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Kakoshi - Soba Master

One of the first people to ever teach me how to make soba by hand was Kakoshi.  Although he ls still in his early thirties, he has been making soba for nearly 10 years. Three years ago, he went back to school to polish his techinques in artisinal soba making at the Tsukiji Soba Academy.  When I met Kakoshi last summer, he was working as an Assistant/Apprentice there. I spent a half day at the Academy where I got to watch Akila Inouye's soba demonstration. Then when it came to hands-on soba making, Kakoshi stood by my side and showed me how. Even though my noodles looked more like Udon than Soba in width, he assured me that my soba will taste good, and they did.  Before leaving the Academy that day, Kakoshi told me that he would soon be leaving the Academy to open Minori, an artisinal soba restaurant in his hometown Akishima.   

Akishima is in the outskirts of Tokyo, bordering Yamanashi prefecture. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there from Shinjuku.  For that reason, I had been putting off the visit but I really wanted to see Kakoshi's dream restaurant but I finally found some time to make the trip. 

The interior of Minori

All the sake is "Junmai-shu" - made of 100% rice and water

As expected, Minori was an impressive looking restaurant. The facade reminded me of soba boxes stacked together, only they were white boxes. It is a pretty modern structure in a semi rural city b ut it works. Kakoshi lives upstairs. It was close to 2pm when I got there. Several couples and ladies were having lunch.

Kneading and Milling room  

What you see when you enter the restaurant is the little glassed room that is used for making Soba. The milling machine is also in this room. This is where everything begins for a soba maker.  I dream of having such a space someday.  Kakoshi kneads about 6 kilos of dough every day to service his customers; he mills the flour himself.  This is what makes his soba restaurant special. Most soba restaurants in Japan rely on machines to knead and cut soba, and use more wheat than buckwheat flour. As a result, the flavor and texture of the soba are flat.   The artisinal style of making soba is incredibly respectful in handling the soba. The soba maker tries to make soba with premium quality flour, stone-milled, hand cut and cooked immediately before it has a chance to go limp.  Anyone who dares to go into artisinal soba making has to have lots of passion and discipline. Kakoshi brings all these qualities to his soba making.

The menu was varietal. It had everything from classic cold soba with Tororo, grated yamaimo potato, and to hot and soupy, Kake-soba. There were a couple of fusion soba dishes with Italian influences, with such names as Carbonara and Pepperoncini soba. I opted for the traditional course and ordered the lunch special. It was 1200 Yen, which included a dessert and coffee. The appetizer plate came with three items: tamago, a crispy fried soba and Mitsuba salad with Umeboshi dressing, and Tofu made with soba flour. I enjoyed quite liked the soba tofu. It is heavier than soybean based tofu but the fragrance of soba comes through nicely in the custard.  The main course was cold soba and Maitake tempura. Ground salt was served on the side.  

Flat handwoven baskets for serving Zaru-Soba drying on

the wooden lid of the big pot.

I believe the best way to taste artisinal handmade soba is to eat it cold. Kakoshi uses a 9 to 1 ratio of buckwheat and wheat to make the soba. He adds about 42% water in the dry wintertime.  Less when it's more humid. I asked Kakoshi if there was something else I should order from the menu.  He suggested I try the Age -grilled tofu pouches with Negi miso. The age was quite thick than I am used to. The miso was seasoned with Negi, sesame oil and a little sugar.  Kakoshi told me that this particular age came from Niigata prefecture.  I noticed he had other foods of Niigata origin.  it turns out that his father is from Niigata so he wanted to introduce foods from this region. I liked that idea. 

Soba appetizers: Soba tofu, Mizuna and crispy Soba noodles

served with Umeboshi dressing, Tamago

Cold soba with dipping sauce and condiments of grated daikon,

sliced negi and grated wasabi - all fresh.

As I sat at the beautiful wooden counter, I couldn't wait to try the soba. 

Kakoshi's soba was long. Very long with good al dente texture. He said some customers complain that the length makes it difficult to pick up the noodles and dip them in the little cup containing the sauce, but he likes  it long.  I found myself struggling with this length too but it's nice to see someone make long and thin noodles as such.  Believe me, if you ever try making soba, you will soon find out how skillful you have to be to get them thin and long, particularly if it is made mostly from buckwheat flour, which contains no gluten and therefore by nature does not like to stick together like wheat flour.

Maitake mushrooms taste great as tempura.

I loved the lunch, especially the soba and the Maitake tempura. The Soba pudding was also very good. I could eat more.  Kakoshi gave me a tour of the kitchen. It's realy an efficient place.  The milling machine was turning. The hulled buckwheat was filled to the top.  Kakoshi was getting ready for the evening. 

Milling machine 

Kakoshi uses a traditional tin-lined tea box to 

store the fresh milled flour.

I headed back to the train station. The waitress at Kakoshi's restaurant said that the cherry trees in Akishima need a few more days to be in full bloom.  But I got lucky. I found one tree that was in full bloom.