OIJ #28: SOBA
![](https://ectokyo.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/screen-shot-2019-03-31-at-23.46.13.png?w=499)
When I blogged about my residence city last month, I featured a “soba” (noodle) restaurant in my neighborhood. It’s indeed an authentic OIJ delicacy. Check the site below to know more about the healthy and inexpensive “soba.”
Looking for freshly-made buckwheat noodles for lunch or just observe how to make Japanese “soba” (noodles from buckwheat flour)? Go to Ogawa Family Restaurant located at 6-9-1 Saiwaicho, Tachikawa City (Phone #: 042-535-5025). It’s within my block — about 3 minutes walk from Tamagawajosui Station and at the back of my schoolhouse. It’s great cultural exposure and healthy meal with a very reasonable price! Great to hop & eat lunch here today.
![](https://ectokyo.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/img_2602-1.jpg)
The first time I saw “soba-making” was at the train station in Nagano Prefecture. While waiting for my friends, I was captivated by a small eatery with glass windows. The chef in a clean white uniform was busy grinding buckwheat grains. I was awed at how fast he made the dry flour into a dough then cut them into long strips with a big knife. Quite a very impressive skill with rhythm and the cut of the well-stretched dough was in uniform length!
![](https://ectokyo.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/img_2594.jpg)
![](https://ectokyo.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/screen-shot-2019-02-04-at-22.44.02.png)
The local eatery was packed with commuters and the chef & waiter moved fast in serving them with a hot or cold bowl of noodles. What a joy & excitement when I found the same Japanese traditional restaurant when I moved to Tachikawa in 2010. It’s also a good place to meet my neighbors especially the employees of the bank and students of a tennis school in my district. The shop offers delivery service and it’s a blessing to my adult student’s family as they sometimes cannot go shopping nor cook dishes.
![](https://ectokyo.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/screen-shot-2019-02-04-at-23.42.45.png)
![](https://ectokyo.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/screen-shot-2019-02-04-at-23.43.15.png)
Like pasta, buckwheat noodles are available in dried form in grocery stores but they taste best if freshly made by hand. It’s a hands-on activity in making “soba” that it’s good for foreigners to learn and teach in their home countries.
![](https://ectokyo.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/img_2603-1.jpg)
![](https://ectokyo.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/img_2599-1.jpg)
![](https://ectokyo.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/img_2598-1.jpg)
![](https://ectokyo.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/img_2595-1.jpg)