I went at night. At night, they only offer course meals, so I chose the omakase option with extras. I was curious about what a soba restaurant course would be like, but everything was delicious. They even served soba tofu, and the coffee time at the end was also great with soba cookies. The staff brought the dishes out at the right timing and explained each dish. I bought soba mitarashi dango as a souvenir on my way home, and it was also delicious. It was a restaurant that made me want to go again.

I occasionally pass by this soba restaurant on the way, but this was my first visit. The interior is small with 5 tables and 2 tatami rooms. Since it was hot today, I was thinking of having zaru soba, but ended up ordering kisu tempura zaru soba. My partner had the scallop tempura zaru soba. We enjoyed the slightly spicy dipping sauce with grated daikon and green onions. The tempura was quite generous, including kisu fish, sweet potato, vegetables, and ginger, all lightly seasoned with salt. It was lunchtime and before we knew it, the place was full. There were 3 friendly staff members working. Thank you for the meal!

Nagasaki-produced live eel tempura soba in a colander for 2130 yen. Today's challenge was turned down by the designated restaurant, so I rushed into our nearby place. The colander seemed like a good choice for tempura, so I went with the eel tempura to try something different. For the soba, I had the option of country-style soba or sprouted soba, and I chose the sprouted soba since I'm not a fan of the country-style soba. It took about 20 minutes for the food to be served. The soba had a great aroma, texture, and chewiness - just the way I like it. The soba sauce was on the salty side, but the portion was quite small. I usually prefer a generous amount of sauce, but this was more like what soba enthusiasts would appreciate. The tempura was delicious, but the issue was with the eel tempura. It was the complete opposite of what I had imagined - not the fluffy texture I was expecting. It was more like a dry and tough anchovy tempura. I'm not sure if this is the authentic style, as I am not an expert. The soba was tasty, but the timing of the soba water and the mysterious bill of 2130 yen...I quickly left the place!

On the second day of my business trip to Kitakyushu, I had lunch at "Soba Salon Ikki," located in a residential area near the Karita Kitakyushu Airport IC. The exterior of the restaurant was a renovated traditional house, and there was a cute Shiba Inu in the neighboring garden, which made me think it might be a family-run business. It seemed like the owner, who may have retired from a salaryman job, started making soba. The soba noodles were made with their own homemade buckwheat flour. I ordered the zaru soba with toriten (chicken tempura), and it was served with plenty of seasonal vegetables. The tempura alone was so filling that I enjoyed waiting for it to be freshly fried after placing the order. The soba and tempura were delicious. I might visit again on my future trips to Kitakyushu. Thank you for the meal!

"Alicia's Food Log: A soba restaurant near my house that I had been curious about. I often find myself not going to places that are too close, and today was no exception. I came here with an elderly person to celebrate their upcoming birthday. I forgot the name of the menu (sorry), but it was a set meal for 1650 yen. I chose the zaru soba option. The set included a lot of vegetable tempura, white ae roll, white cabbage and kombu tsukudani, and two types of sushi rolls. I always thought soba was a lighter dish, but this set was quite filling. The vegetable tempura was plentiful and the sushi rolls were elegant yet substantial. For a meal centered around soba at this price point and with this atmosphere, I have no complaints. Thank you for the meal!"

Although it may not seem like it, Ribot loves soba noodles. After retiring, he thought about using his retirement money to open a hand-made soba noodle shop (even though he thinks it would quickly go out of business). So, he claims to be quite knowledgeable about soba shops in Kitakyushu... but in reality, he is not at all. Many soba shops in Kitakyushu only open for lunch, which is inconvenient for him. However, he was able to visit a soba shop in Kokura Minami Ward that also operates at night. Upon entering the shop, he coincidentally met the owner who initially seemed very strict but quickly greeted him warmly, making him think that maybe he was mistaken. Nevertheless, it was clear that this was a shop with high standards. He ordered the recommended "duck soba," while his companion opted for the regular soba. The duck soba had a strong flavor that was a bit overpowering for his taste, although it might suit others. On the other hand, the regular soba was delicious. The dipping sauce was on the salty side, similar to Tokyo-style soba. Overall, he enjoyed it, but his friend, who prefers a different style of dipping sauce, was not as impressed. He planned to revisit the shop to try the regular soba again, but hasn't had the chance yet.

For lunch today, I went to Soba Salon Ikki to have lunch. I arrived at the restaurant just before 2:30 pm and there were no customers, so I was able to enter easily. I ordered the parent and child bowl and zaru soba set for 1200 yen. The food arrived in about 10 minutes, and the set included a mini parent and child bowl, mini zaru soba, 2 small side dishes, and 2 pickled dishes. The parent and child bowl had a nice balance of chicken and onions, with the egg flavor not being too overpowering. The zaru soba noodles were slightly thinner than usual, with a refreshing texture, but the dipping sauce was a bit spicy, which took away from the soba's flavor. Later, I found out that the dipping sauce was meant to be mixed with the soba water to drink. The side dishes tasted like home-cooked meals by a warm lady. The pickled dishes were average. Overall, the food was quite delicious, but I think I will wait a bit before revisiting.

At Kuchinami no Sobasalon, you can enjoy shrimp tempura soba in a calm atmosphere with jazz music playing. The soba noodles have a firm texture, and the dipping sauce has a soy sauce aroma with a spicy kick. The tempura includes 2 shrimp, okra, eggplant, bell pepper, potato, pumpkin, ginger, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, and persimmon, making it a generous serving. The shrimp is juicy, and the ginger tempura is refreshing and delicious.

There is not much dipping sauce. I wonder if I should order extra wasabi? It's a higher level of soba tempura.

I ordered the Duck Nanban (1600 yen) and it was delicious with a great duck flavor. On another day, I ordered the Zaru Soba (medium) (1200 yen) with wasabi (30 yen). The dipping sauce went well with the soba noodles. It was a delicious meal, thank you.

I had been curious about this place for a while, even though I live nearby, so it was my first visit. The atmosphere was nice. It was just past noon, so I thought it might be a bit crowded, but it wasn't too busy. One customer seemed dissatisfied because no one greeted them when they entered, so they waited for a while but ended up leaving. My husband and I were talking about how they should have just spoken up themselves. The service did feel amateurish, with basic mistakes like forgetting chopsticks. I ordered duck soba, which was just average. The portion was small, and the soy sauce in the broth was too strong, overpowering the dashi flavor. My husband had zaru soba with tempura, but even the tempura wasn't great. We had high hopes, but it was disappointing. We also bought buckwheat tea on the way out, but compared to the soba tea from another store, we were surprised by the difference in taste. The tea was also not that great.

I visited the restaurant around 6:00 pm on May 5, 2017 (Friday) and the atmosphere inside was very calming with jazz music playing. I ordered a set of shrimp tempura and soba noodles (1350 yen), zaru soba (800 yen), and onigiri (150 yen). It took quite a while for the food to arrive. The zaru soba had a refreshing taste and a hint of wasabi which added to the flavor. The tempura included seasonal vegetables and mushrooms, with large shrimp that were satisfying to eat. The tempura was served with salt instead of dipping sauce, and the salt was delicious and complemented the tempura well. Some of the seasonal vegetables were unfamiliar to me, but they tasted good. The onigiri had delicious rice and the pickles served with it matched perfectly. There was only a small portion of onigiri, so I wanted more. We were the only customers until we left, so we could enjoy our meal leisurely. Thank you for the meal. I saw that they also serve lunch, so I plan to come back for lunch next time.

Shrimp tempura on top of soba noodles.