If you eat seriously, you’ll finish the meal in four bites.
The amount of soba eaten at a soba restaurant is small.
It won’t fill you up.
The reason why the quantity is so small is a remnant of the old days.
In the past, in Japan, soba was eaten not as a meal, but as something to fill the stomach.
It feels like a snack.
The amount at that time is still the standard, but now we eat soba as a meal.
Therefore, the amount is small for one meal.
So, what to do is to eat it as a set with tempura, rice dishes, etc.
Many soba restaurants offer side menus in addition to soba noodles.
Eating a set will fill your stomach.
Soba by itself costs about the same as other meals, so eating it as a set can be a bit expensive.
The reason why it is more expensive than other meals has to do with the amount of soba harvested.
Soba has a low yield per planted area, one-eighth that of wheat.
Therefore, the cost is expensive.
The stand-up soba stores and soba chain stores are cheap, but to be honest, they aren’t real soba.
The amount of buckwheat used is small, and most of it is wheat.
It is colored with food coloring.
Soba is to be enjoyed for its aroma.
When you come to Japan, please go to a real soba restaurant and enjoy the aroma.
Also, please enjoy the aroma of the soup base made with kelp and bonito flakes.
Although it is rarely seen these days, connoisseurs drink sake with a side dish and then eat soba.
I sometimes see them when I go to a long-established soba restaurant.