01 / ABOUT THE PLACE
About this place
Alongside the chuka soba, the abura soba is another dish that catches the eye at Chuka-soba Sen. One diner described mixing the noodles and toppings thoroughly with the sauce at the bottom of the bowl, enjoying its niboshi-style flavour, then adding vinegar partway through to change the taste and finishing with a small serving of rice. Reported toppings include chashu, menma, white and green onions, nori, minced meat and a raw egg. Mixing everything together brings the sauce and toppings into each bite. A small rice serving made specifically for the abura soba is also on the menu, for those who want something more after the noodles.
“Red” is another abura soba option. One diner said it looked spicy but did not taste hot. The standard soy-sauce chuka soba costs ¥980; the salt and sesame versions are also ¥980 and ¥1,050, respectively. There are several flavour profiles to choose from. A diner who tried the soy-sauce chuka soba recalled the seafood-stock flavour of the soup, the thin straight noodles and the menma seasoned with Japanese-style stock. The restaurant says its naturally fermented, dried menma is rehydrated over several days, and extra menma is available as a topping.
To add a rice dish, seared chashu rice costs ¥390 for a small serving or ¥480 for a regular one. Diners who ordered it with abura soba have mentioned the chashu’s fragrant seared finish and the crunch of the onions and menma. There is also a hearty stamina-style seared chashu rice bowl with garlic and a rich egg yolk. Bottled beer is available to go with a meal, too. The restaurant is presented as suitable for solo diners; settle in for a bowl of noodles and add a side to suit your appetite.
