Soba in Shizuoka Prefecture! 8 recommended spots by area, including Numazu and Shizuoka City

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Narukiya is a restaurant with more than 80 years of history, centered on soba noodles and sushi, located near Ito Station in Ito, a resort area on the east coast of the Izu Peninsula blessed with hot springs, the sea, and mountains.

The Japanese modern interior has table seating as well as spacious zashiki (tatami seating) where you can take off your shoes and relax.

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Next to the restaurant, there is a dedicated space for making soba (buckwheat noodles), where skilled artisans add water to freshly milled soba flour and make the noodles every morning.

The freshly made soba is said to have a clean, firm bite. Their specialty is "Shichifukujin soba," an auspicious menu item name, featuring soba topped with an assortment of various ingredients.

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The set with nigiri sushi featuring kinmedai (golden eye snapper), a specialty of Izu, and horse mackerel, along with soba, is also popular. With a fishing port nearby, they say you can enjoy fresh horse mackerel that is perfect for sushi.

Shizuoka Prefecture is a production region for green tea. They also get good reviews for the complimentary tea made from powdered tea leaves from Shizuoka Prefecture, which has a mild taste.

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Soba-dokoro Maruhachi is located about a 5-minute walk from the south exit of Numazu Station, just inside the arcade-covered Nakamise Shotengai (shopping street). Here you can enjoy Niigata Prefecture's specialty soba noodles and Japanese sake.

The Japanese-style interior brings to mind an izakaya from around the 1950s. You can use it both as a place for a meal and as an izakaya.

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The specialty hegi soba (buckwheat noodles made with funori seaweed) is a local dish from Niigata Prefecture, made by adding funori seaweed to buckwheat flour. It has a firm bite and a smooth texture that goes down easily.

"Hegi" refers to a wooden board made by peeling wood. Another unique feature of hegi soba is that it is neatly arranged in small bite-sized bundles on a flat wooden serving tray.

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They have a good selection of Japanese sake from Niigata Prefecture, along with plenty of dishes that pair well with it. The popular item is "isobe-age (yam wrapped in nori seaweed and deep-fried)".

It is also close to Numazu Port, so you can enjoy dishes such as fresh horse mackerel sashimi as well.

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Soba Izakaya Ebisuan is located about a 3-minute walk from the south exit of Numazu Station, in the covered Nakamise Shotengai (shopping street). Soba noodles and tempura are the main dishes, and you can also use it like an izakaya from lunchtime.

The calm space features a Japanese modern interior. There are table seats on the first and second floors, making it a good fit for groups.

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The soba noodles are made in house. The kaeshi (dipping sauce for soba) served with the soba is well known for its good balance of dashi stock and soy sauce.

The popular item is the “tenzaru soba,” a set of freshly fried tempura and soba. The tempura features seafood such as shrimp, squid, and kisu (Japanese whiting), fried to a light crisp.

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With the hope that guests will enjoy pairing the food with alcohol such as Japanese sake and wine, the restaurant also offers a full range of a la carte dishes.

Popular items include rolled sushi with soba wrapped in nori (seaweed), and “soba-sashi (soba sashimi),” where the soba is boiled not in thin strands but in thin sheet-like pieces and enjoyed like sashimi.

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Soba to Jizakana Hiroshige is in Shuzenji, the oldest hot spring area in the Izu area with more than 1,200 years of history. The restaurant is near the charming Chikurin no Komichi (Bamboo Grove Path) along the Katsura River.

It is said to be a renovated wooden standalone house that was once a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn). From the calm Japanese style interior, guests can also look out at the bamboo grove.

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You can enjoy Shinshu soba (buckwheat noodles from Nagano) made with fragrant buckwheat flour, along with dishes featuring fresh seafood unique to Shizuoka.

The soba is made in the "ni-hachi soba (80 percent buckwheat, 20 percent wheat flour)" ratio. The noodles are carefully made by hand at the restaurant every morning and are cut on the thin side.

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You can also enjoy dishes and tempura made with fresh seasonal seafood sourced from Numazu Port, which is close to Shuzenji.

A popular choice is the Sea Bream rice steamer set. It comes with seiro soba and takikomi rice made by cooking Sea Bream together with rice and seasoning it with a light salty taste.

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Izu Kogen Soba Temari is a restaurant on the second floor of Yamamo Plaza, which is attached to the hub station Izu-Kogen Station in Izu Kogen, an area spreading out at the foot of Omuroyama in Izu, where pensions and art museums are scattered.

The space is bright with a wa-modern (Japanese modern) feel. It seems you can look out at the greenery of Izu Kogen from the windows.

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They use buckwheat flour made from soba seeds from Hokkaido, ground with an ishiiusu (traditional stone mill) made of two heavy stones stacked together. Because it does not generate heat, it keeps the aroma of the soba.

The dipping sauce has a clean taste, blended from five kinds of dashi stock including katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and saba-bushi (mackerel flakes). It is also said to pair well with the soba.

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They stock about 30 kinds of Japanese sake. They also serve rare Japanese sake from around Japan and Japanese sake from Shizuoka Prefecture.

They also offer tempura that pairs well with Japanese sake, as well as dishes made with seafood from Izu. The cheese and meat dishes are also popular.

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Washoku Mendokoro Sagami Mishima Tamagawa Ten is a restaurant located along Prefectural Route 140 heading from central Mishima in Shizuoka Prefecture toward Izu. It is the Mishima Tamagawa branch of a Japanese restaurant chain with more than 100 restaurants across the Kanto, Chubu, and Kinki regions.

The interior incorporates decor reminiscent of a traditional kominka (old Japanese house). It is easy to visit with family or groups, and parking is also available.

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They offer a wide range of Japanese dishes centered on soba (buckwheat noodles) and udon (thick wheat noodles). The soba is made from buckwheat flour ground daily with a stone mill set up in the restaurant.

One of the restaurant's features is that they boil only what has been ordered, so you can enjoy the fresh made taste.

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The dipping sauce served with the soba also uses dashi (Japanese soup stock) carefully made every morning and evening. It is said to have a nice aroma and rich umami.

The set meals with soba, tempura, and sushi are also popular. Another specialty is the "Misoka Soba" plan, a reservation-only All you can eat soba offering available on the last day of every month.

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Teuchi Soba Tagata is a soba restaurant located along Surugamachi-dori, near Tokiwa Park on the west side of the downtown area in Aoi Ward, Shizuoka City. Here you can enjoy carefully crafted soba made by an owner who is devoted to traditional soba.

The interior has a simple combination of navy blue walls and large wooden and stone tables. There is also second-floor seating available by reservation.

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The owner is also said to work on cultivating a rare kind of soba (buckwheat noodles), sometimes called幻. The restaurant also handles everything in house, from storing the buckwheat seeds to removing the husks and peeling them.

To let diners fully enjoy the aroma and umami of the soba, they serve both soba dipping sauce and salt. They say that adding a little salt to the soba brings out its sweetness.

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You can enjoy soba made not only with Shizuoka buckwheat flour, but also with buckwheat flour from different production regions. Comparing 2 kinds of soba made with buckwheat flour from different areas is recommended for soba lovers.

They also offer “Juwari Mori” made with 100% buckwheat flour and no wheat flour, so you can enjoy its strong aroma and full soba flavor.

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Teuchi Soba Kinoene is a soba noodle restaurant in Shizuoka City's Shimizu Ward, near the Nanatsushinya intersection. It opened in 1962 and has been loved by locals for more than 60 years.

This standalone house-style restaurant also has a parking lot. Inside, it has a bright and calm Japanese atmosphere, making it easy to visit whether you are on your own or with a group.

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Some reviews say the soba noodles, which are hand-cut at the restaurant, go down smooth and have a pleasantly springy texture.

They also say that adding a little salt from Shiretoko, Hokkaido, when eating the tempura brings out the natural sweetness of the ingredients. The tempura and soba set, "Jo-ten Seiro," is popular.

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The popular “kakiage oroshi” also comes topped on soba with “kakiage,” a tempura fritter made from dried sakura ebi (small pink sakura shrimp).

The seasonal limited menu is also well liked. They also offer a selection of Japanese sake from Shizuoka Prefecture.