Name: Soba no Mi / そばの実 / "The Reality of Soba"
Style: Soba
Neighborhood: Togakushi Village in Nagano Prefecture, between Chuusha and Okusha
Website: None
As I mentioned in the last post, Himanshu and I were up in Nagano this weekend. We hiked around in a small village called Togakushi which is famous for Ninjas, and Soba. We didn't get a chance to try any Ninjutsu while we were there, but we did stop into a great Soba restaurant called Soba no Mi.
Soba no Mi is by the side of the road in between two of the famous shrines in Togakushi, Chuusha and Okusha. Like a lot of places in non-Tokyo Japan, it's primarily intended to be accessed by car, so there was a lively parking lot. We saw it while we were hiking up the road towards Okusha; after hiking over the snow to see the cedar trees and shrine there, we came back down and stopped at Soba no Mi for lunch.
Like several dozen other restaurants in Togakushi, Soba no Mi makes their own Soba noodles from scratch, in this case in the front window where you can watch from the waiting room. Togakushi soba is rolled out into a big, flat circle before being cut up, which was indeed pretty entertaining to watch. Maybe because the restaurant is not near anything else, they, unlike restaurants in Tokyo, had a waiting list; we had to wait about ten minutes for a table.
I got Pheasant Soba, which was on the o-susume (daily recommendations). It came with the broth in a small iron pot over a flame, with a plate of pieces of wild pheasant meat. You put the meat in the broth (yourself) and let it cook to your taste before ladling the broth into the bowl and dipping your noodles in it. The wild meat really flavored the broth, and both it and the noodles were fantastic to start with. The single best thing in my plate, though, was actually the Tamanegi (green onions, more or less), which were completely suffused with the broth and incredibly delicious. Himanshu had a similar reaction to his Mushroom Soba.
This yumminess was pretty cheap, Y1200 for the pheasant and Y900 for the mushroom. The snack they brought at the beginning of the meal was also a standout: soba noodles deep-friend and seasoned. Unfortunately they didn't sell that at the souvenir stand or I would be eating some right now!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Just your friendly neighborhood Ninja Restauranteur
Name: Gotoku-tei
Style: Japanese (general)
Neighborhood: Near the station in Nagano / 長野駅に近い
Website: None, but here a Google Maps link to the address:
380-0801 Nagano City, Hakoshimizu 3-24-19 026-234-3277
This weekend my friend from Singapore was in town and he wanted to get out of Tokyo, so we wriggled our way through the JR reservation system to book a trip to Nagano. When we got in we asked where we could get some soba, since Nagano is famous for Soba (see next post). He directed us to Gotoku.
As is usual these days, I greeted the staff in Japanese and we sat down to puzzle out the menu. They then brought by an English menu -- I was surprised since Gotoku doesn't look like the kind of place to have an English menu. When we tried to actually *order* from the English menu, we found out it was left over from the 1998 Nagano Olympics, and had the selections from 10 years ago! A little negotiating in Japanese and we sent in our order.
The food is Gotoku was good, straightforward Japanese food. It's a safe choice if you're looking to eat near Nagano station. But the most interesting part of the trip was when we went up to pay. The round-faced proprietor started ringing up the check, and casually asked, "So where are you from?" Seeing our surprise, he added, "I speak English too! I lived in Philadelphia for eight years." What a goldbricker, he hadn't let on that he spoke English at all during the entire mail. His English was excellent, too - he hadn't lost any of his ability since he came back. We explained where we were from and added we were going to the village called Togakushi the next day. "Oh!" he said as his face brightened. "For the Ninjas!"
"Yes, so I've read," I said. The guidebook had mentioned that Togakushi is a center for the study of Ninjutsu, the martial art associated with ninjas. And so began a long conversation with Miyashita-san about ninjutsu. He had studied many martial arts over the years, but had eventually settled on studying ninjutsu because, he said, unlike the other martial arts, it has no rules. He goes to Togakushi once a week (it's about an hours' drive from Nagano) to study at the Dojo there, run by the famous ninjutsu master. He proudly showed off his handwritten letter from the master, kept carefully framed.
It was really fun to talk, we ended up standing at the checkout stand for over half an hour (I think slightly annoying the other staff in the process). Miyashita-san said that traditionally, only the ninjutsu master really knew who was a ninja and who wasn't; apparently things aren't quite so secret now since his card list three affiliations: Gotoku, a hotel called Yamanokami, and "Togakushi Ninja." So, if you're looking for a friendly place near Nagano station, look up Gotoku and say hi to Miyashita-san. But don't tell him I let out that he's a ninja... just say you're going to Togakushi, he'll know what you mean ;-).
Style: Japanese (general)
Neighborhood: Near the station in Nagano / 長野駅に近い
Website: None, but here a Google Maps link to the address:
380-0801 Nagano City, Hakoshimizu 3-24-19 026-234-3277
This weekend my friend from Singapore was in town and he wanted to get out of Tokyo, so we wriggled our way through the JR reservation system to book a trip to Nagano. When we got in we asked where we could get some soba, since Nagano is famous for Soba (see next post). He directed us to Gotoku.
As is usual these days, I greeted the staff in Japanese and we sat down to puzzle out the menu. They then brought by an English menu -- I was surprised since Gotoku doesn't look like the kind of place to have an English menu. When we tried to actually *order* from the English menu, we found out it was left over from the 1998 Nagano Olympics, and had the selections from 10 years ago! A little negotiating in Japanese and we sent in our order.
The food is Gotoku was good, straightforward Japanese food. It's a safe choice if you're looking to eat near Nagano station. But the most interesting part of the trip was when we went up to pay. The round-faced proprietor started ringing up the check, and casually asked, "So where are you from?" Seeing our surprise, he added, "I speak English too! I lived in Philadelphia for eight years." What a goldbricker, he hadn't let on that he spoke English at all during the entire mail. His English was excellent, too - he hadn't lost any of his ability since he came back. We explained where we were from and added we were going to the village called Togakushi the next day. "Oh!" he said as his face brightened. "For the Ninjas!"
"Yes, so I've read," I said. The guidebook had mentioned that Togakushi is a center for the study of Ninjutsu, the martial art associated with ninjas. And so began a long conversation with Miyashita-san about ninjutsu. He had studied many martial arts over the years, but had eventually settled on studying ninjutsu because, he said, unlike the other martial arts, it has no rules. He goes to Togakushi once a week (it's about an hours' drive from Nagano) to study at the Dojo there, run by the famous ninjutsu master. He proudly showed off his handwritten letter from the master, kept carefully framed.
It was really fun to talk, we ended up standing at the checkout stand for over half an hour (I think slightly annoying the other staff in the process). Miyashita-san said that traditionally, only the ninjutsu master really knew who was a ninja and who wasn't; apparently things aren't quite so secret now since his card list three affiliations: Gotoku, a hotel called Yamanokami, and "Togakushi Ninja." So, if you're looking for a friendly place near Nagano station, look up Gotoku and say hi to Miyashita-san. But don't tell him I let out that he's a ninja... just say you're going to Togakushi, he'll know what you mean ;-).
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