to try her cold soba. It was a lot, she was happy to share — she offered. Again, I was too polite to say anything, so I did. In the way she taught me to. First, take the cold noodle with the chopstick, put a bit of wasabi on it, dip it into tsuyu (cold soup) and slurp the noodle.

Shinshu Soba so Good

Apparently, my taste buds rejoiced the pale noodles because that one single cold slurp to turned me into a soba fan. Ever since I made sure I always had my share of cold soba whenever I visit Japan.

So far, the best one was the famous Shinshu Soba I had in Nagano. The last time I had memorable cold soba was when I was in Takasaki. I am slowly building my rapport on it, with Kawara and Toji soba to tick off on my next Japan trip.

Follow me on Instagram@KultureKween for more recent updates.