Title: "Authentic soba at the price of a station soba shop" At 9:07 am on Friday, there were 3 customers ahead, with 1 staff member. There are counter seats and tables for two, and it seems to get crowded during lunchtime. What to order? The kakiage soba for 410 yen in the morning, but ordering the kake soba might take a bit longer. Condiments and soba-yu were available near the counter. I was called in 6 minutes. Rating out of 10 points: Kake soba: 9 points The soy sauce-based broth was strong and had a Kansai-style flavor. The rich and sweet broth was delicious with a strong taste. The noodles were soft and supple, similar to Yude Taro, but slightly firmer. The flavor and texture were good. The noodle portion was around 180 grams. There were a few pieces of green onions as toppings. Kakiage soba: 9 points The kakiage had a crispy and high-quality batter, with mainly onions as the filling, along with carrots and what seemed like chives. The quality of the kakiage was evident, and the size was slightly larger. Overall rating: 9 points It's great to have authentic soba at a station soba shop at such a reasonable price. Although it takes a bit of time, the delicious taste makes it worth the wait. They also offer set meals, so I might try that next time. (February 17, 2023)

Fuji Soba, similar to Yudetaro. Ordered the tempura bowl set. The quality of the tempura is high. It is crispy, not soggy from sitting out. The ingredients are soft. The noodles are average but have a good texture. The soba sauce is slightly spicy. Wasabi is also included, but you can add more yourself. If possible, those with a big appetite may want to order a large soba, and those with a very big appetite may want to order extra rice. I will definitely go back. Thank you for the meal.

Today, I had some errands to run in Ikebukuro. Lately, my stomach hasn't been feeling great, so I decided to have noodles for lunch. I chose to visit Iwamoto Q Ikebukuro, a place I've been to a few times before. You purchase your meal at the ticket machine near the entrance, then find a seat and wait for your number to be called. After about 4 minutes, my number was called, and I picked up my tray and brought it to a nearby corner. I noticed a unique mayonnaise bottle filled with wasabi, something I hadn't seen before. I ordered the Tororo Soba for 510 yen. In the center of the plate was soba noodles surrounded by a crescent-shaped portion of grated yam and garnished with green onions. The noodles didn't have much bite to them, similar to what I've seen at TGS. When dipped in the spicy soba broth, they coated well. The texture was average. The grated yam was sticky and of good quality, enhancing the texture of the noodles. It also contains dietary fiber, minerals, and enzymes that aid in digestion and nutrient absorption, making it beneficial especially in the summer. Towards the end, I mixed the wasabi into the noodles and grated yam, adding a sharp flavor that elevated the dish. I quickly finished my meal and found it delicious. Thank you for the meal.

Ordered the Tempura Chicken Soba with extra green onions for 560 yen and a small bowl of rice for 150 yen. Started with some self-service soba broth to cleanse the palate. The bonito dashi flavor is delicious. The soba arrived in about 8 minutes and had a nice Edo-style taste, easy to eat. If you make the dashi stronger, it tastes like regular soba, which is great. The tempura chicken was hot, but the salt seasoning was uneven, making some parts too salty. However, considering the price, it was satisfying.

Visited on a holiday early in the morning after reading an article online. Had the morning tempura soba for 410 yen. Only one customer before me. The restaurant is quite spacious. There seems to be a basement as well, but it was dark at this time. Soba is boiled after you hand in your ticket. Tempura is fried after you order. The hot tempura is served in hot broth! The slightly sweet broth with the oil from the tempura seeping out is delicious. The noodles were slightly soft.

I had the cold Tororo Soba for 510 yen at Iwamoto restaurant after 3:00 PM. They have a pot of soba-yu and kaeshi available, even though I didn't order it today. Their tempura is also freshly fried and delicious. Thank you for another tasty meal today.

Toro soba for 510 yen and assorted tempura for 400 yen. The tempura is freshly fried and piping hot, with shrimp, squid, okra, and kakiage. The soba noodles are thin but have a good chewy texture and are delicious. It's satisfying to get this quality of food for under 1000 yen. The fact that it's open 24 hours means you can go anytime. If you're ever in a bind for food in Ikebukuro, I would definitely go back.

The noodles are freshly boiled, there is also soba-yu, and the tempura is fried on the spot. So you can enjoy the crispy texture. The soba noodles are smooth and have a soft texture. The broth has a soy sauce base. It was delicious! Thank you for the meal!

I had the small tendon set and upgraded to a large portion of soba (+100 yen). I believe that standing soba shops in Tokyo are of a high standard, but I think the soba here stands out. It's fresh and delicious. The tempura bowl was also tasty, and I would like to try the premium tempura bowl next time.

This restaurant is located on the street heading from Rikkyo University towards Yomemachi, near the west exit of Ikebukuro Station. It's a popular standing soba shop right after you exit the Fukutoshin Line. I went there for breakfast this day. I bought a meal ticket from the ticket machine. Since it had been a while, I chose the Double Ebi-Ten Soba. When I handed in my ticket, I had to choose between hot, cold, or mixed soba. I chose cold, which is the bukkake style. I also bought a can of beer to sip while waiting for my soba. This chain serves freshly boiled soba and freshly fried tempura. Although it takes a bit of time for a standing soba shop, the quality is high. When my order was ready, I picked it up. The soba was delicious, with a nice firm texture from being freshly boiled. The Ebi-Ten was a good match for my beer. Even though the tempura was on the smaller side, it was still tasty. I finished my beer and focused on enjoying my soba. I mixed in some chopped green onions and wasabi halfway through, which changed the flavor. Of course, I finished every last bite. This place is definitely delicious!

I had dinner here in late May 2023. I was preparing for a health check at work the next day, so I wanted to eat something with slow carbohydrate absorption for dinner. I chose this place after looking through EatLog. I've been to a soba shop in Jinbocho before, and this is a chain store known for delicious standing soba. There are chairs available for sitting as well. I arrived around 6:00 PM and there were no other customers. One person came in while I was eating. Having dinner at a standing soba shop may be unusual. I ordered the "tempura set" and "extra-large soba". You purchase a food ticket and hand it to the staff, then wait for your number to be called to pick up your order. You can choose between "mori" (with dipping sauce), "kake" (in broth), or "hiya" (cold). I chose "mori" when I handed in my ticket. The soba here is not like your typical standing soba shop. It's more like what you would get at a regular soba restaurant. The broth is standard, with a crisp Kanto-style taste that pairs well with the soba. The tempura included shrimp, squid, okra, pumpkin, and half a piece of kakiage. It was freshly fried and delicious. The portion size was satisfying, and getting an extra-large soba and tempura for 830 yen is a great deal. It's a good restaurant. By the way, even though it was the day before my health check, I unintentionally pressed the "extra-large" button. Oh well, it happens!

Today I had lunch at the popular standing soba noodle shop "Iwamoto Q" in Ikebukuro. The charm of "Iwamoto Q" is that they offer authentic soba noodles that rival traditional soba shops at the price of a standing soba shop. The freshly boiled homemade noodles and freshly fried tempura are just as good as those at local soba shops. This was my first visit since September last year, and the prices remained the same. I purchased a "tempura set" ticket at the entrance ticket machine. I handed the ticket to the kitchen counter and received a numbered half-ticket to wait at my seat. You can choose from "mori soba," "kake soba," or "hiya soba." I ordered the classic "mori soba." About 5 minutes after ordering, my number was called. The set included an assortment of tempura, mori soba, condiments (chopped green onions, wasabi), tempura dipping sauce, and soba dipping sauce. There is a self-service corner with soba dipping sauce, wasabi, shichimi pepper, soy sauce, and a pot of soba broth for self-service enjoyment. The soba noodles made with a push-out noodle-making machine were served freshly boiled. The slightly brown, medium-thin noodles had a firm texture and a good throat feel, comparable to those at local soba shops. I enjoyed the slightly rich dipping sauce with a soup-to-noodle ratio of three to one. The tempura, freshly fried, included shrimp, squid, half-cutlet, pumpkin, and okra. The crispy tempura was satisfying, with the small shrimp having a firm texture and the tender squid being delicious. I poured the leftover soba dipping sauce and tempura dipping sauce into the soba broth and enjoyed the soba soup. With this quality of soba and tempura at this price, it's a place I want to visit regularly!

It's been a while since my last visit. This must be my 10th time here. They are open 24 hours, so I used to come late at night. They have seating at the counter, not just standing. I bought the "Joten-don" and soba set from the ticket machine. It takes about 6 minutes to cook the soba and fry the tempura after ordering. The soba is delicious. The tempura is decent, about a "Tempura-ya" level, haha. It's better than some other places. Thank you for the meal. I will come again!

I can only remember weird things that start with the letter Q, but the exterior of this store is also oddly tacky. Since the train was stopped, I decided to kill some time and try the food. I ordered the top-priced "Ten-don" set from the ticket machine, and was called in by the unenthusiastic staff in about 4 minutes. Contrary to the service, the set looked quite good. The soba noodles had a weak aroma, but were well cooked and had a smooth texture. The dipping sauce was on the sweeter side. The tempura was crispy and came with a variety of ingredients, including 2 shrimp, squid, okra, pumpkin, and mixed vegetable tempura, making it more of a main dish than the soba noodles. I finished it all after drinking. Although I initially criticized the exterior, it is rare to find a standing soba noodle shop open late at night or early in the morning at this price. Let's support and eat together. I will definitely come back. Thank you for the meal.

I found a shortcut to the local spot and now I don't pass by the restaurant as often, but sometimes I remember and make a special trip. The small tempura rice bowl set: there are cheaper items for breakfast, but I personally love this one. The combination of the rice bowl sauce and soba soup is the best, especially the warm option among the cold and warm choices. I haven't tried the cold soba yet, but I'll consider it as it gets hotter. The restaurant also serves soba soup.

Ikebukuro has an early morning appearance! It's a situation that happens quite often for me, so I should make more use of this store. I haven't confirmed it yet, but it seems that 24-hour operation has not been restored yet, and it was from 6:00 onwards, I think? It's listed as 24 hours on the main website, though. Well, in the case of this store, there is a parking meter right in front, so it's fine for those who come by car at any time. Today's special: Super-sized tendon set - I'm really going all out today, but it's all for support... *burp*. This tendon has a lineup of shrimp, squid, okra, and kakiage, and it's unbeatable. Well, the kakiage was probably pre-fried, but that's the standard for early morning operations. The tempura is crispy and light, with a fragrant aroma. The slightly sweet sauce is also great. If you add a little tsuyu to the self-serve soba hot water and sip it as a soup substitute, the broth's aroma stands out even more! You can enjoy it in a way similar to Haruna @ Hongo-sanchome. The soba doesn't look like a surprising amount for a special size, but it's quite satisfying when you eat it. This refined soba tastes delicious with a spicy tsuyu! The special size option is expensive, but that's the company's policy. They keep the basic menu affordable, so they make a little profit from the options. Kabukicho and Jinbocho have no parking spots, and in terms of location, only this store is accessible. If I'm asked to guide foreign tourists, I might even consider visiting the Asakusa store.

I stopped by for breakfast before work in Ikebukuro. Just outside the C1 exit. I purchased a meal ticket at the ticket machine inside the restaurant and specified whether I wanted cold or hot soba when ordering. I had to wait a bit for the tempura to be freshly fried. This time, I got the morning kakiage soba for 410 yen and added a hot spring egg for 100 yen. When my order was ready, I took it to my seat. The soba noodles were thin and had a good texture, but they also felt a bit frozen. The broth was at the right temperature, with a subtle flavor and a mild bonito taste. The tempura was hot and crispy, with a nice crunch. Overall, it wasn't very impressive, but it was a well-prepared meal. Judging by the quality of the tempura, the tempura rice bowl must be delicious too. However, the combination of soba and tempura felt a bit heavy. Next time, I might try just the tempura rice bowl.

Once again, I had an early morning visit to Umarushi in Ikebukuro, and on days like this, there are things to look forward to! I ordered the Small Tendon Set: starting the day off right with this after a long time, with a little extra support (I keep saying things like this, that's probably why I can't lose weight haha). The freshly boiled noodles here are excellent! I always go for the mori (no soup) option at places like this. The Neotgs sauce here is top-notch. It's slightly spicy and really good. Despite being a small size, the tempura rice bowl comes with shrimp, okra, and kakiage tempura, all freshly fried and piping hot. Only the kakiage tempura seemed like it had been sitting for a bit, probably due to the early morning rush. I actually went back again, and it was the same situation, so maybe that's just how it is in the early morning. It might be interesting to try moving the kakiage tempura to the soba in the warm set... I wonder if that would work. I thought this chain would become explosively popular, but the number of stores seems to be on a slight decline. The pricing and the need for a high volume of customers to make a profit, along with the style of cooking to order and 24-hour operation, seem to be holding it back. But without these aspects, it wouldn't be the same restaurant... It must be a tough situation for the headquarters. All I can do is quietly support them in my own little way.

After drinking, I felt like having a little something to eat, so I went to Iwamoto Q-sama. Before the pandemic, I used to visit their shop in Jinbocho often. Tonight, I had the 360 yen soba. Iwamoto Q-sama serves high-quality, smooth soba noodles and freshly fried tempura, with free refills of soba broth. It's a fantastic soba restaurant with great value for money. Thank you for the meal!

I have been curious about this place for a while, and this was my first visit. It seems that their specialty is freshly fried tempura. Not only was the taste delicious, but the fact that you can drink as much soba broth as you want was a nice service. And all this for just a little over 600 yen is really good value. Next time, I will try their cold soba!

I visited the Iwamoto Q restaurant in Ikebukuro for a quick dinner. I ordered the Kakiage Don set (660 yen) with soba noodles and added tempura flakes (50 yen) on top. The soba was served warm with delicious tempura pieces. The combination of the dipping sauce and tempura flakes was perfect. The Kakiage Don had a rich flavor and the oiliness was just right. Adding some pickled ginger provided a nice balance. The price was reasonable and the portion size was quite generous. The tempura, aside from the kakiage, was also served freshly fried. It was delicious.