01 / ABOUT THE PLACE
About this place
Open the menu at Takeya in Ota Ward's Kami-Ikedai, and you are met with an expansive spread: classic seiro soba and crisp tempura, savory rice bowls, warming hot-pot noodles, and reassuring izakaya plates. It is an unpretentious neighborhood soba shop where a meal can be shaped precisely to the mood and appetite of the day.
The ten-zaru, pairing chilled noodles with freshly fried shrimp, squid, and seasonal vegetables, is an enduring benchmark, offering slender noodles that glide smoothly through the dipping broth alongside airy tempura. At lunchtime, the mini bowl and mini noodle combination sets are especially handy, pairing options such as katsu don, squid tempura don, or pork and egg don with seiro, kake, or seasonal chilled Chinese-style noodles, rounded out with a crisp salad.
When cooler weather sets in, the miso-based hot noodle dishes come into their own, each accompanied by a complimentary small bowl of steamed rice. Bowls such as miso nikomi udon with tender rice cakes and miso Daisen chicken nanban deliver deep, savory broths that warm right to the core.
Come evening, it is just as pleasant to nurse a cold bottle of beer or warm sake alongside small plates like sliced kamaboko fish cake, rolled omelet, and simmered offal before finishing with a bowl of soba. The relaxed dining room and attentive hospitality make it easy to linger over whatever combination suits the hour.
