Watanabe

I went through a cold soba phase over ten years ago. For some reason, I felt the urge to eat cold soba almost once a week. I began to make it myself at home using store bought noodles and sauce. The problem was that the ingredients were not very good at all. My obsession culminated in a visit to Tokyo around 2003 or 2004 where I ended walking a long ways through a very powerful typhoon storm in order to eat at a very famous and traditional soba place. It was the pinnacle of cold soba-​dom. Ever since then, the soba state-​side has tasted off. Too grainy, too soft. The soba sauce and wasabi lacked complexity.
The above are my soba credentials. Soba wasn’t one of my go-​to foods planned on this trip but I’m glad I stopped by here. The soba noodles were perfectly al-​dente and were the perfect vehicle for a very nuanced soba sauce. I ordered a soba dish by pointing at the menu. I was tired and was 20 minutes removed from a previous yakiniku meal (don’t judge) so I unexpectedly got a dish with the noodles mixed with nori and what tasted like chunk tuna with a mild peanut sauce. The combo went well together. Prices were very reasonable here. As with the fancy soba places here, they give you that pot of broth or tea at the end of the meal which you can drink alone or pour into what’s left of your soba sauce. I did the latter and it brought out the complexities in the sauce. They should make that a hot drink on it’s own.
Very good soba place and closer to 4.5 stars. Usually people travel to Japan for more popular fare like sushi, yakiniku, ramen, katsu, etc. Soba seems never to be in the conversation. If you can, try to squeeze in legit soba into your eating schedule. It’ll be worth it.

Great traditional soba & tempura place near Shinjuku station — vegetarian friendly w/​English menu.
Went into Watanabe after being in Tokyo for almost a week and was craving soba & tempura big time. Since we’re vegos we don’t often go into places that don’t have English menu because we don’t know what we’re ordering so big thanks to other Unilocalers for posting about this place so we knew about it!
If we’d just passed by we probably wouldn’t have gone in because they don’t have any on the signs displayed out front but they do have an English menu available.
We went around lunch time and it was quite full and busy but we were lucky to get a table straight away. Staff were friendly and helpful. The food was AWESOME! Really good soba noodles — dipping sauce was especially tasty. Tempura is made fresh in a window in front of you. Other half got Udon with Yuba tofu which was also really good.
Whole meal only cost us around 2,400 yen and it was one of the best we’ve had in Japan!

Yum!!! I love soba so much, and this place hits the spot.
Authentic and chewy noodles, it was such a delight. If you’re in shinjuku definitely make a stop here!

If you explained to a soba novice that they were about to have an insanely delicious meal that involved dipping cold, thin buckwheat noodles into a cold, salty broth, you’d likely have a runner on your hands. But have just one bite of these «healthy”* noodles and you’ll be hooked.
So what can said novice expect? A pile of freshly handmade, cold soba noodles served on a raised bamboo tray alongside a small cup of dipping sauce (called tsuyu) and any ordered sides. While you can spice things up with anything from tempura to seaweed to shirasu (dried anchovy), I’d recommend sticking with the original Mori Soba (plain, cold noodles) and adding wasabi and scallions to your tsuyu. Then just sit, dip, slurp, and watch the soba master do his thing behind a large glass window.
The soba here was damn near perfect — the consistency, texture and sweet, earthy flavor were all fantastic. And because we arrived early, we avoided the queues that Watanabe can apparently be known for. So for the uninitiated, head to Watanabe and see what all the hot (or cold) fuss is all about. There’s an English menu, so you really have no excuse not to!
*You’ll hear this all the time and it drives me nuts. Sure they’re slightly lower calorie than wheat noodles, but let’s be honest, they’re also higher GL and missing vitamins and minerals you’d find in the former. Eat them because they are delicious, not to win a health-​consciousness award.