soba

Headed out late afternoon yesterday on the Tozai line to Kichijoji, a favourite area in Tokyo that is rated highly by locals as an ideal area in which to live. Had an extremely late lunch at a soba place below the railway station that FrauleinDrDr and I had been too a few times before. It isn't anything fancy in terms of the setting - just the usual classic Japanese rustic decor that could probably do with a spruce up sometime soon.  One thing that is an absolute treat in Japan is going to restaurants that do the one dish in all its possible glories. As soon as we arrived we were served cold soba tea and little roasted pieces of broken soba noodles for nibbles.Whitebait ordered a setto consisting of vegetable tempura and cold soba noodles (zaru soba) that also came with a piece of wasabi root that you could grate yourself. Then he was brought a 'teapot' of the hot stock left over from the actual cooking of the noodles which you add to some sauce (not sure what) to make a delicious broth. Outstanding.

We followed that with a walk through the wonderful Inokashira Park - a rare green retreat in Tokyo, which has one of the worst percentages of parks to concrete and population in the world. One of the best features of the park was the unusual number of locals 'flying their freak flags high'. One old guy riding his cycle around the park had an inordinate amount of tinsel on his head. A runner passing by periodically emitted a loud and very strange whooping noise. And so on. Good to see.

Finished up with a nice walk back through the shopping streets at night as the commuters streamed back home.