chofu

Went to Chofu today for zarusoba, even though I had class in the afternoon and a paper to write. I really didn't want to see that thing (my professor) again, so I decided to cut his class.

The restaurant was located at a temple called Jindaiji, which is famous for clean water. The soba noodles are cooked in that water and served cold on a zaru plate with tempura on the side. It was de-lishhh.

Yes, the soba is freshly made.

So you dip the soba into the sauce (tsuyu). After you're done, you pour the water that the soba was cooked in, in the sauce and drink it.

I was a little iffy about drinking sauce, but it's part of the culture, so had to try it once.

 

And I ended the meal with soba manjuu, which is just manjuu made of soba flour.

Besides the food, the atmosphere was really peaceful. Right beside the restaurant was a small pond full of koi.

When we were done eating, we went to look at the actual temple.

  

It wasn't that big or crowded, but there were lotuses planted throughout the place, which gave it a different feel.

And on the way back to the train station, we passed by a taiyaki store. Of course, I couldn't resist.

It just so happened that they were having a sale (¥100 taiyaki every 11th and 22nd day of the month) —lucky!