Handmade Soba [Shinsuian] / 手打ちそば 「深水庵 （しんすいあん）

A couple of months ago when my days off were still during the week, my wife amazingly had the day off as well so we decided to go take a short trip to Chofu (and Jindaiji in particular).  We wanted to cool off from the hot summer sun and all that green at Jindaiji seemed like a good plan.  Before walking around, we decided to have lunch and as Jindaiji is known for its handmade soba, that was what we were going to have.  But what you must know is there are over 30 different soba shops.  Choosing which one to go to can be a chore in itself.  The last time we were in Jindaiji, we went to a place a friend of mine recommended called [Tamon] where I also discovered Jindaiji Beer.  We liked the looks of this place from the outset and made our decision - [Shinsuian] it would be.  We both ordered the teuchi zaru soba with tempura which costs ￥1300.

二ヶ月前、まだ自分の公休日が平日だった時、珍しく自分の妻も休みを頂いた。せっかくなので、夫婦でデート。調布の深大寺まで行ってきました。この暑い夏に緑の多い所が良いんじゃないと考え、深大寺に決定。深大寺に着いたら昼食の時間でした。深大寺と言えば、もちろん手打ちそばでしょう。と言っても手打ちそばの店は３０件以上がある。どこにするのが大変。以前は友達のお勧めで「多門（たもん）」に行きました。そこで深大寺ビールも発見！今回はこの店の外見が気に入って行くことにした。店の名前は「深水庵（しんすいあん）」。もちろん手打ちのざるそばと天ぷらを頼みました。ま、天ざるですね。値段は￥１３００です。

The lady had forgotten to top our soba with nori when I had taken this picture but she came to our table shortly to remedy that situation.

写真撮った時にのりは乗ってませんでしたが、店の人がそれに気付き直ぐに持ってくれました。

Our assortment of tempura included shrimp, eggplant, sweet potato, and shiso (perilla, or formerly beefsteak plant).

天ぷらの盛り合わせは海老、ナス、さつま芋としそ。

Bon Appetit!

いただきます！



We also share a bottle of beer and was served a spicy side dish to go along with it.  I'm not sure what it was but it was spicy and delicious!

瓶ビールを注文したら、サービスで辛い漬物らしいものも出された。なんだったか分からないけど、辛くて美味しい！

A view into the shop.  We ate outside because it was such a beautiful day.  It felt like we were a long way from Metropolitan Tokyo.  The staff of elderly ladies were entertaining and a pleasure to talk to.  Great service as well.  Oh, and I got that, "Wow, you can speak Japanese so well" which hasn't happened to me in a while.  By the way, I'm not one of those foreigners living in Japan who gets upset every time some new Japanese acquaintance or restaurant server says "You use chopsticks very well".

天気が凄い良かったので外の席で食べました。テブルから店内を覗いてみた。東京都内に居るのを忘れさせられるの雰囲気です。店のおばさんたちも可愛いし、面白いし、なんだか癒された。あっ、あと“日本語上手ですね”と久しぶりに言われた。何年も日本に生活しても、そう言われるとちょっと嬉しい。あと“お箸の使い方上手ですね”と言われも、僕は腹立ちません（何人の日本在住の外国人たちと違って）。

Shinshu Soba Dokoro [Sojibo] / 信州そば処 「そじ坊」

Summer is always a great season to go out for soba.  This is a soba chain restaurant called [Sojibo].  The one we went to is located in the Carrot Tower in Sangenjaya.  I chose a simple zaru soba / tempura set while Mikako ordered the hiyashi sansai tororo soba.  Our sobas are served with fresh wasabi that you grate yourself.

夏の季節になるとやっぱ冷えた蕎麦も食べたくなるな。今回紹介する店は蕎麦のチェン店信州そば処「そじ坊」。私たちが行ったのはキャロットタワーの地下にある三軒茶屋店。自分が注文したのはざるそばと夏野菜の天ぷらセット。美香子が注文したのは冷やし山菜とろろそば。この店は生わさび使用でとっても良い感じ。

Zaru Soba / ざるそば

Assorted summer vegetables tempura / 夏野菜の天ぷら


The vegetables included asparagus, eggplant (aubergines if you want to be English), okra, squash, and myoga (I'm not sure what that translates to in English).

今日の天ぷらはアスパラ、茄子、おくら、みょうが、とかぼちゃ。

Hiyashi sansai tororo soba / 冷やし山菜とろろそば


Hm, how to translate that in English.  Hiyashi means cold.  Sansai are mountain vegetables, tororo is ground up mountain potato, and soba of course are the noodles.

Fresh wasabi (with grater) / 生わさび

Omochi also served with our set.


セットに餅もありました。







Bon Appetit!

いただきます！

Soba Shop [Yabu Chu] / そば処「やぶ忠」

I know I need to re-label my posts for "Ramen Shop" so includes soba and udon as well but I will do that at another time. And as promised from my last post, this is where we ate lunch when we were in Shibamata. The name of the soba shop is [Yabu-Chu]. I just love these buildings that are so Showa.

「Ramen Shop」とゆうレベルはいずれ変わらないと駄目ですね。ちゃんと「ラーメン・そば・うどん」とゆうレベルにするべきですね。それはおいといて。前のネタに書きましたが、柴又で昼食を食べた店はこちらです。そば処「やぶ忠」。やっぱりビルが昭和の感じが良いですね。

Mikako had already decided to order the seiro soba with tempura. As we were seated at a table, I couldn't help but notice what the customers sitting a couple of tables away from us were eating. It looked really delicious. When the waitress came to take our order, I asked what the gentlemen over at the other table were eating and was told it was part of the yoizen set. The set features goose, soba miso, sashimi konnyaku, and seiro soba as well.

美香子はせいろそばと天ぷらセット注文した。テブルに案内したあと、隣の隣席とお客さんが食べてる物を気になってた。凄く美味しいそうに見えた。店員が注文を取る時に聞いてみた。答えは「宵膳セット」でした。 このセットに付くのは鴨焼き、そば味噌、刺身こんにゃくとせいろそば。決まりですね。

This is the first part of the yoizen set. You grill the goose meat along with the onions and green peppers. To the right is the sashimi konnyaku (which is also called devil's tongue, voodoo lily, snake palm, or elephant yam - I admit I found this out by looking it up on the net), and to the bottom left is the soba miso. I usually despise konnyaku but when you add the soba miso to the konnyaku I hate to say it, but it was quite delicious - and it's healthy as well.

「宵膳セット」の場合、先出るのは鴨焼き、そば味噌と刺身こんにゃく。僕は昔からこんにゃくは大嫌いですが、セットに含まれてるからまた食べてみた。そば味噌も乗せて、一口と食べたら・・・うん？あれ？これ結構美味しいなと思った。こんにゃく食べられるじゃんと自分の頭の中と思った。体に良いし、良かったと思った。

Next comes the seiro soba. I've eaten my fill of seiro and zaru soba but I found the seiro at this shop to be one of the best I've tried so far. The soba is handmade at the store and has a springy texture to it, not chewy like some other places. In case you're wondering, the broth for the soba is underneath the plate filled with onions and wasabi which you add or not to your desire. When you're done eating the soba, the staff will bring to your table soba-yu which you add to the leftover broth to dilute its salty content and drink it as an after meal tea. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of Mikako's meal as she was already eaten half of it before I gave any thought to it.

せいろそばはあとから来ます。いろんなせいろとざるそばを食べましたが、この店は結構気に入りですね。もちろんそばは手打ちで、本当にコシがある。残念ながら、美香子が食べたせいろそば・天ぷらセットの写真を撮る前に、美香子はもう半分食べたので、仕方ないから、僕が食べたものだけを載せました。

Bon Appetit!

いただいます！

Handmade Soba [Hama Ichi] / 石挽手打ちそば「浜一」

Okay, okay, this isn't a ramen shop. It is a soba shop called [Hama Ichi]. As dinner and breakfast are served at the hotel when we stayed in Kinugawa, we had to look elsewhere to eat lunch. Although, we were hoping to eat some ramen, the only ramen shop we came across was closed. So we settled for soba instead. There wasn't anything special about this place, but it wasn't bad either. I had the maitake mushroom soba, while Mikako ordered the sansai (mountain vegetables) soba. Reiko had the store specialty kamo tsuke soba while Yukio went with the zaru soba with a mini katsudon as well.

はいはい、ラーメン屋じゃないと分かってますよ。手打ちそばとうどんの店です。店の名前は「浜一」。ホテルで夕食と朝食がだいたい付いてるので、昼食は温泉郷のどっかをさがさないっと。ラーメンを食べに行こうと思ったが、みつかったラーメン屋はまだ開いてなかった。それで、ここに決定。大したことのないこの店。でも不味くでもないし、普通。僕は舞茸そばを頼んで、美香子は山菜そばを。レイちゃんは店の名物鴨南蛮つけ麺を。幸男はざるそばとミニカツ丼を。

Maitake Mushroom Soba / 舞茸そば

Mountain Veggie Soba / 山菜そば

Kamo Nanban Tsuke-men / 鴨南蛮つけ麺


Zaru Soba / ざるそば

Mini Pork Cutlet Bowl / ミニカツ丼

Bon Appetit!

いただきます！

Jindaiji Soba Shop "Tamon" / 深大寺そば屋 「多聞」

On my previous post, I received mail from my mother who said she remembers taking my sister to Jindaiji Temple when she was either six or twelve, and remembers that the soba (buckwheat noodles) there was quite delicious. You wouldn't believe the amount of soba shops there are around the temple. We chose "Tamon" as it was recommended to us by one of our friends. I ordered Shindaiji Soba while Mikako ordered Tempura Soba. We also shared a dish of miso oden. I also couldn't resist trying the microbrew - Jindaiji beer.

前回のポストで自分のお母さんからコメントが届いた。妹がまだ子供の頃に、お母さんが深大寺に連れて行ってあげたことを思い出したっと言ってました。深大寺そばが美味しかったとゆう記憶もあった。本当に深大寺の周りはそば屋の数は非常に多い。 私たちの友達がおすすめしたそば屋 「多聞」に行きました。僕はもちろん深大寺そばを頼みました。美香子はあったかい天ぷらさばを。二人で味噌おでんも注文しました。僕は最近日本の地ビールに興味を持って、深大寺ビールがあったので、一本頼みました。

Jindaiji Soba / 深大寺そば

Tempura Soba / 天ぷらそば

Miso Oden / 味噌おでん

Jindaiji Beer / 深大寺ビール

I will feature the Yokai Gallery on the next post.

次回のネタは妖怪ギャラリー

Standing Only Soba Shop / 立ち食いそば屋

Here's something very Japanese! You can find these standing only soba shops on the platforms of train stations. As we were hungry and wanted to eat light, we actually ate here. This is at Abiko Station on our way back home from Naritasan.

ここは超日本って感じですね。駅のホームの立ち食いそば屋。私たち小腹が減って、ここで食べました。ここは安孫子駅です。成田山の帰りに寄った駅です。

Kakiage Soba / かき揚げそば　(Mikako's order)

Kara-age (large piece of chicken) Soba / 唐揚げそば (My order)

唐揚げそばの唐揚げでっかくないですか？