Dashin So-an

A short walk south of Shimokitazawa Station, across from Shinganji Temple, this handmade soba restaurant offered peaceful surroundings to sample some delicious artisan noodles. The Japanese take soba very seriously — this is a high-class dish, and its masters are treated with similar reverence to top sushi chefs! The shop benefits from a stylish, modern interior, with a large window across one entire wall looking out onto greenery of the grounds. You’ll feel a million miles away from the busy city streets of downtown, even though you can reach this restaurant in less than 15 minutes from Shibuya. They serve only their own completely hand-ground and hand-cut soba. The entire process is manually done, from grain to plate. The noodles are then used in a variety of dishes, from plain light soups to refreshing cold dishes. The luminous sudachi soba uses a generous amount of sudachi citrus fruit slices, layered on top of the noodles just below the waterline of the broth, for a zesty flavor and cooling sensation. You’d think that such beautiful surroundings and quality noodles come with an extravagant price tag, but actually you can get a serving of delicious soba at this shop for an unbelievably reasonable price.