Local cuisine

Azumaya Honten is a long-established restaurant that originated wankosoba! Their summer-only salad soba is also popular! [Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture]

Higashiya, a long-established soba restaurant famous as the birthplace of Wanko Soba in Morioka, can be reached in about 3 minutes on foot from Sakana-machi Shopping Street.

In Iwate, it has long been customary to serve soba noodles at banquets. This tradition has its roots in Morioka's wankosoba, which first appeared on the menus of soba restaurants in the 1950s

Azumaya Honten has a history of over 100 years

Three Morioka restaurants, including Azumaya, teamed up to develop a menu with the aim of revitalizing the town

Azumaya is a representative example of a long-established restaurant that first started serving wankosoba. Its history is quite old, having been established in 1907 (Meiji 40) as a branch of the famous Morioka restaurant "Oshimizu Taga."

The year after the restaurant was founded, the name was changed to "Azumaya" by taking one character from the name of the first owner, Tokichi Doi

Azumaya has now established itself as a well-established restaurant, but it has not always been smooth sailing. In the early Showa period, the restaurant was completely burned down in a fire. The restaurant overcame this crisis with the generous support of the Taga Group

A famous restaurant that continues to offer exceptional flavors

The current main store is made entirely of cypress, and was rebuilt after being completely destroyed by fire

The soba noodles and dashi made by skilled craftsmen have a truly exceptional taste

However, wankosoba isn't the only dish loved by the people of Morioka. Katsudon is also a popular menu item. Katsudon comes with a small bowl of soba noodles. The set is also attractively priced at just 945 yen

In the summer, the limited-time menu item "Salad Soba (882 yen)" is especially popular until August

This is a summer staple that has been enjoyed by Morioka residents for over 30 years, and the soba noodles are delicious, having been thoroughly chilled in cold water

It is also effective in preventing summer fatigue as it contains plenty of vegetables such as myoga, chicken, cucumber, and radish

Higashiya＜Information＞

  • Name: Higashiya main store
  • Address: 1-8-3 Nakanohashi-dori, Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, 020-0871
  • Phone number: 019-622-2252
  • Official URL:https://wankosoba.jp/

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