福井蕎麦の名店。 : Kenzou Soba

Today's lunch is "Kenzo Soba" in Fukui City. Fishing for cherry salmon in the Kuzuryu River in the morning is exhausting. It's been almost 20 years since I started making pilgrimages to Fukui at this time of year. The Kuzuryu River has also been steadily straightened due to major flooding, and the number of spots where cherry salmon can be found has decreased. Also, whenever I come to Fukui Prefecture, I always look forward to eating "Fukushin's Sauce Katsu-don (Pork cutlet bowl)," but last year, it closed down, much to everyone's regret. This is a loss for Fukui Prefecture. One thing I've lost is my pleasure, but another food pleasure is visiting "Kenzo Soba," a famous Fukui soba restaurant in Eiheiji Town. This famous soba restaurant stands alone in a residential area in the countryside. Even in this remote suburban residential area, there is a line on weekends, so I went today on a weekday. The restaurant opens at 11:00 or 10:40, and I was 9th in line to register. It is Golden Week after all. I chose the large portion of Kenzou Soba (1,320 yen). Normally, the Fukui Local Cuisine, "large portion of Oroshi Soba (1,100 yen)" is the go-to, but you can get Oroshi Soba at other restaurants too. Inside the restaurant, there are five tables for four and one table for eight in a 14-tatami room. I was single and shared an eight-seater table with three others. However, I was grateful that we weren't sitting opposite each other. I waited for 10 minutes, and then the food was brought to me. "(This is the nostalgic Kenzou Soba that I've eaten many times. I should come and eat it at least once a year.)" First, I picked up about three pieces of soba and slurped them up without any dipping sauce. They weren't particularly chewy, but they were boiled hard, which was good. They had a nice bite and smooth texture just like soba noodles. Next, I added soup stock to the squeezed radish juice to complete the dipping sauce for the Kenzou Soba. I dipped about 2/3 of the soba noodles into the dipping sauce and slurped them up. The spiciness of the daikon was amazing. It was devilish. The man sitting diagonally across from me slurped it all up in one go, choked and spilled the noodles!! "Sorry, cough. Sorry, cough!!" It would have been a major accident if I had been sitting in front of him. The woman sitting diagonally in front of me turned away ostentatiously. She glared at the man with a look of contempt like an arrow. "(You don't have to go that far.)" The man thought. But it certainly looked like a small piece of soba flew towards the woman at the moment she held it in her hand and coughed. Maybe the soba got into the woman's grated daikon soba. It was a major accident. According to my review from 13 years ago, "Grated daikon soba - regular" was 500 yen. Now it's 800 yen, a 300 yen increase. To be honest, I paid 1,320 yen today, but I wasn't as satisfied as before. This price for this taste is not cost-effective... It's no longer a soba restaurant worth going out of your way to eat at.

Today's lunch is "Kenzo Soba" in Eiheiji-cho, Fukui Prefecture. When I go to Kuzuryu River for cherry salmon fishing, I always have "Kenzo Soba" with Echizen grated daikon radish or "Fukushin" with sauce cutlet bowl for lunch. Today, I can't eat lunch twice because it's a day trip, so I'll have a light soba for lunch and a hearty cutlet bowl for dinner. "Kenzo" is said to be the No. 1 restaurant where you can eat Echizen grated daikon radish, a local soba. It is full from the time it opens, and tourists flock to it in droves. It is located in the middle of a residential area, so you would not even notice its existence unless you heard about it in a guidebook or on TV. In fact, I have been going to Kuzuryu River for eight years, but I only found out about it last year. The menu of this restaurant is two types of soba: "Grated daikon radish" for 500 yen and "Kenzo Soba" for 800 yen. "Oroshi Soba" is eaten with grated green-necked daikon radish, dashi soy sauce, and a sprinkling of bonito flakes and spring onions. On the other hand, "Kenzou Soba" is eaten with grated spicy daikon radish and raw soy sauce. It's shockingly spicy. I always have trouble deciding which one to choose, but there is a set that allows you to eat both at once, enough for 2-3 people. For 2,500 yen, it's 1,250 yen per person. I went for this. I waited for 5 minutes. Then it was brought to me. "(There are 7 balls of soba in the colander. It looks like we're going to fight.)" I ate the soba alternately with the grated daikon radish and the spicy daikon radish. The soba had just the right amount of firmness and was rich in flavor. The soba alone was enough to give off the aroma of a famous restaurant, but the defining feature of this restaurant is the grated daikon radish. The green-necked daikon radish already added to the broth has a strong "daikon-like" flavor that is also great. I thought it was spicy, but I was curious to see what it was like, so I picked up the soba with my chopsticks, dipped it in, and slurped it down. I overcame my fear, coughing, but was able to enjoy the unique taste. It's no wonder that tourists flock to residential areas like this.

Today's soba is "Kenzo" in Eiheiji-cho, Fukui Prefecture. It is the No. 1 soba restaurant in Fukui Prefecture. When it comes to soba in Fukui, Echizen Oroshi Soba is famous. When I go stream fishing, I often end up stuffing my cheeks with convenience Convenience stores Onigiri by the river. Since I came all the way to Fukui, I wanted to eat something delicious, so I looked it up on the internet in advance. It's a 10-minute walk from my usual lodging, "Matsuoka Onsen Sauna." I had no idea that Fukui's most famous restaurant was in such a place. It was in the middle of a residential area, so I had no idea. The interior of the restaurant was like a large hall in a big country house with tables lined up haphazardly. There were many udon restaurants like this in Yamanashi Prefecture... The menu has two items, "Oroshi Soba" and "Kenzo Soba." The Oroshi Soba uses grated green radish instead of spicy radish to reduce the spiciness. A mixture of grated radish and soup is poured over the soba. This is what they call bukkake soba. I chose the restaurant's specialty, Kenzou soba. The portion was just right. The thickness was just right, and it was coarsely ground, with a strong flavor. The texture was perfect, and it was thoroughly chilled in cold water, so it went down smoothly. What surprised me was that the soup bowl contained squeezed juice of spicy radish. Just by smelling it, you can tell the intense spiciness. Usually, it's the other way around... As expected, the specialty of Echizen soba, "grated radish," is brought to the forefront. A moderate amount of raw soy sauce is added to this juice to make the soup. Add 1/3 of the noodles to it and slurp it down in one go. Wow, the spicy component of grated radish hits you directly in the nostrils! This is good! Great personality, great flavor, great throat feel! It was an addictive taste.