My first introduction to Honmura An was in New York City back about 15 years ago. A friend who loved soba wanted to share with me his favorite soba shop in the city. I was mesmerized with the stone grinder for crushing the dried buckwheat and impressed that the noodles were being made fresh daily. Sadly the Manhattan shop has since closed. Honmura An has since relocated to Tokyo, in Roppongi, just across the street and around a corner from the massive Tokyo Midtown complex. It is a short walk from Roppongi Hills or any of the Roppongi stations.
The interior is modern and sparsely decorated with simple washi, Japanese paper, that hangs from above. In the back of the restaurant there is a large window overlooking the soba prep room. Sadly when we arrived the rolling and cutting of the noodles were done for the first seating of lunch.
A few tables had solo diners, in their 20s, plugged into their own music or engrossed into their phones and the outer world. Most of the diners were area businessmen and ladies who lunch. The restaurant has a big menu of small bites that can be had before finishing off with soba. At lunchtime most people were not having the side dishes but all going straight for the buckwheat noodles. This day it was quite hot outside and as one would expect, most diners were ordering the cold noodles.
I had asked if they had yakimiso, a classic dish of a sweet miso, often studded with buckwheat, that is grilled. I was disappointed when I was told it wasn’t served so we ordered two types of soba. One topped with a creamy, fresh yuba (soy milk skin) and the other a grated daikon and ikura (marinated salmon roe).
The noodles are fine and very delicate and this would be a great light lunch during the hot summers that Tokyo is known for.
Honmura An has a nice selection of saké and wine. I was so happy to see Urakasumi Junmaishu on the list that I didn’t even bother looking at the wine list. The saké is easy on the palate and a nice partner to the soba.
Minato-ku, Roppongi 7-14-18
03-5772-6657
English menu available.
Closed Monday and 1st & 3rd Tuesday
Food Sake Tokyo 
One of the biggest omissions when I went to Japan was that of Soba noodles. I only got to eat them once while I was there. The ones you’ve written about here look great.
One of the biggest omissions when I went to Japan was that of Soba noodles. I only got to eat them once while I was there. The ones you’ve written about here look great.
Arigato for the kind words. Finding handmade soba noodles outside of Japan is hard. Highly recommend having it while you are here! Now you know what not to forget on your next trip. 🙂