We stopped by Sobadokoro Daimon in Nozawa Onsen for dinner after finishing the Nozawa Onsen Stamp Rally. We asked for and got a recommendation from one of the staff at the Nozawa Onsen Tourist Information Center. It is a short four minute walk away and is just off the main road leading through town.

The interior of the restaurant had a very comfortable and homey vibe. The concrete flooring with the wooden accents made it feel like you were walking into someone’s home. The natural color of the wooden tables and the tree trunk stools made the space feel very quaint. There were quite of few tables and the restaurant seemed to be fairly popular.

Sobadokoro Daimon Menu

Since Nozawa Onsen was very popular among foreign tourists, many of the restaurants and accommodations had English translations on their menus and flyers. The menu comprises of soba and tempura in a variety of combinations. Any meal with soba can also come with zaru soba (cold soba with a dipping sauce and garnish) or in a bowl of hot broth. The restaurant is famous for their Maitake mushroom tempura. We decided to give it a try. We ended up going with the Tenzaru soba with tempura, Maitake tempura soba, and an Onsen-tamago.

Sobadokoro Daimon Food Review

Our food came out a little while later. The soba had a nice springy almost elastic texture. With the dipping sauce it was flavorful and refreshing. The Maitake mushroom tempura was very good. The tempura batter had helped the mushrooms retain their moisture. So, the tempura was nice and crispy on the outside and the mushrooms were nice and juicy on the inside. One thing we’ve noticed at nicer restaurants is that tempura is never completely covered in batter. They always use a light amount of batter, to the point that some parts seem to not have any batter at all. The highlight of the meal for us was definitely the onsen tamago. It’s a soft boil egg in a soy broth. The egg had a very smooth and almost silky texture. With the combination of the broth it was very delicious. The broth was salty, but also a little sweet. Would definitely recommend.

Another recent observation we made regarding tempura was the nasu (eggplant). Nasu is usually cut into long slices. However, when it is in the oil, the center of the nasu becomes soft and begins to lose the integrity of its shape. Recently, we’ve come across nasu tempura that is cut vertically into quarters. The base is then cut to give it four “legs”. During the frying process the “legs” shrivel a little and spread out. This is the second time that we have seen the nasu tempura served in this way. We really enjoyed it. The nasus texture was firm and not mushy.

Final Thoughts

The tempura and soba is a little pricy considering what we got. This does happen since we are in a resort town and there is tourism surge pricing. All in all, it was pretty good. If you are looking for a nice soba and tempura place, then we recommend Sobadokoro Daimon in Nozawa Onsen.

More to Come…