7 Standing-Only Soba Restaurants in Tokyo
You can enjoy soba all year round: super hot soba in the winter, and chilled soba in the summer. High-class soba restaurants are good too, but you should try the standing room-only style beloved by locals!
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1. Yomoda Soba (Ginza)
This popular and cheap restaurant is very particular about their food: the soba noodles are made in-store, the soup uses no chemical seasonings like MSG, etc. The menu is large, but they're famous for their topping of one entire fried onion. Another recommendation is their homemade curry that uses their soup as a hidden flavor.
Address: Ginza Hakua Building 1F, 4-3-2 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Google Map)
(There is a second branch in Nihonbashi: Yaesu Nakadoori Building 1F, 2-1-20 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo)
2. Kameya [Shinjuku]
In one corner of this narrow alley filled with drinking places, there's a soba restaurant that only people in the know know. It's open 24 hours, but it's always very crowded, which says a lot about the deliciousness of the food on offer. The dashi used in the soup is very flavorful and goes well with the soft noodles. Being able to eat soba in Shinjuku for just 250 yen is quite a valuable experience in and of itself, isn't it?
HP: tabelog.com/tokyo/A1304/A130401/13006720/ (Japanese Only)
Address: 1-2-11 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo (Google Map)
3. Sagatani [Shibuya]
This is a restaurant that every soba expert goes to. Their noodles are made with 100% soba flour, and their set that pairs it with crispy fried vegetable kakiage is somehow only 400 yen. You should definitely try the chilled noodles. It comes with hot soba water, so you can experience true traditional Japanese soba.
HP: tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130301/13134451/ (Japanese Only)
Address: Plaza Dogenzaka 1f, 2-25-7 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (Google Map)
4. Fuji Soba [All over Tokyo]
There are so many Fuji Soba restaurants in Tokyo that it's almost certain there will be one by the train station. Most of them are open 24 hours, making it a very useful restaurant where you can eat at any time of the day. They are particular about their food, using only freshly boiled noodles and home-made soup. Some branches offer alcohol, so you can enjoy a beer as you slurp your noodles.
HP: fujisoba.co.jp/ (Japanese Only)
Address: Aoki Building 1F, 1-6-1 Yaesu, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (among others) (Google Map)
5. Kinojiya [Ueno]
This slightly different restaurant is made with the concept of pairing "impressive soba and refined wine". Of course, they use absolutely no fillers in their noodles. Their popular dish is foie gras espuma-mori. You'll grow addicted to the fluffy, mousse foie gras settling into the soup.
HP: www.kinojiya.com/ (Japanese Only)
Address: 1-52 Ueno Koen, Taito-ku, Tokyo (Google Map)
6. Pont Neuf (Pon'nuffu) [Shinbashi]
Just 30 seconds from the station! This well-renowned restaurant was founded in 1967 and has continued to support the stomachs of Tokyo's working men since then. It should only take a minute from when you order to receiving your food, so you can easily time when you'll need to leave to make the train. The katsuo in the soup flavors it perfectly, giving it a deep refined taste.
HP: tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130103/13039454/ (Japanese Only)
Address: 2-17-14 Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo (Google Map)
7. Soba Yoshi [Nihonbashi]
This soba restaurant is managed by a katsuobushi wholesaler. Of course, this means that they don't use any chemical seasonings in their soup. They also make their own thin noodles. Powdered katsuo is offered for free, so many people order rice and raw egg and create an exquisite tamago kake gohan (raw egg on rice) covered in the powdered katsuo.
HP: tabelog.com/tokyo/A1302/A130202/13006306/ (Japanese Only)
Address: Honmachi Yamazaki Building 1F, 1-1-7 Nihonbashi Honmachi 1-1-7, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Google Map)
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication.
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