Shop is located just up the stair of Keio line Hatsudai station north exit. Located alongside Koshu highway, having nice slow atmosphere. You cannot ask for better location for stand-in soba shops. Been in business for longtime, with high regards. They had some time-offs but been in business by second-generation owner for long time.
They would not disappoint your expectations every visit. Constantly boiled raw noodles, great soups with nice fragrance of dashi(※2), and the 3-inch thick kakiage is a masterpiece. You cannot make light of their quality just because they are stand-in soba shop. Their quality of soba noodle cannot be competed by ordinary soba shops, and you will be surprised about their price. Soba shops back then were lower the price of soba, quality of soba lowered also, but Kaga kept quality first style always. It is not uncommon now, but Kaga is the one of the frontiers of quality first soba shop.
■Noodle: Raw noodle. Chewy and tasty. It is quite lengthy for stand-in soba noodle.
■Soup: Nice dashi with fragrance of Katsuobushi. Kaeshi(※3) has nice crispness of say-sauce with slight sweetness. Has great balance.
■Kakiage: Made when ordered. Mainly made with onions with some shrimps.
Kakiage is made one by one when ordered, so it might take little while after you order, but waiting for your soba while looking at your kakiage being cooked is not so bad. After little wait, you will face the elegant bowl of kakiage soba. Once you sip on the soup and have a bite of the noodle, you will taste the richness and deepness of the soup and nice chewiness of the noodle.
Kakiage is very thick. The bottom half is hiding in the soup. The top half above the soup has nice crispiness, which is one of the strong points of the Kaga. Chopped onions in the kakiage is just cooked, so they will be hot. They are great but be careful not to burn yourself with it.
Try to eat one small bite at time because they are hot. The onions are cooked perfectly with nice sweetness. Kakiage is nice and crispy to the core and not too oily. While you eat your kakiage, it will start to crumble into the soup so at the end you can enjoy them with the soup together. Once you have this soba, you will make a promise to have it again.
■DATA
Address: Tokyo-to Sibuya-ku Honmachi 1-2-3
Access: 1min walk from Keio line Hatsudai station
(Just outside Hatsudai station New National Theatre exit)
Open Hours:7:00 – 20:00 (Mon – Fri) 10:00-16:00 (Sat)
Closed on Sundays and Holidays
Grade: A Three-Star Sobaya
(※1)Deep-fried battered mixture of vegetables/seafood/meat.
(※2)Broth mainly made with Katsuobushi (Bonito flakes)
Katsuobushi is dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna.
(※3)Soy-sauce based soup base.