Kitayama Gonbei

For a close-up taste of soba’s aroma and texture, start with zaru or handmade seiro. The listed zaru is made with domestic buckwheat flour ground in a stone mill, and served cold with dipping sauce. One diner recalled the noodles’ pleasing firmness and smooth finish, along with the flavour of the sauce; afterwards, they diluted it with sobayu, the hot water used to cook soba. Another visitor remembered the fragrance of the wasabi and the soft egg in the dashi-seasoned oyakodon.

For cold soba with toppings, try yamakake, available hot or cold. Grated domestic yam is mixed with dashi and spooned over the noodles, then topped with a raw egg yolk and nori. A diner who ordered the cold version enjoyed the noodles’ springy texture and added steamed rice afterwards to finish the remaining yam. It is a combination that invites you to think beyond the noodles. For hot soba in broth, choose by topping: torinanba pairs chicken and spring onion with ground sansho pepper, while nishin comes with half a fillet of sweet-savoury simmered herring. The menu also includes oyakodon, a rice bowl topped with egg-bound chicken, and tendon topped with tempura bound in egg—good options for a meal combining noodles and a rice bowl.

The monthly seasonal soba and rice set is another way to enjoy both together, and some diners return for the changing combination. In the evening, the menu lists bottled and draft beer as well as sake, offering a drink to pair with soba or a rice bowl.