Soba-dokoro Kitahara — Restaurant in Nara

One of our most favorite meals in Japan! A cute local soba spot in Nara and we stopped by on a hot day. We had to wait about 30 min but it was every bit worth it! Everything was so well thought out here. The glazed herring was sweet and delicious. The yam soup may be an acquired taste due to its slimey texture (think natto slimey) but I enjoyed it! The soba was chewy and the soba sauce light, flavorful and refreshing. They brought our warm water they cooked the noodle in the mix with the remaining soba sauce to drink like a hot tea and it was so good! Warm, nutty, delicious palette cleanser and talk about not wasting anything! My favorite was the summer citrus soba! The cold broth was so refreshing with the sliced citrus that added the right amount of tart and bitterness! They told me to add the ume paste (sour plum) halfway through for a change in flavor and it added the most subtle tartness to the broth. Ahh this place...

We came here due to a recommendation of "the best soba of Nara, Japan" and left happy. We ordered nr.4 and a nr.5 with a side of tofu sashimi.

I am personally not a big soba fan, yet the flavours were incredibly clean, the ingredients are really being utilised to their full potential and the amount is just right. The tempura set was beautiful and the veggies still had bite, texture and the flavours were very rich. The tofu was very interesting that we actually doubted ourselves if it was tofu! The texture of the tofu is out of this world.

The service is done solely by some very fast and clean ladies. They really take pride in how everything looks and the overall service. I don't think we waited over 5min to receive our meal.

If you like soba, proper clean flavours and being surrounded by locals, this is the place for you. We were there around 11:30 and just after us a line started...

This place gets packed with visitors from the nearby Todai-ji temple. As such, we had to wait approximately 30 minutes to get seated. Nevertheless, the staff was kind and accommodating. The restaurant is cozy, with simple decorations and beautiful wooden floors and tables.

We ordered the tempura and the toji soba, both hot. We would recommend the larger portion size. They arrived shortly, and they tasted fantastic. Light broth with yuzu notes and delicious noodles. The tempura were expertly fried, and the purple yam was a delicacy.

As we were the last customers to receive service, we helped them with their "Sold out" sign. When they noticed, they brought us a few tempura vegetables for...