A couple of months ago we reported that Ippuku, the downtown Berkeley izakaya, was launching lunch service with an all- (or nearly all-) soba menu — seventeen different variations, both hot and cold.
Among the three major Japanese noodle genres, soba tends to get overlooked in this country. Even the most generic Japanese restaurants always have some kind of udon offering, and ramen gets all the food-nerd love. But you’ll rarely see a dedicated soba shop in the Bay Area (are there any?), despite the fact that these thin buckwheat noodles are ubiquitous in Japan — they’re especially common at train stations, I hear.
So I was excited to hear that Ippuku was making soba from scratch using flour imported from Japanese island of Hokkaido, as is traditional. A couple of weeks ago, I finally had a chance to check it out.
Ippuku’s zaru soba, served with all of the traditional accoutrements. Credits: Luke Tsai The three-item bento varies from day to day. Credits: Luke Tsai
