Honmura-an Soba Ogikubo Tokyo Expert Hand-made Artisan noodles Panasonic HDC-SD100

Few restaurants take the modern way of soba to a greater level of refinement than Honmura-an, a family-owned restaurant in one of Tokyo's wealthiest neighborhoods, Ogikubo. The Japanese specialize in raising the ordinary to art, whether in making tea, Kanji / caligraphics, Origami or, in recent years, making soba. In the hands of Tokyo's few soba-masters, this common dish has been elevated into an engaging play of low and high culture, the old Japan and new.

In a glass-fronted room near the restaurant's entryway, open to the view of customers, the real magic takes place. The flour is mixed in large lacquered bowls with water drawn from a deep well. Once it is kneaded to the right consistency, the dough is rolled into a large ball and then slapped down on the flour-dusted wooden rolling table.

The noodle makers must roll the dough out to just a few millimeters in thickness with long, thin rolling pins, while fighting to keep it from tearing. When the rolling is completed, the dough is in a sheet several yards long. It is folded over on itself several times and then sliced quickly with a heavy, sharkskin-handled cleaver into grayish noodles about 12 to 14 inches long.

AVCHD format video shot with Panasonic HDC-SD100 3MOS camcorder w/ x0.45 wide adapter.
Music track: Ha-Doh by DJ Krush off the Ki-Oku album.

Category:

Howto & Style

[cliklab]

Honmura-an soba master, Kobari-san notes his noodles are 90% ground buckwheat 10% soba. The wood board is dusted with the fine ground buckwheat. It might be a flour blend but I'm not sure. All I know is buckwheat contains no gluten at all thus it does not bind. It keeps the noodles from sticking to each other, the board and knife.

Good question. I'll have to verify the contents of the dusting flour to be sure.

[pmimaki]

great content, but the edit is making me nauseous. my opinion: please get rid of crazy overlap blends.

[osbert]

great video, great audio, great description! thanks :)

[keithwarch09]

where can i get a board like tht to use with my knife?

[ressidentdevil2]

@etzool I agree lol....

[etzool]

This is awesome and hypnotic.

[Jayfoxpox]

what flour is he using to add on the sheets?

all purpose,wholewheat or buckwheat?