Today is 31 December, the very last day of 2023… and with so many people probably eating year-end soba, I thought I'd bring you a soba story today.
You can enjoy a quick tour of Izushi soba in this short video too!
For someone like me who's staked everything on a life of rallying, winter without a rally has me always hunting for some other kind of fun to fill it.
I'd already scheduled my cancer surgery for December 2023, so I couldn't travel far this year — instead, this was a food-focused trip, exploring Hyogo Prefecture and Kyoto.
Out of every soba across the whole country, my absolute favorite is Hyogo Prefecture's “Izushi soba.”
The firmness, the smooth slip going down, the flavor, all of that matters, of course, but honestly, the entertainment factor is just as important a part of it (laughs).
The soba is served one mouthful at a time on small plates, and apparently that started back in the late Edo period, when it was served from food stalls — using small, shallow salt dishes because they were easy to carry around.
Izushi soba has its own distinctive style of eating plate after plate — a set of five plates counts as one serving, and depending on how many plates you get through, with the dipping sauce in its little jug and the condiments, you can earn a “certified soba connoisseur” badge, or even get your name displayed in the shop, with perks like a year of free soba, apparently!
But — with so many soba shops lined up wall-to-wall in Izushi, I couldn't just pick one, and being the greedy type who wants to try a bit of everything,
I got the option to hit three shops of my choosing, paying with Eiraku Tsuho coins
by buying the “Izushi Soba-Crawl Pouch Set” — with three Eiraku Tsuho coins inside the pouch, you get to visit three different shops on a proper “soba crawl”!
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Paying with this currency! Kind of fun, right?  |
Each time you eat, you get a stamp! |
Even with the same “Izushi soba” name, every shop has its own take on the soba's aroma, the broth's flavor, the noodles' thickness, so I set off determined to taste-compare my way to a favorite!!
※ Around 40 shops take part in the soba crawl… so this time I picked the three that caught my eye.
I'd love to write up ratings, but half the fun for anyone heading there themselves is discovering the hits and misses on their own! So instead, here's just a report on the shops I actually went to!
First up was “Sakyo”
I picked this one first for the simple reason that it showed up on a ranking list! And it turned out to be a real winner!
Firm noodles with an amazing smooth finish going down! (Honestly… out of the three, this ended up being my number one.)
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Second was “Gen”
Still riding the high from the first shop, expectations rising, I headed to “Gen,” located right in front of the Shinkoro bell tower, the symbol of Izushi, and the ruins of Izushi Castle.
The first plate, with salt! The second, with the dipping sauce! The third, with grated mountain yam mixed in, and finally, a raw egg to finish.
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Third was “Kanbei”
By the third shop, my stomach was surprisingly full already, so I wanted to really focus and choose carefully for this last one… I ended up picking this one on atmosphere alone, but it's a long-established shop with customers lined up outside. The small plates here come in all kinds of different designs too, which might be part of the fun.
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Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end!
So, how was it? My KOMO-trip report! I'd love to keep popping up in all sorts of different cities from here on!
“As long as I'm alive! Wherever I want to go.”
This blog has turned into a real mixed bag of different topics, but I'd be genuinely happy if you take the time to read through it and cheer me on!
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