蓼喰人
On a Saturday afternoon, I went out near Sukiyabashi in Ginza and was thinking about where to have lunch on my way back. Despite the scorching heat, there were quite a few people, including inbound tourists, out and about. Many popular restaurants had long lines of people patiently waiting in the sweltering sun. I wanted to avoid walking around too much, so I decided to go to a traditional soba restaurant called "Kibachi-kai" in Ginza, which has been around for a long time. I hadn't visited this place since it moved to its current location. The restaurant is located on the second floor of a building, and although it has a good number of seats, the entrance can be a bit hard to find. You have to take an elevator a little further in and then you'll see the noren curtain hanging at the back. Despite it being lunchtime, there were no other customers at this time, probably due to the restaurant's inconspicuous location. I was greeted by the veteran waiter Hanaban, who welcomed me to sit at a four-person table. The restaurant mainly caters to diners, so there were menu stands on the tables with options for soba and rice bowl sets. It was a bit unusual for a soba restaurant in Ginza, but I was there for soba and sake, so I started with a bottle of beer (I chose "Sapporo Black Label"). As soon as they realized I was there to drink, they brought me a menu booklet with various dishes, even during lunchtime. I ordered two items from the menu: "Edamame," which was served fresh and carefully selected, and "Anago Tempura Plate," which included anago eel, vegetables (bell pepper, eringi mushroom, shishito pepper), as well as tachiuo fish and fried soba noodles tied in knots. The tempura was cooked in the traditional Edo style, slightly crispy on the outside, and the main anago eel was quite large and thick, providing a satisfying taste. The vegetables retained their individual flavors, and the crispy texture of the fried soba noodles was enjoyable. I ate them with a rich tempura dipping sauce and grated daikon radish, but I found that the sauce was not enough halfway through the meal. When I mentioned this to Hanaban, they brought me a pitcher of warm sauce, which I appreciated. For sake, they simply had "Japanese Sake" listed without any specific brands. I chose "cold sake," which they explained came in a 300ml bottle that I could open myself. I enjoyed the familiar taste of "Kikumasamune" sake with the tempura as my appetizer before the soba. For the soba order, I decided to try something different and asked for the "Gomoku Soba," which was inspired by the colorful toppings of Tokyo's Chinese-style ramen. It resembled the traditional "Okame" soba with various toppings like fried tofu in sweet and savory sauce for "kitsune" soba, thin slices of kamaboko, bamboo shoots, wheat gluten, narutomaki fish cake, and nori seaweed. Instead of the usual tamagoyaki omelette and shiitake mushrooms, there was a piece of chicken thigh and a quail egg at the bottom. It arrived quickly, and I was impressed by the variety of toppings on the soba noodles.