Sarashina Horii
総本家 更科堀井 麻布十番本店 · Sarashina Horii
- Ward
- Minato
- Price
- ¥1,000~4,000
- Hours
- 11:30–15:30 and about 17:00–20
- Closed
- Open daily (subject to change)
- Getting there
- Toei Oedo Line Azabu-juban Stn walk 5 min / Tokyo Metro Namboku Line walk 7 min
- Founded
- 1789
- Three soba houses using the name Sarashina stand within five minutes' walk of each
- The noodles are white because only the core of the buckwheat grain is used
- There is a separate 'kawari-soba' with a seasonal ingredient worked into the white dough
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Obvious to locals, invisible to visitors
There is a simple reason guidebooks leave this out: to the people who live here it is too obvious to be worth explaining.
Three soba houses using the name Sarashina stand within five minutes' walk of each other here, and despite the similar names they are entirely separate businesses. This is the one descended from the founder of 1789; the other two arrived at their present names through postwar trademark disputes and settlements. Go by the sign alone and you may not be in the shop you meant.
The noodles are white because only the core of the buckwheat grain is used. This is the sarashina lineage, and this house is credited with refining that flour into something close to its modern form. The menu also carries ordinary darker soba and a thick-cut version milled with the husk — ordering the white alongside one other is how you come to understand the place.
There is a separate 'kawari-soba' with a seasonal ingredient worked into the white dough. It only works because the pale base lets the colour and scent come through, and what goes in changes through the year — which is why people return to the same shop in different seasons. Small dishes such as sliced fish cake with wasabi are on the menu too, so daytime drinking is possible.
What it is
Minato is a ward where old shops hide between towers. It may open only for lunch, or close the moment ingredients run out. Supply outranks the posted hours here. Seasonal items go up separately on the wall. They are day-only, so grab one if you see it. Hours go irregular over long holidays; check before setting out. There are a few similar places nearby — do not give up if the first one is full. This is one of those places that beats its photos. People often arrive with low expectations and leave surprised.
What to order
Why locals keep coming
The layout suits solo diners: mostly counter seats, and nobody encourages you to linger. Prices have barely moved in a decade, meaning the shop has absorbed much of the rise in ingredient costs.