No.7 Ekisoba

About Japanese businessmen’s favorite snacks

One of the foods that Japanese people, especially men, who work hard in the city frequently eat is “ekisoba”. Ekisoba is soba noodle served at small restaurants that offer soba and udon at the railway stations. Sometimes it refers to the restaurant itself. In general, it is often called “standing eating soba”. Originally, noodles were served near the station during the stop time of long-distance trains and the waiting time for transit. Eventually, commuters came to eat simple breakfast or lunch of ekisoba at urban stations.

Don’t ridicule ekisoba, it’s quite delicious. At the ekisoba cafeteria, you first buy a voucher at a vending machine near the entrance. Of course, you decide what to buy (or eat) at that time. What they sell is basically soba or udon. Here are the basic menus. If there is nothing in soba or udon, it is called kake soba or kake udon. Other optional toppings are raw eggs or kakiage, mixture of vegetables and other ingredients fried in batter, for instance. Soba or udon with kakiage or other tempura on it is called simply tempura soba or tempura udon.And soba or udon with raw egg topped is called tsukimi soba, or tsukimi udon. Tsukimi means moon viewing.

With the ticket, find where the counter is open and push in your body to secure a place. And, of course, put the ticket on the counter. The clerk places a glass of water in front of you and takes the ticket. (In some cases, there is a basket with several cups on the counter, and you can take it yourself and put water in it from a water dispenser also at the counter.)

Anyway, let’s eat hot ekisoba at ekisoba restaurant in the station.　That’s really good！