It’s Chuseok and a long weekend, so everyone’s in a holiday mood, but I was so busy with work that I couldn’t go anywhere and spent the whole day staring at a monitor. I enjoy the work, but lately I think I’ve been overdoing it. Last night I went to bed after watching the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, rumored for a while, become official. The morning must have been chaos. But I slept in and decided to enjoy some of the rest I’d been missing.
In a neighborhood called Muromachi, roughly halfway between Kanda and Nihonbashi, there’s what I think is the best soba shop in Tokyo. It’s a famous place called Muromachi Sunaba, but it’s very expensive for what you get, so it’s not a place I’d recommend to everyone. There are shops serving soba of almost the same level for half the price, after all. Still, it seems to be popular, with affiliated branches all over the city. If you’re looking for a serious soba shop, keep it in mind..
Today I went with the matsutake (pine mushroom) soba. It’s a seasonal specialty you can only get right around now, at the very start of autumn.
Front view
They say the mushrooms are from Hokkaido. Because of the price of matsutake, this single dish costs as much as a decent course meal. On top of that, it’s a bit of a shame that the soy sauce in the tsuyu gets in the way of the fragrant matsutake aroma. I don’t think matsutake soba is the best way to enjoy matsutake. Grilling them or putting them in a light clear broth is better for savoring the aroma.
Close-up
Even so, I don’t think there’s a better seasonal dish to tell you autumn has arrived. The reason the mushrooms, soaking in the warm soy broth and slowly drawing in its fragrance, taste so good is that the long summer that wore us out with its heat is finally over.
It’s a bit pricey, the portion is small, and it isn’t even this shop’s best dish, but it was a great choice for welcoming autumn back.
The full set
The wasabi and scallions come on the side.
Soba-yu: you first eat the noodles and toppings, then pour in the water the soba was boiled in and drink it like tea. Of course, I drank every last drop ^_^
I didn’t take any photos of the interior or the entrance. The main shop is currently under construction, so they were operating out of a temporarily rented space nearby. Once they’re back to normal, I’ll have to visit again.
On the way home I picked up a Demel Sachertorte No. 0 from the basement food hall of Mitsukoshi in Nihonbashi. A meal isn’t complete without something sweet for dessert, after all ^_^
The box
Sachertorte No. 0
It’s 525 yen and not very big. One bite and it’s very rich. It’s packed with chocolate and caramel. Rich, with a slight bitterness too, so it’d probably go well with coffee or tea. On its own it felt a bit too intense. Personally, since I don’t drink tea or coffee, I think the refreshing fruit tart and the caramel torte I bought before were better. Though I don’t think the department store carries those…
Cross-section
The triangular piece of chocolate is a work of art too. Overall the chocolate flavor is very intense, so be sure to have it with tea.