Yoshitomoan: No.1 keyword for foreign visitors “Soba” is now Halal ready!

The word “soba” came in at the first place in the “most used key word by foreign visitors” (based on Deep Japan), surpassing globally popular words like Sushi (second place), and ramen (third place).
Starting from this month, a soba restaurant called “Yoshitomoan” which is the only restaurant in Tokyo area that serves local soba from Tsugaru, Aomori prefecture considered to be the “Legendary Soba”, has added non-pork/non-alcohol Muslim menu.

The exchange students from Indonesia named Nudaria and Ajim helped us out for this interview session. Mr. Haga who is the restaurant owner of Yoshitomoan, gave us a kind warm welcome.

The non-pork/non-alcohol lunch menu comes in 3 choices which are Tamagotoji(egg bound) soba set, agemochi(fried mochi) soba set, and kake soba (regular soba) set. All of the sets are priced at 1000 yen (consumption tax not included), and they all come with tempura and small bowl. For tempura, you can eat it by dipping it into a sauce or you can simply pour salt over it. For hiyayakko (cold tofu), you can eat it as is or pour halal soy sauce provided at the restaurant. A wagashi (Japanese traditional sweets) called “warabimochi” made out of starch of bracken’s root taken from edible wild plants and sugar will be served as a desert.

The restaurant’s staple dish “Tsugaru soba” is a unique style of soba made with squeezed soup of soy beans instead of water during the production process, and in recent years, this style of soba is considered almost extinct even in Tsuruga region (west region of Aomori prefecture). Upon asking the two who ate authentic soba for the first time, they responded by saying “We don’t really know what authentic soba taste like, but eating it at restaurants like this convinced us that this is how soba is supposed to taste like”. They further commented by saying “When we first saw yakimochi (baked mochi), we couldn’t quite figure out what it was, so it was definitely fun and interesting experience”.

Please check below for access:

If you walk down a little, you will arrive at Ushigomekitamachi intersection. Turn left at intersection and go straight down the “Ushigomechuodori”.

Walk straight down the Ushigomechoudori which is slightly a sloped road. After passing a café, you will see Yoshitomoan on the left side.

Since soba is considered to be the staple everyday food for Japanese, there is even a saying that “sobaniaru (in Japanese, “soba” also means “nearby”, so it’s a word play of “it’s always nearby”)”. Please come try this delicious soba whenever you have a chance!