Local Guide
 Recommended buckwheat noodle restaurants in Yatsugatake, Kiyosato, and Kobuchizawa

Yatsugatake, a village of famous water and a famous soba (buckwheat noodle) production area, offers a variety of delicious soba restaurants.
Each soba restaurant has its own unique flavor, such as those located in old private homes, those in residential areas, and those in hideouts surrounded by green trees.

Enjoy fresh vegetables and soba noodles in a nostalgic space

 Soba with fried vegetables and grated radish: 1,728 yen
Soba with fried vegetables and grated radish: 1,728 yen

Take a side road off National Route 141 to a peaceful village lined with fields. There you will find a unique buckwheat noodle restaurant that you will never forget once you visit. The restaurant is housed in a Meiji-era building, and the menu consists of only two dishes: "Deep-fried Vegetable Soba with grated grated radish" and "Deep-fried Vegetable Soba with grated yam. A bowl of soba sauce is filled with a generous portion of slowly fried seasonal vegetables and grated daikon radish onion, which are deep-fried slowly over a period of 20 to 30 minutes. You can enjoy the flavor of each vegetable, such as moist and fluffy sweet potatoes and carrots with concentrated sweetness. Take turns savoring the aromatic juwari soba and vegetables.

A space to spend time forgetting about your smartphone

 A unique store surrounded by old tools
A unique store surrounded by old tools

Because vegetables are fried to order, the waiting time is long. Upon entering the restaurant, you will first be taken to the waiting room on the right. The owner of the restaurant wants you to put your smartphone aside for a while to enjoy reading and conversation, so the use of smartphones is prohibited except for taking pictures. The waiting room is lined with bookshelves, stocked with books of all genres and photo collections.
The store is decorated with old tools and handmade iron objects, making it look like a small museum. It is a wonderful place to enjoy the atmosphere of the historic building and the peaceful scenery together.

Local Guide Comment
Freshly fried vegetables are served with soba-tsuyu (soba sauce)! This soba restaurant is full of playfulness and attention to detail.
ichi ichi
  • Address 1830 Minowa, Takane-cho, Hokuto City, Yamanashi MAP
  •  Direction Approx. 20 min. by car from JR Nagasaka Stn.
  •  Business hours 11:00-15:00
  •  Closed Wednesday
  •  TEL 0551-47-4173
  •  Parking Free of charge

Specialty taste of home-grown buckwheat noodles

 Zaru soba (cold soba): 900 yen
Zaru soba (cold soba): 900 yen

The restaurant is extremely popular among soba lovers. The signature dish, Zaru Soba, is made with two parts wheat flour and eight parts buckwheat flour. The beautiful greenish brown buckwheat noodles are made from buckwheat hulls that have been cleaned before being ground into flour, and are fresh and smooth. The slightly thicker soba noodles are chewy and filling. As the owner says, "I try to make soba so that its aroma stands out," and just before eating it, the aroma of the buckwheat flavor wafts into your nose, leaving a lasting taste.

Feel the changing of the seasons in a restaurant surrounded by trees

 Enjoy a relaxing meal in the restaurant surrounded by greenery
Enjoy a relaxing meal in the restaurant surrounded by greenery

The most distinctive feature of the restaurant is that it grows its own buckwheat noodles in a nearby field. The harvested buckwheat seeds are stored in a temperature-controlled warehouse and milled by the owner himself, who also handles the entire process of milling, making, and boiling the buckwheat. Therefore, there is a limit to the number of buckwheat noodles that can be prepared in a day, and it is not unusual for the buckwheat noodles to be sold out by around 2:00 p.m.
It is a luxurious time to enjoy sake while eating grilled miso or wasabi pickled in soy sauce and waiting for the soba noodles. In summer, the restaurant also offers seasonal soba noodles, such as "Mizore Soba" (buckwheat noodle with buckwheat seeds in jelly form).

Local Guide Comment
We recommend this restaurant to those who want to enjoy soba purely. It is also delicious with just salt or wasabi!
Okina
  • Address 2205 Nakamaru, Nagasaka-cho, Hokuto City, Yamanashi MAP
  •  Direction 5 min. from JR Nagasaka Station by car
  •  Business hours 11:00-15:00 (11:30-14:30 in winter)
  •  Closed Closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, and irregular holidays
  •  TEL 0551-32-5405
  •  Parking Free of charge

Freshly ground and freshly made soba noodles, limited to 18 servings a day

 Soba set meal 2,000 yen
Soba set meal 2,000 yen

This 28-year-old store is located in a residential area in Fujimi-cho, Suwa-gun, Nagano Prefecture. Because locally grown buckwheat noodles from Fuji are ground on a millstone every morning and served freshly made, only 18 servings are available per day. The Sarashina-style Nihachi Soba is white and elegant looking, but has just the right amount of elasticity to make it a very smooth and refreshing noodle.
The menu includes regular and large servings of soba, the "Soba Set Meal" with kayaku rice, soba gaki, a small bowl of cooked food, and dessert, and the "Soba Course" with a larger selection of dishes. Reservations are required during the tourist season from July to September, but reservations are recommended at other times of the year as well, as the restaurant is very popular.

Enjoy delicious soba noodles and cakes in a stylish restaurant

 Inside the restaurant with a homey atmosphere
Inside the restaurant with a homey atmosphere

The gap between the Japanese-style entrance and the Western-style interior is also unique to this restaurant. The brick walls, which are rare for a soba restaurant, and the red fireplace, handmade by the owner, create a stylish atmosphere. The basic dessert served with soba set menus and soba courses is a brown sugar sherbet, but it can be changed to a cake from Le Cattle Saison, a confectionary store next door, from which you can choose one of several varieties. Since the owner's daughter runs this confectionery store, it is becoming increasingly popular among women as a "stylish soba noodle shop where you can also enjoy delicious cakes.

Local Guide Comment
From the selection of the buckwheat seeds to the soba sauce, the soba is white, clear, and has a great thirst! If you are lucky, you may be able to meet the signature cat!
Soba Nishi-mura
  • Address 3679-18 Fujimi, Fujimi-cho, Suwa-gun, Nagano MAP
  •  Direction 5 minutes drive from JR Fuji Station
  •  Business hours 11:00~14:00
  •  Closed Sundays and the 1st Monday of the month
  •  TEL 0266-62-7078
  •  Parking Free of charge

Where there is good water, there is good soba!

 Tenmori-Soba 1,480 yen, can be changed to a large portion for an additional 300 yen
Tenmori-Soba 1,480 yen, can be changed to a large portion for an additional 300 yen

Hakushu Town in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, is one of the most famous water villages in the country. The owner, who trained at a soba restaurant in the prefecture, chose this town when he decided to start his own business because of its delicious water, which is indispensable for making soba. He carefully selects high quality buckwheat noodles without being particular about where they are grown. The soba is purchased "whole" with only the hulls removed, and only the amount used that day is milled in-house. The freshly ground, freshly beaten, and freshly boiled nihachi-soba is truly fresh and full of flavor. The slightly dry dipping sauce gives the soba noodles a refreshingly crisp taste.
The soba noodles are also very popular for their "jyuwari soba," which is made without using any kind of glue. Both nihachi and juwari soba will be closed as soon as they are sold out.

Enjoy a meal while enjoying the atmosphere of the old highway

 A vintage soba bowl used for making soba is displayed by the window.
A vintage soba bowl used for making soba is displayed by the window.

Located along the old Koshu-kaido road, the restaurant is housed in an old house from the Edo period. The interior, with soft sunlight streaming in through shoji screens, gives the restaurant a relaxed atmosphere of a Japanese house, allowing customers to enjoy their meal in a relaxed atmosphere. In addition to nihachi and juwari zaru soba (cold soba noodles), tempura morisoba and prawn tempura oroshi soba (soba noodles with grated radish) are popular. The restaurant also serves rice dishes such as tendon and other rice bowls, as well as chicken stew, a popular local delicacy in Yamanashi, as a snack with drinks. For dessert, be sure to try the soba pudding. The savory buckwheat pudding is topped with buckwheat seeds and has a delightful texture.

Local Guide Comment
The Ebi-ten Oroshi-soba (Soba with prawn tempura and grated radish) is a perfect combination of plump prawns, shiso leaves and radish. The stewed chicken with sweet and spicy sauce is a dish with a hint of sansho that makes you want to drink sake.
Hakushu Teuchi Soba Kubota
  • Address 2273 Daigahara, Hakushu-cho, Hokuto City, Yamanashi MAP
  •  Direction Approx. 15 min. from JR Nagasaka Station by car
  •  Business hours 11:00~14:30(L.O.14:00)17:00~20:00(L.O.19:00)
    Open only for lunch on Tuesdays
  •  Closed Wednesday
  •  TEL 0551-35-5335
  •  Parking Free of charge
The information in this article is current as of the date of the update. Please check before visiting as they are subject to change.