Cuisine: Japanese (Soba)
Michelin Stars: 1
Location: 3 Chome-13-26 Shinishikawa, Aoba-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken 225-0003
Phone: 045-507-7803
Website: http://www.soba-furaikyo.com/
Date Visited: Lunch on Weekday
(Note: they have moved since we visited but the address written above is to date and correct)
We planned a visit to this Michelin starred soba restaurant on our way from Tokyo to Yokohama. It is one of the only 16 Michelin starred restaurants in the Yokohama district. Furaikyo is located in the area of Azamino, which is where quite a few of Yokohama’s Michelin starred restaurants are located despite it being far from downtown. The reason for this is because Azamino is the quiet and suburban area of Yokohama, also where most of the wealthy live. My first impression of Yokohama was this quiet neighborhood of Azamino, so I found it shocking when Calvin told me it was the second most populated city in Japan.
Furaikyo is a soba restaurant. Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat noodles. It can be eaten either cold or hot but is more commonly (and I personally think, more enjoyable) eaten cold. It is generally served with a sauce for dipping (if cold - tsumetai) and tempura. Calvin loves cold soba and always orders 2-3 portions in one sitting. Because it is light and refreshing, we prefer it for lunch rather than dinner.
We attempted to call the restaurant to make a reservation, however realized that they don’t take bookings on Sundays. When we arrived at the restaurant, it was already full, so we had to wait in line. Fortunately, it has a very quick table turnover rate, so it was only a short wait.
It was a very small and cozy restaurant, like most Japanese teahouses. There were only 5 tables of 4 as well as an elevated tatami area which sits 6-8. It was very dimly lit, which was inconvenient for photos, but fortunately we were seated next to a window (apologies in advance for weirdly lit photos because the window was tiny). It was clearly a restaurant that targeted local customers as there were no English menus, so Calvin’s Japanese came in handy (and the occasional Chinese characters that come up are a plus~)
The first dish that we ordered was supposedly a popular dish among the local community. It was tofu served with salt and soy sauce. We found the soy sauce to be a better compliment because the tofu itself was quite bland. The whole dish in general was quite disappointing as the tofu wasn’t as smooth as we had hoped and was quite grainy. 6.5/10
We ordered this next dish because we found it to be interesting and rare to find. It is whale meat prepared in the typical japanese fried chicken (karaage) style. We have had whale meat only once before this, as a sashimi, in a small coastal town South of Fukushima, Japan. Whale meat is actually quite rare in Japan, and can only be found in small towns in coastal areas of Japan, so it was surprising to see it on the menu at this restaurant. Honestly, whale meat is not particularly tasty, but as we had never tried it cooked before, we thought we would give it a shot. It was prepared okay but we didn’t quite enjoy it mostly because the ingredient itself isn’t that pleasant. 6/10
tempura
tempura soba
kakiage soba
We ordered 5 sobas, all of which were cold, including a regular tempura one, a kakiage one (deep fried tempura dish of chopped vegeetables and shrimp), a smoked duck breast one, a ____ foam one (honestly wish we knew...), and a grilled eggplant one. The kakiage was actually quite different from ones we’ve had before. Instead of using pieces of shrimp inside the batter, they used dried shrimps, which turned out to make it more flavorful. The smoked duck breast soba was one that we have never had before and was surprisingly good. Instead of the usual soba dipping sauce, we were offered a duck broth with duck breast meat inside.
foam soba
grilled eggplant soba
Unfortunately, the soba noodles itself weren't prepared to our liking. Soba should be prepared to what Italians would call “al dente”, and all the soba noodles that we had were a little overcooked (and it's quite evident in the photos too). Given that this is a restaurant specializing in soba, the failure to perfect the actual noodles made us question whether this restaurant was worthy of a michelin star. It's quite a shame because the flavors were there but the texture of the soba was really too soft. 7.5/10
Price Value:
Number of diners: 4
Total price (Yen): 10,000
Price per head:
JPY: 2,500
HKD: $190
USD: $25
Although the food wasn’t the best, the cost of our meal was extremely cheap compared to other michelin starred Japanese restaurants. Even compared to other soba restaurants, it wasn’t expensive.
4.5/5
Taste:
Because the soba itself wasn’t prepared well, it was difficult for us to give high ratings.
10.5/15
Service:
It was a family run restaurant, so the service was lacking as there was only one server, and was disappointing compared to most other Japanese restaurants, where service is often exceptional.
7.5/10
Atmosphere:
The restaurant was very small and crowded, therefore didn’t serve as a very comfortable dining experience.
6/10
Presentation:
The presentation wasn’t particularly great, but was simple and pleasing to the eye.
7/10
Technique:
Cooking the soba would be the most important technical skill for a soba restaurant and it wasn’t quite evident at this restaurant.
2.5/5
Total Score: 33.5/50
Fuchelin: No star
Final Remarks:
Despite that it wasn’t the best soba restaurant we’ve had in Japan, it was quite value for money. If you’re looking for an inexpensive introduction to soba, this would be an option to try. However, it is not conveniently located and would not be worth a special trip. We did agree, however, that if their soba was cooked well, it would be worthy of the Michelin classification of “Bib Gourmand”.