A note on the words: tenmori is cold soba served with a separate plate of tempura alongside, dipped into the same tsuyu. Otoshi is the small appetizer you are charged for on sitting down — not a scam, it is the cover charge. Sobayu is the starchy, cloudy water the soba was boiled in, drunk at the end or, here, used to cut a shochu.
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Soba Kokoro on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Right, this is Hangover Meshi. The temperature has been climbing and it has turned warm. When the weather is the sort where standing in the sun a while leaves you faintly damp, soba starts tasting better and better! So this time I went to “Soba Kokoro,” the famous soba shop in Nezu that people queue for. I had heard the queue can be quite something, so I set out aiming to arrive right around opening in the morning.
I arrive and there is a queue, ha.
Was I too late after all? — except it turned out to be the exact moment the shop opened, and the customers were being drawn inside. Waiting nervously at the very back, I was told to head up to the second floor. Lucky! I made the first sitting.
There is a whole range of snacks on the menu as well, so the plan was to order a drink, pick at a few things, and finish with the soba.
First a beer while I browse the menu and weigh things up ^^
The otoshi. Something miso-like, with the viscosity of caramel ^^
The first thing I chose was simmered herring — the very thing that sits on top of nishin soba.
It is cooked soft and a touch sweet, so tender that it falls apart. There are quite a few small bones, but it is soft enough that a good chew makes them a non-issue, so you can eat away without worrying. Mmm, this is good. It goes well with a drink, too.
Miso spread on a bamboo paddle and grilled, ha.
It looks the part, and it smells good. Are those buckwheat groats scattered over it, I wonder.
White miso with buckwheat groats and scallion, and a soft note of yuzu. The saltiness is restrained too, so it is delicious even just picked at and licked off!
This calls for a change of drink — so I hurriedly ordered a shochu cut with sobayu, the starchy water the soba is boiled in.
Tenmori. Tempura really is necessary, is it not. Shrimp, green beans, kabocha, eggplant, lotus root and so on.
Carefully arranged, the tempura is beautiful to look at and looks delicious!
The shrimp in its crisp batter is plump, and the moment you bite the savor comes flooding out.
The vegetables each hold their own too — the floury softness of the lotus root and the melting texture of the eggplant are irresistible.
And here is the soba.
Properly chilled and tightened, with the fragrance of the buckwheat flour drifting up. Take a mouthful and the thin, sharp strands have a real edge to them, and the feel of them sliding down the throat is a pleasure. The tsuyu leans toward the sharp side, crisp, and it lifts the fragrance of the soba firmly. This is what “hand-cut” means — it is delicious eaten plain, with nothing on it at all.
This is unquestionably good soba.
That was delicious!
Yes, snacks included, it was delicious! I think I understand now why it scores high and why people say there is a queue. Careful soba, and good snacks that go with a drink. Drinking from midday here would be fun too — no wonder it is popular! There was a snack called soba-sashi on the menu as well, so next time I shall drop in of an evening, have a drink with some different snacks, and perhaps order the kamo-jiru. It was delicious. Recommended!
Soba Kokoro (Soba / Nezu Station, Todaimae Station, Keisei-Ueno Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
