MustEatList

Where to eat, one dish at a time. Curated places, community votes.

Theme Want to try

The best Soba in Tokyo

Also spelt zaru soba, mori soba, seiro soba and juwari soba. A curated shortlist, shaped by your votes.

Editorial picks

Selected from published food guides and local reporting. How the list works

  1. Number 1.Edo Soba Hosokawa (Ryogoku)

    Kamezawa, Ryogoku Asakusa and Ueno

    Open
    Wed to Sun 11.30am to 4pm, or until soba sells out
    Where
    1-6-5 Kamezawa, Sumida-ku, Tokyo

    Lunch only these days, and the shutter comes down when the day's soba is gone. Take the seiro plain, then the anago tempura that arrives apart from the broth. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

    What to orderSeiro, plus the anago tempura served separately

    0 votes

  2. Number 2.Kanda Matsuya

    Kanda-Sudacho, Awajicho Tokyo Station, Nihonbashi and Kanda

    Open
    11am to 8.30pm, 7.30pm Sat, shut Sun and Mon
    Where
    1-13 Kanda-Sudacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

    Order mori soba and let the counter fill up around you; the pre-war wooden room seats strangers together. Queues run down the block at lunch, and it shuts early evening, so come off-peak.

    What to orderMori soba, with a plate of tamagoyaki alongside

    0 votes

  3. Number 3.Kanda Yabu Soba

    Kanda Awajicho Tokyo Station, Nihonbashi and Kanda

    Open
    11.30am to 8pm, shut Wednesdays
    Where
    2-10 Kanda-Awajicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

    Seiro soba here comes faintly green, cut fine, with a sharp dipping broth. Wednesdays are shut, and the ordering shout from the till can startle first timers.

    What to orderSeiro soba, with sashimi yuba alongside

    0 votes

  4. Sohonke Sarashina Horii (Azabu-Juban main shop)

    Moto-Azabu, above Azabu-Juban Roppongi, Azabu and Akasaka

    Open
    11.30am-3pm and 5-8pm, weekends 11am-8pm
    Where
    3-11-4 Moto-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo

    Ask for the sarashina, the white noodle milled from the core of the seed, and add the seasonal kawari soba if it is on. Lunch fills with locals, and the tsuyu runs sweeter than at the Yabu houses.

    What to orderSarashina soba, the white noodle

    0 votes

  5. Tamawarai

    Jingumae, behind Harajuku Shibuya and Harajuku

    Open
    Wed to Sat 11.30am to 3pm, dinner by booking only
    Where
    5-23-3 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

    Book ahead for dinner or come at noon for the seiro, coarsely ground and nutty enough to eat before you touch the sauce. Closed three days a week, and the room seats very few.

    What to orderSeiro of coarse-ground soba

    0 votes

  6. Kyorakutei (Kagurazaka)

    Kagurazaka Shinjuku

    Open
    Tue to Sat 11.30am-2pm and 5-8pm, shut Sun, Mon
    Where
    Kagurazaka-kan 1F, 3-6 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

    A queue forms before opening, so sign the book half an hour early. Ask for mugimeoto, soba and hand-cut hiyamugi on one tray, and leave the long list of extras for a second visit.

    What to orderMugimeoto, the soba and hiyamugi pairing

    0 votes

  7. Dashin Soan

    Daizawa, walk from Shimokitazawa Shimokitazawa, Setagaya and Kichijoji

    Open
    11.30am to 9.30pm, shut Tue, early if sold out
    Where
    3-7-14 Daizawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo

    A converted house with a garden, ten minutes on foot from Shimokitazawa. The yuba soba is what people come for, though the plain seiro shows the noodle better. They shut early once the soba runs out.

    What to orderYuba soba, or the plain seiro

    0 votes

  8. Tsukiji Sarashina no Sato

    Tsukiji, a minute from the outer market Ginza, Yurakucho and Shimbashi

    Open
    11am-8.30pm, weekends and holidays 11am-3pm
    Where
    3-3-9 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

    Founded in 1899 and run by the fourth generation. Order the shijimi soba, clams from Kuwana in a broth built on thick-shaved mackerel, and ask to swap in the white sarashina noodle. Weekends stop at three.

    What to orderShijimi soba, the clam broth bowl

    0 votes

  9. Teuchi Soba Kikutani (Sugamo main shop)

    Sugamo, up the Jizo-dori by Koshinzuka Ikebukuro and Takadanobaba

    Open
    11.30am-3pm and 6-8.30pm, shut Mondays
    Where
    4-14-15 Sugamo, Toshima-ku, Tokyo

    Kikutani keeps five or six buckwheats and chooses by the day's mood, so ask what has been milled. The evening course runs near four thousand yen. Doors do not open before the stated time, so arriving early gains nothing.

    What to orderSeiro of the day's buckwheat, or the evening course

    0 votes

  10. Teuchi Soba Narutomi (Ginza)

    Ginza 8-chome, near Higashi-Ginza Ginza, Yurakucho and Shimbashi

    Open
    Weekdays 11.30am-2pm and 6-8.30pm, shut weekends
    Where
    Futaba Building 1F, 8-18-6 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

    Sit at the counter and watch Narutomi boil the juwari and fry the tempura in front of you. Have the seiro first, then the scallop and spring onion kakiage soba. Weekends and holidays it is shut.

    What to orderJuwari seiro, then the scallop kakiage soba

    0 votes

  11. Osoba no Koga

    Nishi-Azabu Roppongi, Azabu and Akasaka

    Open
    11.30am-2.30pm, 5.15-7.45pm, shut Tue and Wed
    Where
    2-14-5 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo

    Kouga mills buckwheat from Iruma and cuts it with a careful wheat ratio, so start with the plain seiro. Evening seats need booking, the counter is small, and the shop shuts Tuesday and Wednesday.

    What to orderPlain seiro soba

    0 votes

  12. Asakusa Hirayama

    Nishi-Asakusa, by Tawaramachi Asakusa and Ueno

    Open
    Noon to 2pm, evenings Wed to Sat, shut Mondays
    Where
    1-3-14 Nishi-Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo

    The owner trained at Hosokawa, which shows in both the juwari and the welcome. There is no tempura soba on the card, so ask for kakesoba and anago tempura together. Small counter, shut Mondays.

    What to orderSeiro of juwari, with anago tempura

    0 votes

  13. Tokyo Dosanjin

    Aobadai, between Ikejiri-Ohashi and Nakameguro Shibuya and Harajuku

    Open
    11.30am-2.30pm and 5.30-10pm, shut Wednesdays
    Where
    3-19-8 Aobadai, Meguro-ku, Tokyo

    Handmade soba tuned to whatever you order, on a quiet stretch above the Meguro River. Take the sudachi cold soba in summer. Wednesday is the closed day, and lunch orders stop at two.

    What to orderSudachi cold soba in warm months, seiro otherwise

    0 votes

  14. Namiki Yabu Soba (Asakusa)

    Asakusa, by Kaminarimon Asakusa and Ueno

    Open
    11am to 7.30pm, shut Wednesdays and Thursdays
    Where
    2-11-9 Kaminarimon, Taito-ku, Tokyo

    Order the tempura soba with prawn and nothing else. Wednesdays and Thursdays are shut, there are few seats, and the queue outside starts around noon once the Kaminarimon crowds arrive.

    What to orderTempura soba, the prawn version

    0 votes

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