Rakuichi Soba — Restaurant in Niseko

Oh boy, where do I start? This was probably one of the best Japanese dining experiences I've had in my life, and this was only for lunch, not even their kaiseki dinner option. Rakuichi only serves 20 bowls of soba every day, and once they're out, they're out. They open at 11.30am everyday but we got there at 11.15am and were literally the last group of 5 they let in for the day. So yes, they sold out before they even opened. We really felt like we won the lottery.

The little hut where we had our lunch was apparently built by the husband and wife owners, and it's difficult to not appreciate the little touches that make the place so special. The lovely scent of warm flour, the jazz music playing in the background, the sound of footsteps on timber, a picture of Anthony Bourdain hung up on the wooden panels.

As we were the last 5 for the day, we had to wait about two and a half hours before being served. The menu was simple - cold soba or hot soba, with the option of having a duck broth add on. We could also order some vegetable tempura as a side. It was a joy watching the soba chef work his craft in front of us, kneading the dough and slicing the noodles that we were about to eat so delicately. You could tell that he was happy to be making the dish for us.

I didn't try the vegetable tempura so I will only give my review on the cold soba with hot duck broth. The soba noodles itself was truly good noodle. Every bite had a nice springy texture that made you appreciate the work that went into each strand. Coupled with the warm duck broth, it was a extremely harmonious blend of temperatures and flavours. The savoury duck broth complemented the plain soba so well that I could not stop dipping my noodles in them, again and again and again. Before I knew it, my noodles were finished. We were given a teapot of hot water to add to our duck broth once we ran out of soba, so that we could drink it as soup. There was no better way to end the meal than warm hearty duck soup, trust me. When I was truly finished with my entire meal, I felt a pang of bittersweetness. Sweet because I had the most amazing soba of my life, bitter because the experience had to end.

For a Michelin Guide recommended place, the meal was considered very inexpensive. Our soba with duck broth was arouns 1600yen (basic soba is cheaper), additional tempura around 700yen. Drink options available are teas, ginger beer, umeshu, few types of sake and beers.

My dining companions chided me for wanting to share this experience as they wanted to keep the place unknown to the masses, but how could I possibly not share the best noodle experience of my life with other people? So...

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Food looks simple but truly wonderful flavors.

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Anyway, everything tasted clean and...