Taki’s Soba September 12, 2008

Recently my supervisor invited me to his house to play Wii with his kids and have handmade soba for dinner. We had gone out for soba lunch before and talked about how I would miss fresh soba in America because I can’t get it there. He said he likes to make soba a few times a year and would like us to join him for dinner. After we arrived he set up the Wii and we played a few games together before he snuck away to make the soba. I was a little distracted by the games, so I didn’t get to see the whole noodle-making process, but here are some photos that I was able to get between turns on Wii Sports.

First he mixed the buckwheat flour, a little bit of wheat flour for elasticity, and water in a large, flat enameled bowl. Then he kneaded the mix together to make a dough (sorry, I didn’t take any pictures up to that point). Then he got out a large wooden board (it must have been at least a meter square), put it on the dining table and rolled out the dough. Occasionally he would roll the dough around the long rolling pin and rotate it. After it was rolled thinly enough, he folded it into a packet, gave it a few more rolls to press it to an even thickness and cut the noodles. Soba cutting knives are big specialty knives that remind me a little bit of Klingon blades from Star Trek. They have a long, flat cutting surface and your hand is positioned over the midpoint of the blade instead of behind it as it would be on a chef’s knife. They look pretty scary, but the shape and heft of the knife really work well for cutting noodles.

While my supervisor made the noodles, his wife harvested some vegetables from the kitchen garden and made tempura of shishito, okra, shiso, and chicken. One of my shishito was what’s known as a “bomb pepper.” Even though they come from the same plant, most are mild but some are really spicy.

copyright 2008 LMS

Yukiya Soba May 12, 2008

ten-zaru soba

J and K took us to their favorite soba restaurant, Yukiya (Yugiya?), recently. It’s on the north end of Maebashi, near K’s school. They have ju-wari soba (100% buckwheat) and ni-hachi (80% buckwheat and 20% wheat), inaka soba (country-style, the flour is ground more coarsely) and an extra-fancy type whose name I can’t remember now. J had the ten-don and soba set, K had the extra-fancy type which was served with freshly grated wasabi, Alex had the duck soup and soba, and I had the ten-zaru soba. The tempura that came with my set was maitake mushroom, green pepper, and chikuwa. Another culinary revelation, tempura fried chikuwa (fish cake) is really good – light textured, crisp on the outside, and slightly meaty. Alex’s duck soba set was really tasty too, with a hot, hearty duck soup and sliced duck breast salad. Everything was really delicious, so I am hoping to go back and try some more of their dishes. Of course, it might be a while before we make it back because it’s not near anywhere else that we go regularly and there are probably a hundred soba restaurants between our house and there.

fresh wasabi and a ceramic grater – kamo-jiru, duck soup

the soba menu at Yukiya

We rode our bikes along the river to get there and saw these adorable ducks. As you can see, one is trying to be “the nail that stands up.” These pictures are actually from early April, so the cherry blossoms were at their peak that day. The white flecks on the water are sakura petals.

some ducks cruising on the river; the white flecks in the water are fallen cherry blossom petals

Let’s Eat! Kyoto April 15, 2008

the entrance to Gotoku-an Obanzai

On our first night in Kyoto, we went to Pontocho Dori, near Shijo Station, for dinner. Down the small、cobbled street are many small izakaya and restaurants. We chose Gotoku-an Obanzai. Obanzai is traditional Kyoto-style cooking. The restaurant is small, about 6 tables or so, with a great view of the river and the Minamiza Theater across the river. They have an English menu available, but some of the seasonal specials aren’t on it, so try taking your chances reading the Japanese menu, or ask the helpful staff what’s good tonight.

spring vegetable tempura | handmade sesame tofu fried in yuba | salad with crispy yuba on top

There is an 800 yen seating charge that also covers the cost of a small dish to start with. Ours was a cube of braised pork belly, sweet simmered kuromame, a square of fresh tofu, a small salad of mushrooms and yama-imo, and a poached or preserved piece of some kind of pink fruit, I’m actually not sure what it was. After that, we started with a dish of fried sesame tofu wrapped in yuba. This was followed by a plate of spring vegetable tempura. After that was the standout dish of the night: kamameshi, rice cooked in a pot over a fire. The rice was perfectly seasoned and cooked, with a delightful crusty brown layer on the bottom. We tried the crab and vegetable and the fuki kamameshi, both were delicious. Finally, still feeling a little hungry, we finished with a salad topped with crispy fried yuba instead of croutons.

cooking the kamameshi | crab kamameshi

Soba Lunch and Ume Blossoms March 14, 2008

Last Sunday we tried a new soba restaurant. I don’t know the name of it, but it is in a little house by the river, so we’ll call it Riverside Soba. Here they serve two kinds of handmade soba, 2-8, which means 80% buckwheat flour to 20% wheat flour, and ju-wari, which is 100% buckwheat flour. We decided to get the lunch set, which was green tea, seasonal tempura, a plate of cold soba with dipping sauce, dessert, and black tea or coffee. We also tried the maitake tempura. The ju-wari soba was chewy and delicious, while the tempura was crisp and fresh tasting. The lunch set was 1000 yen, or about 10 dollars, and the maitake tempura was 300 yen; an excellent price for an excellent meal.



After lunch we went to Annaka-machi to view the ume (plum) blossoms. Although it was still a bit too early in the season for most of the trees, some of them were in bloom. It looks like it will be really beautiful by next weekend. Of course, that means it will probably be ridiculously crowded, too. We were able to enjoy a pleasant stroll around the plum blossom park in relative solitude and could still enjoy seeing the blossoms on the few trees that were flowering. We also found Obāchan’s Umeboshi, where a local family was selling their homemade fruit products outside their house. We bought some ume jam and neri ume (umeboshi paste).

update: the name of the restaurant is Shunmi, which means the essence of flavor.