FUMOTOYA Keiopurazahoteru

I had lunch with friends here. Place is nice and servive very kind. Lunch was really good, especially Soba. I would recommend this

Visited December 2019

Since we were staying at the Keio Plaza Hotel, decided to try Fumotoya which serves a variety of Soba. Were surpried to find the restaurant with very Japanese modern interior. Service is good but staff could not communicate in English, otherwise a good dining experience.

Visited August 2017

We were invide here as their Soba soup is renowned and...it is true, it was good. Service a bit old fashioned but nice. The rest of the food was excellent. The location is not too fanti. Worth trying.

Visited August 2016

I had dinner here with my parents on the 6th of April 2016. I'm a huge soba fan. I'm just as obsessed with the ceremonious pomp and circumstance that surrounds the consumption of this noodle as I am with the actual effort that goes into making a great soba noodle. The only reason I didn't go the ...full 5 rating of excellent is that on my Japan trip this was the only real soba place I tried. Every other soba place I went to was either fast food or not a real soba specialist restaurant. I have no point of comparison. Here we go. We had the zaru soba (cold noodles), which in my opinion is a true test of a soba house. Anyone can put soba in great broth or stir fry it with goodies and sauce to make something yummy. Cold soba puts the noodle to the test. Taste, consistency, coarseness, elasticity, temperature, etc. etc. are all attributes that when combined with a good dipping sauce can make all difference in the dish. The noodles were not dark. That was a red flag. It's not coarse buckwheat but rather more refined. Fumotoya's style of soba was that of a good bodied, somewhat chewy soba that although was not oozing buckwheat flavor was hand made and tasted like it. This place is a real soba house. Wasabi was fresh and grated as part of the condiments. Every other component of the sauce was fresh and the sauce itself was bold. Did the sauce drown out the noodles a bit. Sure. But overall the dish was top notch. We had other things from the menu. Two orders of tempura moriawase, two orders of their deep fried broth infused chicken, some hot broth infused tamago and assorted salad. All of the other menu items were very good. But the soba stole the show. It's not what I imagined perfect soba to be but it came damn close. Eat it the traditional way. Condiments mixed into your sauce as per your taste and then dip the noodles half in and half out. Put the dry half in your mouth and savor the noodles, then bring your lips close the sauce cup's rim and slurp the noodles and a little bit of the sauce together. What truly impressed me is that they end your soba-extravaganza the traditional way...with a clay tea kettle full of soba broth taken from their pots where God only knows how much soba is cooked in every day. You take the broth and mix it with our leftover sauce and drink it like an after meal like soup. Truly authentic. Amazing. If you're in Shinjuku or staying at the Keio Plaza like we were this is a must try place. If you're a soba fanatic like me and love the ceremony and purity of soba you need to try this place. Negative observations were fairly minor. They've got English menus but trying to communicate to the staff in English to put your orders in is like pulling teeth. The bill took a little longer than expected to process and flagging one of the servers going by your table might prove a little more challenging than other places. They don't mean to ignore you, they just don't keep a sharp watch and with a packed place your "excuse me!" may not immediately be attended to. But yeah...it's worth it. Order the ten zaru soba set (with tempmura, larger serving of soba).

Visited April 2016