Lunch today was at a soba restaurant called Suzuki in the city of Shiogama. A small family run restaurant with only about 10 tables, my parents have been coming here for 8 years now. The menu items are traditional and stick to the basics: assorted variations of hot and cold soba and udon, tempura, a few donburi rice dishes and not much else.
Suzuki - Interior
When we entered the smoky restaurant, I was suddenly reminded that most smaller Japanese restaurants do not offer non-smoking seats. I’ve been spoiled with Hawaii’s No-Smoking-Pretty-Much-Anywhere Law, but oh well, I’ll suck it up (literally, second hand smoke) for a good meal.
I enjoyed the 天ざる Tenzaru Soba (1350 yen), cold soba with dipping sauce and tempura, and I also added a side of とろろ Tororo, grated mountain yam. My mom had the 天ぷらそば Tempura Soba (1150 yen), soba in hot broth with tempura, and my dad had the ざるそば Zarusoba (700 yen), cold soba with dipping sauce.
Suzuki - Tenzaru Soba
Suzuki - Tempura Soba
If you order cold soba at any soba restaurant, they will bring you a pot of そば湯 sobayu at the end, which is the hot water they boiled the noodles in. You might think they’re serving you tea, but it’s not tea. It’s to put in your leftover dipping sauce so you can end your meal with a hot soup. Clever!
Suzuki - Sobayu
P.S. I believe $1.00 = 98 yen right now, so I just take out two zeros to figure out approximately how much stuff is in US $.
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