Our Japanese-language reporter heads to Akihabara to see why this bowl of noodles scored its creators a Bib Gourmand, and leaves both stuffed and smiling.
soba
If you know where to look, you’ll be able to try a jugful of noodles that nobody wanted the owner to create.
With things like sumo-wrestlers’ hot pot and beef sushi, the event was a feast for all of the senses!
The shop is a bit of a walk from the station, but the superb soba at this Akihabara eatery is worth the trip.
They say there’s a fine line between genius and madness. It’s a line that our Mr. Sato frequently walks.
The poster explaining the reason for the closure of the family-run business is breaking hearts around the internet.
Sometimes there are restaurants you want to keep a secret all to yourself, and this is definitely one of them.
Finding out you can’t eat soba stinks — but at least this is the coolest way to get bad news!
Yakisoba bread is pretty common at Japanese bakeries, but this is the first time we’ve ever heard of bread soba.
A soba restaurant tucked away in the mountains of Saga Prefecture is known for every one of its menu items making use of the soba (buckwheat) plant.
Even 27 years after its release, My Neighbor Totoro continues to resonate in the hearts of fans, so much so that it’s easy to forget that the anime classic is a mere 87 minutes long. Subtract from that all the scenes the star himself doesn’t appear in, and we’re left with far less time than we’d like with Studio Ghibli’s most beloved character.
Granted, Totoro does make a brief appearance in one of the animated shorts shown at the Ghibli Museum. But what if you don’t have a trip to Tokyo lined up anytime soon, or that particular piece of animation isn’t being shown when you do?
Then it’s time to arrange a tabletop visit from the big guy himself, by whipping up a plate of Totoro soba noodles.
Times always change. New things come and old things fade away. Depending on your age and location you may have some fond memory of milk being delivered by a horse-drawn carriage or going to a so-called “vi-dee-oh store” to rent a moving picture etched onto some weird magnetic tape or disc.
And some Japanese people may reminisce about the Showa period of Japan when food delivery men would ride around on bicycles carrying an absurd amount of food on a single shoulder.
Upon coming to Japan, a lot of people are surprised to discover just how difficult finding vegetarian food can be. Many people imagine Japan as a country that eats very little meat, and while that’s definitely true in comparison to North America and western Europe, the flipside is that you’ll find at least a little bit of meat in just about all dishes, including salads and vegetable stews with surprising frequency.
Things get trickier still if you’re trying to stick to a vegan diet. Even something as simple as noodles are generally out, since almost all broths are made with meat or fish stock. But if you’ve got an aversion to meat coupled with a craving for soba or udon, you’re in luck, with two new types of vegan instant noodles produced by a Zen Buddhist temple.
Ramen burgers. Bulgogi tacos. Cronuts. Sometimes the stars align and the gods see fit to bless the world with visionary new dishes–the kind that make people say, “Is that even possible?” Eventually, those same people end up wondering why no one came up with the concept sooner.
One of our Japanese writers was able to experience the joy of culinary experimentation firsthand during a recent trip to Tokyo’s Nadai Fuji Soba, which is now serving… wait for it… French fry soba! Though at first glance you might think someone spilled their Happy Meal over a plate of noodles, the tasty result is sure to make you a believer.
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