Delicious Tempuras from Soba restaurants

Are soba more popular ?

TV and magazines feature more often soba.
Udon, wheat-flour noodles, are often treated as soba’s rival. In Japan there is soba-people and udon-people, referring to a person udon or soba preference.
In Asahikawa, there are more soba restaurants than udon restaurants.
This leaded to our reporter’s great question:
Do people like udon or soba more?
He decides to search for the answer on the net.

■Udon VS soba

And the answer is..... Soba!
In Hokkaido the winner is soba.
Even after examining by gender, soba won unanimously.

And, for the second time, to answer the question about the soba-tempura, our reporter did some research.

Soba noodles are low in calories and can be easily digested. Soba is often used as a set with oily ingredients, like tempura, to satisfy the stomach. (There were various theories...)
The contrast between the oily tempura and the light soba noodles are the reason why the tempura from a soba restaurant are so delicious!

■Hana no Ie

Originally in Asahikawa Seibu, this soba restaurant is now located in the Aeon food court in front of the station.

Rice bowl dishes are also available and buyable with only one coin, 500 yen.
Tempuras are also available for takeout.
With that, people reluctant to eat in public places, can enjoy their soba and tempura at home!
During summer, cold soba is delicious, moreover there is a time-limited menu so you can enjoy another soba dish every time you come to the restaurant.
Daisetsu soba, made in Kamikawa-cho by grounding buckwheat with a stone mill, is safe bet for a delicious meal !
The homemade soba to eat with tsuyu ( fish and/or kelp broth), is excellent too!
There are various toppings, like seven-flavor chili pepper, cayenne pepper powder and wasabi to arrange your plate as you like.
Tempura can be eaten with salt or matcha green tea salt or tare sauce (a sauce usually made with soy sauce, sake, mirin and oyster sauce) to vary the flavours in your meal.
Japanese rice sake can also be found in the food court, to accompany your dish.

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Restaurant Name: Hana no Ie
Address: Miyashitadōri 7-chōme 2-ban 5-gō
Tel: 0166-24-8708
Business hours 9:00~21:00 (Last order 20:30)

■Ryokan Sensyoen - Sobadokoro Sobasen

The most popular item, Tenzaru soba, is freshly made with locally produced soba flour.
With some green onions and wasabi in the cold tsuyu, it’s refreshing and perfect for summer.
The tempura batter is thin and crispy, our reporter recommends to eat it with ginger and tsuyu dipped grated daikon radish.
The day he went to the soba restaurant, there were 7 different kinds of tempura.
When you finish your dish, the waiter brings some hot soba water (the water within the soba was boiled) to add to the rest of your tsuyu.

Restaurant Name: Ryokan Sensyoen - Sobadokoro Sobasen
Address: Asahikawa-shi Takasagodai 3-chōme 8 - 3
Telephone 0166-61-5154
Business hours 11:00-15:00 (last order 14:30)/17:00-22:00 (last order 21:00)
Lunchtime service 11:00-14:00

■The soba-tempura combo is the best!

Soba noodles and tempura are equally delicious and our reporter introduced us to his favorite restaurants.
Soba noodles are light and smooth making them easy to eat during summer. If you’re so hot that you’ve lost your appetite, it might be the good time to eat some cold soba and tempura to get some energy. Hokkaido’s summer is short, let’s enjoy it!