A note on the words: soba-mae is the Tokyo habit of enjoying drinks and small snacks before the soba itself. Soba miso is sweet-salty miso mixed with toasted buckwheat grains, and the table snack here seemed to be just that. Wasabi-zuke is wasabi pickled in sake lees, with a sharp heat that fades quickly. Kuruma shrimp come live from the tank by the entrance and are fried to order. Myoga is a Japanese ginger bud. Zaru soba are chilled buckwheat noodles on a bamboo tray; here you pick a Kanto-style (dark, strong) or Kansai-style (light) dipping sauce. The duck dumpling soup is a side dish, not a dipping sauce, and soba-yu is the noodle cooking water served at the end.
Soba Kiri Morino on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
To all you Edokko (born-and-bred Tokyoites) out there, thank you for waiting! It’s Hangover Meshi time!
I’ve been going to Hongo-sanchome quite a bit lately. The shop is around the top of Iki-zaka slope. Founded in 2003, it’s a soba shop run as a two-person operation by the master, who trained at a soba restaurant called Shoo in Jimbocho, and his wife. They apparently make their soba using Hitachi Aki buckwheat shipped from a contract farm in Iwase, Ibaraki, and they say you get to choose either Kanto-style dark dipping sauce or Kansai-style light dipping sauce every time you order. I had heard this was a soba shop where you can drink too, so full of curiosity, I decided to go right away.
Weekdays they’re open until 20:30. I arrived around 19:30 and walked straight in.
The snacks menu comes out first. I picked a few things and got started!
In summer, you really have to start with this!
The ultimate energy drink: beer!
For the otoshi (table snack served as a cover charge), what they brought out was soba miso, probably? The lightly toasted buckwheat grains pop pleasantly, and behind the sweet-salty miso a fragrant, toasty aroma rises up.
Passing through the sweet aroma of sake lees, the sharp heat of wasabi shoots right up your nose. The stems are crunchy, and the heat doesn’t linger, quickly fading away, so the first sip of the soba shochu I ordered next tasted remarkably clean. Just a dab on the tip of the chopsticks is more than enough.
They take the kuruma shrimp straight from the live tank by the entrance, fry them one by one, and serve them immediately. The batter is light, the meat springs back with a plump bite, and the more you chew, the more the sweetness floods in. The head is crisp and fragrant so you can crunch right through it, making salt alone plenty. Both beer and shochu go wonderfully with this.
When myoga (Japanese ginger) is heated, its sharpness seems to soften, and that unique aroma turns sweeter, I feel. Biting into it brings a light crunch, followed by a pleasant bitterness and a refreshing coolness. Even though it’s fried food, it leaves your palate feeling clean and refreshed!
The thick asparagus is delicious twice: through the fluffy batter on the tip, and in the juicy freshness of the stalk. The moment you bite into it, a vibrant green sweetness bursts out, showing just how skillfully it has been cooked. A pinch of salt—that’s all it takes to make the vegetable the star!
Here is the soba. Although it is thinly cut, it has a springy elasticity that pushes back firmly when you bite into it. Because the water is thoroughly drained, the sweet aroma of the buckwheat carries straight up to your nose without being diluted. For the choice of dipping sauce, I asked for Kanto-style. The Kanto-style sauce is dark and rich, so salty-strong that dipping too much would overpower the noodles. The right way is to dip just the bottom third lightly before slurping them up. If you don’t like strong dipping sauce, having the Kansai-style option available is one of the wonderful things about this shop.
Next up: the duck dumpling soup!
This is not a dipping sauce! Just as the note on the menu cautions—“This is not a dipping sauce; please enjoy it as a side dish for the soba”—it is a completely standalone bowl. Despite its clear appearance, the moment it hits your tongue, the sweet richness of duck fat gently spreads out first, followed by the deep backbone of dashi gradually taking hold. The greens and mushrooms soak up the broth, and it’s delightful how the flavor of duck returns with every bite.
The dumpling crumbles softly, leaving behind only the savory aroma of the meat. It is apparently a remake of the famous kenchin-jiru from the shop where the master trained, reimagined with duck. A relaxing breather between bites of soba. Delicious.
The soba-yu (buckwheat cooking water) at the finish comes served in an iron kettle, and it is thick and richly creamy! It was delicious!
Both the soba and tempura were delicious, though I felt the owner’s wife (the okami) seemed a bit tense—I wonder what that was about, ha? Maybe she was a little tired since it was getting late. There’s no question that the soba and food are delicious, so be sure to enjoy the whole experience, including the soba-mae snacks and drinks before your noodles!
May you meet something delicious today too!
Soba Kiri Morino Menu
Soba
You can choose dipping sauce: Kanto-style (dark) or Kansai-style (light).
Duck dumplings, mushrooms, vegetables
Duck dumpling soup is not a dipping sauce. Please enjoy it as a side dish for your soba.
At lunchtime, they take your soba order at the same time as your soba-mae (drinks and snacks) order.
Add-ons & Side Dishes
Soba-mae Appetizers (from blackboard)
Blackboard appetizers that change with the seasons. Some items are dinner only.
Tempura (from blackboard)
Frying begins after you order, served piece by piece. A live kuruma shrimp tank sits at the entrance.
2 pieces: 1,750 yen
From maitake mushroom / eggplant / Fushimi pepper / shiitake mushroom / baby lotus root / burdock root / nagaimo yam / asparagus / myoga / kabocha squash / Manganji pepper, etc.
Today’s Specials
Daily specials that rotate with the seasons.
Sake
Junmai / Niigata Prefecture
Ginjo / Niigata Prefecture
Junmai / Iwate Prefecture
Junmai / Iwate Prefecture
Junmai Ginjo / Gunma Prefecture
Junmai Daiginjo / Ishikawa Prefecture
Junmai Ginjo / Nara Prefecture
Junmai Daiginjo / Yamagata Prefecture
Beer & Shochu
Because cooking begins only after an order is received, it may take some time. Depending on the item, dishes may not come out in the order they were ordered (from the in-store notice).
*From the restaurant menu during an August 2026 visit. Prices include tax; menu items change seasonally. Please check the latest details at the restaurant.
Soba Kiri Morino (Soba / Hongo-sanchome Station, Suidobashi Station, Ochanomizu Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.4
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
