On the final day of the three-day weekend, I hurriedly drove to the popular soba restaurant "Kurama" in Nishi-Ogikubo with the intention of finally having lunch there. However, as I approached the restaurant, it was already noon and there was a long line of people waiting outside despite the scorching sun. Feeling discouraged, I decided to drive past the restaurant and ended up having lunch at "Sobadokoro Tanakaya," a member of the Tokyo 28 Soba association located near Tokyo Women's University. This restaurant is a longstanding soba shop established in 1938, with a nostalgic Showa-era atmosphere. They offer delivery services as well. Inside the restaurant, there was an electric stone mill for grinding the soba flour. Today's soba was made from Hitachi Aki soba from Moka City, Tochigi Prefecture. The menu featured various options, including toppings like onigiri and inari sushi that I wanted to try. I ordered the Mori/Kake soba made with their own stone-ground 80/20 soba for 630 yen (tax included), with the option to switch to udon. They also had a variety of set menu options, such as tempura rice bowls, katsu bowls, oyakodon, and curry rice. After ordering the weekly recommended set meal, I noticed an enticing topping menu featuring dishes like conger eel (hamo) with plum tempura, which was a limited-time offer. I wished I had ordered the soba with conger eel tempura topping. The set meal I ordered included cold soba, hanpen and chikuwa tempura, grated yam rice, sautéed burdock root, pickles, yogurt, and condiments (wasabi and chopped green onions). The soba, made from machine-cut 80/20 buckwheat flour, had a firm texture and a good throat feel. The freshly fried hanpen tempura was fluffy and delicious on its own or dipped in the flavorful broth. Unfortunately, there was no sign of soba broth being served with the meal, which was a bit disappointing. I ended up enjoying the grated yam rice with the leftover broth instead. Overall, the soba was delicious, and I regretted not ordering a larger portion. While I usually drink every last drop of soba broth as a sign of respect, the absence of it made it impossible this time. It's a shame that not many restaurants serve soba broth with cold noodles.

We visited the restaurant for lunch with our family on the weekend. The place was packed, so we had to wait a bit, but there was a bakery nearby where we bought some bread while waiting. We ordered the pork cutlet bowl and cold soba set. The portion was generous, including salad, and it was delicious as always! We have been coming here a few times since we first visited about 5 years ago.

15 years ago, I used to rely on Tanakaya for delivery. I stopped by for the first time since then because I had some errands in the neighborhood. It's about a 15-minute walk from Nishi-Ogikubo Station on the Chuo Line North Exit, or about 4 minutes by bus heading to Kichijoji (get off at Nishiogi Kita Post Office bus stop). Tokyo Women's University is very close by. Due to the state of emergency, there is no alcohol served. I had the Ebi Chirashi Soba (large portion). Tanakaya's soba is very flavorful with a great texture. It came with 3 small shrimp, egg, and eggplant tempura, and it was very delicious. It was great to taste it again after a long time. I remember how in the past, walking by the shop in the morning, you could smell the delicious broth.

For lunch, I had a set meal of tempura rice bowl and soba noodles. It came with a side salad which was nice! Both the soba noodles and tempura rice bowl were delicious! Thank you for the meal!

For those who dine here, you will receive tempura flakes as a gift. You can choose to add them on the spot or take them home. I took mine home and mixed them into my cooked rice. Oh man, it's so delicious. And the tempura flakes I got had spring chrysanthemum in them! Lucky me! When you fry various tempura, the ingredients release their flavors and the oil becomes tasty too. Please try them out!

It's consistently delicious and you can't go wrong. Plus, it's cheap.

Cheap but delicious! It seems to be popular among locals as there were customers coming in non-stop.

Katsudon set meal ◯ ===========

In June of Heisei 27, I felt a little hungry so I decided to stop by for some soba noodles. The restaurant was small and had a calm atmosphere. There was a menu on the table with the special of the week, "bukkake plum grated soba and vegetable tempura bowl (880 yen)", so I decided to order that. After about 10 minutes of waiting, the dish arrived. I tried the soba noodles first and they were thin and blended well with the light broth, with the added refreshing flavor of plum. It seemed like it would help prevent summer fatigue by increasing appetite. The vegetable tempura bowl was served hot and crispy, with eggplant, pumpkin, and green pepper providing a satisfying texture. The sweet and savory sauce soaked into the rice perfectly, making it delicious. This restaurant, where you can enjoy delicious soba noodles and tempura in a calm atmosphere, is definitely worth a visit. Thank you for the meal.

I lived in Zenpukuji until I was 9 years old, and we often used Tanakaya for takeout. I remember the brother who would bring the takeout with a hearty "Maido ari!" greeting. This was back when the house across the street was still a vegetable store, so you can get an idea of how long ago it was. This time, after more than 30 years, I went back to Tanakaya. I ordered the soba noodles. When I took a sip, I remembered the line from a certain cooking manga, "The taste you remember with your tongue, you will never forget." The taste is still the same, unchanged. It's easy to say but hard to do. It takes a lot of effort to keep the taste unchanged. I hope they continue to preserve this taste without being swept away by the times.

In front of Tendo-yu, there was a soba restaurant that seemed ordinary from the outside. It appeared to have been operating since 1938, although it may have been renovated recently. The interior was spacious, and they offered a menu item called "Women's University Soba." I ordered the kitsune soba, which was served with a large piece of fried tofu. The restaurant also hosts rakugo performances, which was quite unique for a soba restaurant. The broth was delicious, and the soba noodles were fresh. It would be a great place for female university students to visit.

I ordered delivery from Tanakaya for lunch on a weekday while working from home. It was cold that day, so I decided to go with the warm duck soba. The soba noodles were nicely made, not outstanding but not bad either. The duck meat was cut into small pieces and there was a decent amount of it. It was a bit chewy, so smaller cuts might be better. The green onions were also included in a good amount, and duck and green onions always go well together. The yuzu added a nice touch and made it delicious. Warm soba is perfect for a cold day. Enjoying it in my kotatsu at home, feeling cozy and warm, was very comforting. Thank you for the meal!

I ordered a delivery from Tanakaya for lunch. I've ordered their lunch set a few times before, but this time I was working from home and wasn't sure when I would have time to eat due to a meeting possibly running late (I was worried soba might get soggy). So, I went with the katsudon. The portion of meat was decent, the balance with the rice was good, and it was juicy and delicious. Tanakaya's delivery service is also very quick. Thank you for the meal!

Recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been ordering delivery food more often. For soba noodles, I always choose Tanakaya. This time, I ordered their weekday lunch set, which included tempura and soba noodles. The tempura consisted of pumpkin, eggplant, squid, and more, all lightly fried and delicious. The soba noodles were made from stone-ground, homemade flour and were not overcooked even for delivery. For 1,000 yen, it felt like a good deal. Thank you for the meal!

Tanakaya is a local soba restaurant, and I sometimes order delivery from there. This time, I ordered around 6:00 PM for dinner. It usually arrives earlier, but this time it took about 40-50 minutes. I ordered the vegetable tempura zaru udon for 1,080 yen. The zaru udon and vegetable tempura are served in a bento box. A bowl and a separate flask of dipping sauce are included. There were chopped green onions and wasabi in the bento box. The regular condiments for cold soba are in a small dish. It's a minor detail, but I accidentally mixed someone else's condiments into my dipping sauce, so I had to give them the ones in the bento box instead, hence this note for caution (laughs). The vegetable tempura consisted of shiitake mushrooms, pumpkin, bell pepper, eggplant, carrot, onion, etc. They were crispy and delicious. The udon was soft but had a nice chewy texture. The dipping sauce was lightly sweet and refreshing. As mentioned at the beginning, we sometimes order delivery from Tanakaya, and I realized I hadn't posted on Tabelog recently, so I decided to write this review. It's very convenient for times when we can't prepare dinner for various reasons. It's like saying, "Thank you for always taking care of us" (laughs).