Muromachi Sunaba 室町 砂場
[Pork-free] We love soba.
It is always customary that we start our first proper meal in Japan with soba. And preferably – one that’s off the beaten “tourist” track, and away from the busy nodes of central Tokyo.
For this excursion, our research brought us to Muromachi Sunaba 室町 砂場 in Nihonbashi.
Trust Tablelog forrecommendations and follow the pinstripe suits at lunch-time for a good meal.
Muromachi Sunaba’s history dates back to the Meiji Restoration era in 1869. The Nihonbashi shop originally operated in Takanawa before moving to Nihonbashi, which remains a merchant food district today.
The soba’s history here goes further to the Edo period – as it is a direct lineage to the famous Sunaba 砂場 shop located near Osaka Castle.
The restaurant is known for creating “Ten-zaru” and “Ten-mori” soba – cold soba served with a warm dipping sauce containing tempura kakiage.
Heritage soba noodles
We tried both soba offerings here:
The Mori soba is probably what most are familiar with – rustic nutty flavours with a stronger buckwheat aroma. Which is our top pick usually, and it was the same here. Great firm texture and nutty flavour.
The Zaru soba was a new experience for us. It was smoother and more refined, as it was made with only the finest buckwheat white kernel and egg. This is more distinctive of the classic Edo soba tradition.
The accompanying dipping sauce is served with prawn-clam-vegetable kakiage inside. Dipping sauce is savoury and yet delicate. We also recommend ordering the high-grade seaweed to wrap the noodles and dip with soy sauce, and seasonal vegetables in light dashi sauce.
Seasonal Japanese vegetables are delicious!
Of course – sobaya (water used to cook soba) is also served here to enjoy the remainder dipping sauce as soup.
TL;DR version: Rustic Edo-style soba with direct lineage to Sunaba in Osaka. Get both the Zaru and Mori soba.
Muromachi Sunaba 室町 砂場
Address: 4 Chome-1-13 Nihonbashimuromachi, Chuo City, Tokyo 103-0022, Japan
Hours: 11.30am-3.30pm, 4.30pm-9pm (Closed on Sunday)
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