Handmade soba noodles are popular in Azumino. Four highly recommended places that are particular about wasabi and ingredients.
In Azumino, where water flowing from the Northern Alps moistens the wasabi fields and rice paddies, there are many famous soba noodle stores centering on Hotaka Station. Soba noodles made with rich soft water, one of the 100 best waters selected by the Ministry of the Environment, are exquisite. In addition, wasabi, a local specialty, and walnuts from Shinshu further enhance the flavorful soba. Here are some popular soba restaurants where you can enjoy delicious soba made with local water and local products.
1Soba Restaurant Jiyuan Asakawa
Tokiyuan Asakawa serves handmade soba noodles made with buckwheat flour carefully selected and blended from local, Hokkaido, and Ibaraki buckwheat flours. The popular "Wasabi no Haname Zaru" uses wasabi no Haname, a specialty of Azumino, as a condiment. The spiciness is moderate and the flavor is refreshing. We also recommend the "Yuki-Hana-Zaru," which is soba topped with wasabi no Hana-Mame and Tororo (grated yam). Its appearance reminds one of the mountains of the Northern Alps in Azumino. Other original menu items include handmade pickles with seasonal vegetables and cooked buckwheat noodles with home-grown organic vegetables.
While waiting, take a leisurely stroll in the 1,000 tsubo garden.
Inside the restaurant, you can enjoy your meal while looking out over the garden where seasonal plants and flowers grow.
Many Guest/customers visit from outside the prefecture, and there is often a long wait. For this reason, we have devised ways to make the most of your time, such as showing a "Azumino Folktales" video in the waiting area and admiring the buckwheat fields and wild flowers in the 1,000 tsubo garden on the premises. In addition, an original map of the surrounding Property is available for sightseeing while you wait.
Soba will be closed as soon as it is gone, so an early visit is recommended.
- Soba Restaurant Jiyuan Asakawa
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8053-4 Ariake Ariake, Hotaka, Azumino, Nagano MAP
From JR Hotaka Station, take Azumino Shuyu Bus (westbound), get off at "Vif Hotaka" and walk about 6 minutes.
11:30-14:00 *Close when all soba is gone.
Wednesdays (open if Wednesday is a national holiday)
0263-83-3637
Free of charge
2Azumino O
Azumino O's is located on a hill on the east side across the Takase River. The soba noodles are handmade with buckwheat flour that is blended directly from farmers in Hokkaido, Ibaraki, and Nagano prefectures and carefully milled by the restaurant itself. This is due to the skill of the owner, a disciple of Kunihiro Takahashi, a "master of soba" who has produced many prestigious soba restaurants.
The sauce, like the soba noodles, is made with water from the underground streams of the Northern Alps, and is a little thicker than the soba noodles, combining the umami broth made from dried bonito flakes from Kagoshima, kelp from Hokkaido, and chabana-donko from Izu, with soy sauce from Okubo Brewery in Matsumoto. This powerful broth enhances the delicate soba noodles.
We recommend the simple Zarusoba. The "Kamo Seiro," cold soba served with warm tsuyu, is also excellent.
The view of Azumino is also a treat.
Located on a hill, the restaurant's large windows overlook the mountains of the Northern Alps and the countryside at the foot of the Alps. The area surrounding the restaurant is a park, where you can enjoy the seasonal colorful scenery of the surrounding trees and plants, such as cherry blossoms in the spring and autumn leaves in the fall.
Basically, the restaurant mainly deals with zaru soba (buckwheat noodles), but in winter, it also offers kakesoba (buckwheat noodles) and kamonanban (noodles with duck meat).
3Soba Restaurant Kamijo
The restaurant serves delicious oshibori soba, a local delicacy that has been handed down since the Edo period. Since its opening about 20 years ago, the taste has been loved by locals. Oshiborisoba is a specialty of Nagano Prefecture, and is served in a dipping sauce made from squeezed soup of pungent Nezumi daikon (Japanese radish) and miso. At Kamijo, the soba noodles are made from brown buckwheat produced at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains in Shinshu, kneaded with stone-milled buckwheat flour and ground water from Azumino, and handmade to a firm consistency. The spiciness of the buckwheat is exquisite.
Also popular is "Ten-e Soba" with 10 different ingredients such as shrimp, smoked duck, and hot spring egg. The owner has created this dish after much trial and error to find the best ingredients to go with the soba noodles.
Oshibori-soba and Ten-e-soba are served with mizu-soba, which allows you to directly feel the flavor of the soba, and you will be reminded of the deliciousness of the restaurant's soba.
You can enjoy photographs of Nagano's landscape in the gallery attached to the restaurant.
In the adjoining gallery, you can enjoy pictures of the four seasons in Nagano taken by the owner, who is also an active photographer. Based in Azumino for many years, the gallery displays landscape photographs that capture the heart-stirringly beautiful moments he encounters in his daily life. These photos allow visitors to rediscover the charms of Nagano Prefecture that cannot be found through sightseeing.
Also, since the owner used to be a French chef, the restaurant offers Western-style desserts such as apple pie and buckwheat tea ice cream. The apple pie can be taken out.
- Soba Restaurant Kamijo
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- 5256-1 Hotaka, Azumino, Nagano MAP
4 min. drive from JR Hotaka Station- 11:00-15:00
- Mondays (open if Monday is a national holiday, closed the following day)
Open during Golden Week and Bon holidays - 0263-82-4411
- Free of charge
4Azumino Soba Restaurant Ikkyuan
This famous soba restaurant is located just a short distance from Hotaka Station. Currently, the second generation of the restaurant's staff is working at the shop. In order to make the most of the delicate aroma of soba, the water used for the buckwheat flour, which is stone-pressed, is ground water whose temperature does not change throughout the year. The soba noodles are then finished with water that is not too cold, which gives the soba noodles a distinctive texture and flavor.
The most popular menu item is "Alps Wasabi Soba. It is topped with "pickled wasabi stems," a local specialty, which adds a tangy accent to the smooth soba noodles. Also popular is the "Ikkyu Set" that includes soba noodles, oshinko (pickles), soba karinto (buckwheat noodles), and a mini salmon rice bowl, allowing customers to fully enjoy the local flavor.
The interior of the restaurant is decorated in a folk art style.
The restaurant's interior, with its large beams, is full of local color, decorated with calligraphy works that were given to the restaurant by an acquaintance, as well as unusual animal horns and beehives. The spacious tatami room, large one-piece wooden table, and sunken hearth make for a peaceful and nostalgic atmosphere. Enjoy the hospitality that only Ikyuan can offer, both in terms of soba and space.
- Azumino Soba Restaurant Ikkyuan
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- 5957-4 Hotaka, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture MAP
- 1 minute walk from JR Hotaka Station
- 11:00-17:00 (L.O. 16:50)
- Mondays (open if Monday is a national holiday, closed the following day), consecutive holidays in September and January
- 0263-82-8000
- Free of charge
MAP
- Hoshino Resorts facilities nearby
Local Guide who was in charge of this article
- Yuka Niimoto Active daughter
