Municipal Tōsenkyō Sōmen-noodle restaurant — Restaurant in Ibusuki

🕒 Wait : The wait was really long (we were here 12th August, but it was a Japan holiday, so maybe it was extra long for us). We arrived at the place around 2:30pm and finished eating around 4:30pm, the wait was approx. 1.5h. We basically had dinner there 🥺

🍜 Food : The somen had very nice texture, chewy and the cold water makes it super refreshing. The onigiris were just warm rice, the inari was okay, the fish was quite good, and the miso was actually quite nice! Pork skewers were a bit bland, and chicken were ok.

💁‍♀️ Service : Not a service place to start with, you line up and the first stop is to order and pay. Then you bring your receipt to another staff who arranges a table for you. Water here is self service, you grab your own.

🧽 Hygiene : The water is drained each time after each group. But everything is basically washed over with water only. Shouldn't be much of a concern since the only things inside are the noodles.

We quite liked the somen, but the wait was in fact, quite a put off. If you plan to come here, please...

Quite cool at the bottom of the lowland. A small ditch with many big black carps swimming in it. There was a plastic rotating machine with cold fresh water in the middle of each round table while each table could comfotably sit 6 people. Less choice from the set menu. Grilled fresh water baby fish from the river was very fresh but was a little bit salty on the fish skin as it was grilled with salt. However, it would be tasty if you got rid of the skin. The set also went with the bucket of cold noodles, a few slices of carp sashimi and 2 pieces of triangular plain rice cakes (just plain rice without any seasoning but wrapped with seaweed).

The free spring water was very sweet. The free barley tea was also very good.

Many customers fed the carps with their leftover of the rice...

This restaurant is renowned for its unique style of somen. Even on weekdays, it attracts many patrons, but it boasts a spacious location that can accommodate the crowds. The staff members are friendly and diligent in table cleaning. However, I have some reservations about the restaurant's hygiene. While the somen is flown in water, the containers are cleaned by hand wiping the surface to ensure no somen is left. Yet, I have concerns about the hygiene regarding potential viruses or bacteria when people use their chopsticks in the tank.

Overall, the taste was good, although a bit on the salty side for my taste as a foreigner. The prices were somewhat high, and the beverages were...