Funori soba noodles with addictive firmness and freshness | Wataya in Ojiya City

I had to go to Ojiya City, a neighbor of Nagaoka City, and even though it was after noon, lunch had not yet been served.

As I thought about what to eat, I decided that since I was in Ojiya, I wanted to eat soba.

So I went to Wataya, which I had never been to before.

The restaurant is located near downtown and has a very large space.

Apparently, it has been in business for 100 years!

Amazing...

NEMARU has only been in business for over 5 years.

NEMARU has a long way to go.

The store is also very spacious!

I wondered how the air conditioner works in winter.

Even though it was after 2:00 p.m., there was a long line outside.

I had an image that most soba noodle shops are old houses, but this is a very nice building.

After a while I was led to a table in the back.

We ate Funori Soba, of course.

Funori soba is most famous in Tokamachi and Ojiya City.

In Ojiya Prefecture, it is often referred to as "hegi soba," which refers to a wooden bowl called a hegi.

The "hegi" is a wooden vessel in which soba noodles are served with seaweed.

By the way, "funori" is seaweed used as a binder.

It is said that it was first used as a binder for soba noodles in the old days when it was used to make kimonos.

The stickiness of the seaweed makes the buckwheat noodles very firm!

I believe that basically anything you order at a hegisoba restaurant will be Funori soba!

So you can have the same Funori Soba without ordering Hegi-Soba.

It's a bit complicated!

But I still think hegi with lots of hegi on it "looks better".

I ordered the Negitoro-don set because I had a weird craving for Negitoro at the time.

Very convenient.

The menu list shows you how to enjoy it, but in short, I think it means you can eat it however you like! I guess that means you can eat it as you like.

It's very fresh and moist!

I can't get this kind of freshness even when I make it at home...why...?

It came with hot pepper as described.

It was my first experience with hot pepper, but it went so well and tasted so good!

It's a real treat!

After the meal, of course, sobayu (buckwheat water) is served.

It is amazing that they even use the hot water in which the soba is cooked.

Sobayu is said to be good for absorbing vitamins because it dissolves the nutrients in the soba!

I was so hungry I thought I was going to die, but I made a great comeback.

Thank you for the food!

There are different kinds of soba sweets!

It's like a soba theme park.

There are also souvenirs, so if you want to try some at home, go for it!

It would make a good souvenir of Niigata!

GoogleMaps: Route from NEMARU to Wataya Hirasawa