I felt as if I were in a soba shop tucked faraway in the mountainous region of Wakayama, snugged cozily with a warm bowl of soba with cold wind blowing outside. I do not intend to exaggerate my words but this was exactly my response towards this humble bowl of Spicy Mentai Oroshi Soba.
It has all the autumn elements, or more specifically wild vegetables such as nameko, warabi stalks, daikon, bamboo shoots, shredded carrots that I would collectively call them 山菜. These gave this bowl plenty of textures and depth to the savoury broth, of which was indisputably soothing to the belly. I thought the heap of cold spicy mentai would be at odds with the hot broth but I was wrong. It imparted hints of warmth with the gentle spiciness and not just blatant saltiness which is the case these days for many dishes which seemed to be exploiting the popularity of cod roe but using it in the wrong way.
The noodles, no less excellent than some of the handmade soba I’ve had in Tokyo. It’s light brown, not dark grey like most Japanese restaurants in SG. The texture was close to Chinese ee-mian, firm and cut off easily with every bite, making the noodles totally different from the al-dente pasta or chewy udon we are familiar with.
Shimbashi Soba
290 Orchard Rd, #B1-41, Singapore 238859