I had some business in Shizuoka, so I went over and stopped by a few good places while I was at it. Togakushi soba is actually from Nagano Prefecture, but for some reason there’s a famous soba shop in Shizuoka City. It does well enough to have quite a few branches, too. Well, it doesn’t matter where something originally comes from as long as it tastes good.

On the way to Shizuoka

Just a random shot..

On the way..

The river had dried up into a gravel bed.

Mon cher Café

Arriving at Shizuoka Station, it’s definitely bigger than Hamamatsu. If I lived around here, I’d probably use this place for a pasta lunch or for dessert. But since I only come to Shizuoka once in a while, the places I’ve been wanting to try come first.

The entrance of Togakushi Soba Isooroshi

The line was long even before opening. Togakushi Soba actually has three other branches, so if you have time, going to one of those would probably mean a shorter line. But after moving all the way there the opening hours might be different, so after thinking it over I decided to wait at this one inside the station. The line was long, but the soba came out faster than I expected.

The place across the way

The sign says “a shop where the fish is good,” and it did look pretty decent. But today I’d made up my mind to have soba..

A Shizuoka oden specialist

This one is called Umibozu, and it looked really good too. It seems to be a trend lately to bring good restaurants into station buildings. You don’t need to go anywhere far; you can take care of everything right inside the station.

A hamburg steak place called Hana yori, Hamburg

Looks like a hamburg steak specialist along the lines of Hikiniku to Come. You see this kind of place in China too, and all over Japan.

A ramen shop

It looked like a pretty serious shop, but the places around it were all such strong contenders that I didn’t really feel like going in..

Today’s specials

They have sakura shrimp kakiage and a raw shirasu rice bowl. Both are Shizuoka specialties.

The kitchen

Everyone was working hard. The chef frying the tempura in particular looked seriously skilled.

The menu

There are lots of toppings for the basic soba, but you should definitely order tempura.

A notice that they have Honyama jinenjo in stock

Jinenjo is used for tororo, which is grated mountain yam with a sticky, slimy texture.. and Honyama jinenjo is said to be the tastiest of all. This is the first soba shop I’ve seen that serves it.

The tempura menu for add-ons

They have Spanish mackerel and new potatoes too. Everything looks good.

A Children’s Day menu

I went around May 5, and they gave me a little snack set like this. Very much appreciated.

Togakushi Soba’s nameko isooroshi

The nameko mushrooms were light and refreshing, and I really enjoyed it. The noodles themselves have a nice springiness and taste great, and the portion is pretty big too. The tempura was good as well. I don’t think anyone would complain if this showed up in front of them.

Kake soba with added jinenjo

I also tried one in hot broth, but I think these noodles are better as cold zaru soba.

Sakura shrimp kakiage

It was a seasonal special, so I ordered it. I didn’t expect it to be this big. Maybe because sakura shrimp are such tiny things, there’s a lot of batter when you turn them into tempura. So it was harder to finish than it looks. You really need to come here on an empty stomach to enjoy it properly.

Ten isooroshi

This soba comes topped with five big shrimp tempura. The portion is seriously huge. But the shrimp are really big and plump, and the tempura was in perfect shape, so I enjoyed it to the very last bite. Great tempura and great soba, there can’t be many places this good. Now I get why people line up. That said, if you order the ten isooroshi, you definitely don’t need the sakura shrimp kakiage on top of it. That’s how big it was.

Jinenjo

I ordered a separate plate of it, and it has real charm. A natural flavor you just don’t get from regular tororo, I’d say. If you like tororo, it’s worth ordering once.

Warabi mochi

It comes with kuromitsu (black sugar syrup). This was pretty good too. A great shop does everything well, it seems..

Soba gelato

Milk-flavored gelato with buckwheat flour mixed in, topped with buckwheat groats. The little sweet that came with it was good, and the gelato had a flavor that suits a soba shop perfectly.

The takeout menu

I enjoyed it so much I couldn’t leave without getting takeout, but it was hot out, so tempura and the like were out of the question and I just bought noodles.

Inside

I took this on the way out. The place seats quite a lot of people.

Takeout

They do a good trade in just the noodles like this.

The food was delicious, but more than that, this is a restaurant that knows exactly which dishes will make people happy. I loved it.

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