"I came to this restaurant because an acquaintance told me that the former manager of Fuji Soba opened a shop near Itabashi City Hall. Similar to a station soba, you buy a meal ticket from a vending machine, place your order, and then wait for your number to be called to pick up your food. There are seats available, it's not a standing-only place. I ordered the tempura rice bowl set for ¥650. The taste was... average? The slight oiliness of the tempura was a bit off-putting. It felt like, 'This is it?' when compared to station soba. Perhaps the popular fried chicken was sold out, as the restaurant was very empty."

I visited a soba restaurant on Saturday at 9:30 in the morning. There were no customers before or after me. There were three energetic staff members - a young lady, a young man, and a mother. They offer a morning menu until 11:00 with options to choose the type of noodles and hot or cold soup. The atmosphere was familiar and welcoming.

On a weekday afternoon after 2:30 pm, I headed to Itabashi City Hall in accordance with my plans for the day. I had already decided to have a late lunch here. I had noticed this place before, around the end of April, and marked it for a visit. Despite being close to Itabashi City Hall station, the actual location of this place is behind the city hall. It is situated on a corner, and the restaurant has a bright and clean atmosphere. As soon as I entered, I looked at the menu on the wall and selected the Curry Rice Set (curry with either mori soba or kake soba) for ¥770 from the ticket machine. Due to the time being a bit off, there were only two other customers. I placed my ticket on the counter and received a polite response from the staff saying, "We will cook the noodles, so please wait a moment." I have a habit of always ordering curry rice or curry donburi when I see it on the menu at a soba restaurant because I love curry, so I ordered the curry set again this day. And I went for the mori soba set, not the kake soba set! This is pretty much my usual routine when visiting a new restaurant. The food arrived with the noodles just cooked and freshly chilled. The soba had a nice chewy texture within its coldness. It was good. It may become addictive. The broth was not too sweet or too spicy, just right. It exceeded my expectations for this kind of soba restaurant, making me want to try more dishes other than soba. Moving on to the "Soba Restaurant Curry" advertised on the wall, it had a rather ordinary but delicious taste. However, I felt that the amount of curry roux was slightly lacking. I didn't ask the staff about it, but they actually sell the curry roux separately at this place. For curry lovers, this might be a feature that allows it to be paired with other dishes, but I couldn't help but think that its presence is a distinctive aspect of the restaurant, and if it's not enough, you may need to add more. The restaurant also offers a "Choose-Your-Own Tempura Bowl" where you can select your favorite tempura for either a 3-piece or 5-piece set, as well as a variety of "light drinking menu" options for the evening. In addition, you can choose between soba, udon, and Chinese noodles for your noodles. Although they don't serve ramen, this unique aspect is a plus point. In the short time I observed, I found many enjoyable aspects in this new and unique restaurant. Above all, the base soba noodles were delicious, which deserves applause! It is more of a standing soba restaurant genre, but it exceeded my expectations. The location in Itabashi may have an impact on business in the future, but the restaurant's cleanliness and unique menu offerings make it a place I would likely visit more often if it were closer to my residential area. Thank you for the meal. I will visit again.

Soba restaurant Ikechi, which opened in April near Itabashi Police Station and the license renewal center. It is a family-run self-service soba shop. According to a local information site, the staff used to be a manager at Fuji Soba, so they are a professional in standing soba shops. I visited around noon on a holiday. The bright restaurant has a counter with 6 seats and about 6 tables, with 5 groups of customers already there. There were families as well. The menu includes a special soba for 800 yen. Soba and udon are available hot or cold, with various toppings to choose from, as well as rice dishes like curry and katsudon. There are also many set meals, including mini bowls and petite bowls, making it easy to choose. They also offer morning soba until 11 am for 450 yen. I purchased a curry set for 650 yen from the ticket machine. I ordered the cold soba, so it took a bit of time. However, I was called by number without much of a wait. The soba was a greyish thin noodle with shiny mini curry topped with fukujinzuke. The soba was well-made, with a good aroma and sweetness, and a smooth texture, very delicious. It is likely made from fresh noodles. The dipping sauce was a dry type with a strong salty taste, and the thickness of the green onions and spiciness gave me an impression similar to Fuji Soba. The curry was mildly spicy, with a good balance of spiciness, sweetness, and a hint of acidity, making it a well-balanced curry from a soba shop. It was a clean, bright, casual, and delicious soba restaurant, and it is sure to become popular.