Tile Soba

Shimonoseki

Soba served on a tile?! Try Shimonoseki’s new local cuisine

Kawara tiles are flat black construction materials used on the roofs of Japanese houses. These ceramic tiles are heated instead of using iron cooking plates and soba is placed on top for Shimonoseki’s new local dish – kawara (tile) soba. This dish was conceived of in 1961 at Takase, the traditional restaurant in Kawatana Hot Spring, Shimonoseki. It is said that the idea came from the story of samurai cooking wild herbs and meat on tiles in between bouts of fighting. This dish has spread out as a popular local cuisine based around Kawatana Hot Spring.

Green tea soba is fragrant on a hot tile

The appeal of tile soba is the harmony of the ingredients on a hot tile. First, Uji green tea from Kyoto is kneaded into buckwheat for the soba that has the scent of green tea. On top of that is placed thinly sliced grilled egg with sweet and salty seasoned beef. Lastly the dish is garnished with roasted seaweed and lemon, and served with a spicy seasoning called ‘grated maple (radish)’.

Add soba sauce and slurp the noodles to experience an amazing flavor

Once you’ve mixed the ingredients on your tile, add some soba sauce and slurp it up when eating. When the flavor of the meat, sauce, grilled eggs, and noodles come together, the taste deepens. The crispy and slightly scorched taste afforded by the hot tile gives the soba noodles a perfect accent. Japan has a variety of unique ways to eat soba, but grilling soba on a tile is only available in Shimonoseki. Come try a food that is rare even for Japanese people.