Taimeian, a soba shop in Ginza, was the place I most wanted to visit this winter. It falls well short of being called the best soba shop, and sharing tables with strangers is just the norm here, but every time winter comes around, I think of it. I guess that is because it is such an easy, casual place to drop into.
Starting with a bottle of beer
Refreshing.
Fried oysters
They happened to have oysters, so I ordered them, and they came out fried nice and crisp. The oysters were not especially big, but they went perfectly with beer.
Dashimaki tamago
When it comes to rolled omelette at a soba shop, dashimaki tamago is the one. Its fluffy taste goes really well with soba. It is something I always order to finish off at a soba shop, but this time I ordered it a bit early.
Yamakake (grated yam)
A simple dish of sliced nagaimo yam eaten with wasabi, and a nice snack to go with drinks.
Seri kashiwa soba
They had an unusual seasonal menu item, so I gave it a try.
The noodles
Cooked just about right.
Seri kashiwa
Seri is Japanese parsley (water dropwort), and this was my first soba with it thrown in roots and all. Kashiwa means chicken. There is a bit of bitterness, and a really distinctive flavor. I enjoyed it a lot.
Kakiage soba
This place does tempura well, and it goes really nicely with hot soba. The seri kashiwa soba is a taste that lingers in your memory because it is so unusual, but this one lingers just as long because of how familiar and comforting it is.
I made it here once this winter, so my wish has been granted. It is getting harder and harder to get out of Asakusa, but I hope I get the chance to drop by once in a while.