Oragasoba Shinshu, Isetan – Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

A lighter lunch later, we were famished by 4. No patience for the Isetan food court so we sat down for some soba.

Buckwheat Soba is the best, and we had it zaru. Grated yam, tororo, thickens the lighter mirin-dashi-soy with a starchy-mochi coating.

There’s also a bird’s nest of small shrimp in a tub of barely-there tempura, punctuated with sharper slices of scallion. The whole mess is just so-so.

Sobayu softens the zaru broth at the end, a surprisingly savory mix of what’s left with a wholesome buckwheat soba-juice. Still, I only somewhat satisfied – these soba noodles were a little too stiff. It’s still hard to say no to soba; it’s just that Torrance’s Ichimi-An is so much better.