Five Restaurants with Outstanding Soba to Try in the Ancient City of Kanazawa

Soba is the food you'll want to stop by to have amidst sightseeing in Kanazawa with its many museums and famous historical sites. Low in calorie and high in protein and amino acid, soba is also a great food to have from a nutritional standpoint. Here are five outstanding restaurants where you can have healthy and tasty soba noodles.

1. Ukyo

This is a comfortable restaurant with a sophisticated atmosphere. It is about five minutes away on foot from the Higashi Chaya District, a major tourist destination in Kanazawa, so convenient to drop in at when you have time. The seating is all table seating, which is welcome to those who are uncomfortable with zashiki-style seating. The most popular menu item here is the "Seasonal Sobazen" (1,900 JPY (incl. tax) and up). It comes with an appetizer, donburi rice bowl, soba, and dessert, and is a good deal. Keep in mind that it is only available at lunchtime.

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1. Ukyo

2. Murataya

This restaurant is famous for its soba noodles made with homemade stone-ground flour. There is no artificial seasoning added to the dashi soup, so it is recommended for people who want to savor the flavors of the ingredients! The "Oshiborisoba" is eaten with a simple sauce of daikon radish juice and soy sauce, and is appropriate for vegetarians. The "Kamo Seiro," enjoyed with a dashi soup with duck, is a popular item available only during the fall and winter.

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2. Murataya

3. Yamanoha

This restaurant is recommended for those who want to enjoy soba with good sake and shochu. Popular menu items here are the "Kurumi Soba" (930 JPY), which is eaten dipped in a mixture of tsuyu sauce and walnut (kurumi) miso and the "Dekei Nameko" from Yoshino-dani (1,030 JPY and up) with large nameko mushrooms. If they run out of soba during business hours, you may be able to watch them making soba in the shop.

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3. Yamanoha

4. Soba Miyagawa

This is a restaurant that always ranks highly in rankings by gourmet sites in Kanazawa. The soba is juwari soba (made with 100% buckwheat flour) made with home-ground flour that makes Japanese soba lovers groan. The recommended dish is the "Tenmori Soba" (1,900 JPY (incl. tax)) which comes with crisp vegetable and shrimp tempura to be eaten together with the soba noodles. The interior of the restaurant has a Japanese atmosphere and has zashiki-style seating from which you can enjoy your soba with a view of the garden.

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4. Soba Miyagawa

5. Ekinokura Kanazawa Station Store

This is an izakaya restaurant that is directly connected to Kanazawa Station where you can enjoy regional cuisine of the Hokuriku region. The "Shiraito Soba" (550 JPY (excl. tax)), made with great effort and care, is a popular item that is reasonably priced. In addition to soba, there is a variety of regional food from the Hokuriku region, including "Kaga Jibuni" (980 JPY (excl. tax)), a major Kaga dish of duck, fu wheat gluten, and vegetables in a broth as well as hotaruika (firefly squid) pickled in soy sauce (450 JPY (excl. tax)). This shop offers hotaruika, an ingredient which is sometimes referred to as the jewel of Toyama Bay, all year round.

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5. Ekinokura Kanazawa Station Store

Seafood and Kaga cuisine restaurants tend to be introduced in the guidebooks, but Kanazawa also has many outstanding soba restaurants. After you've enjoyed a fabulous meal of soba, continue on to more sightseeing in the ancient city of Kanazawa.

*Please note that the information in this article is from the time of writing or publication and may differ from the latest information.