Soba with a volcano view

I’ve never spent much time in the Aso region, mainly due to many failed attempts to see Mt. Aso during my first year. The road closures and difficulty in finding routes not affected by the earthquake a few months prior, meant I’d given up trying. That was until Olivia suggested a day out to Minami Aso; only an hour away from my house and surprisingly easy to get to, since you avoid a lot of the roads that were damaged.

We visited Kugino Soba Dojo, where we learnt how to make our own soba noodles from scratch. The experience was pretty easy to follow, with little obaachans (old ladies) first placing the ingredients in front of us and giving us time to take in the instructions they’d provided. Interesting fact: they strictly use buckwheat and Japanese yam produced right there in Minami Aso.

After a quick demo for each stage of the process, we were allowed to have a go, before the old lady did a cheeky check to make sure our noodles would actually turn into something edible. I was surprised by how dry the dough was and how quickly it all came together. There’s also a specific way to roll out the dough to maintain a consistent thickness, something which I’ll definitely be applying to my baking from now on. Once the dough was folded, it was time to get onto cutting, something Olivia and I weren’t too bad at.

At the centre you can choose to take your noodles home with you, or have them prepared there. I’d highly recommend that option, as we had more than enough left over to take home too. We got both a hot and cold set to try, which included onigiri and pickles.

It only costs ¥2,300 for one person for the materials, which makes four servings of soba! At only ¥2,800 for the two of us, we got to make soba, fill ourselves silly at lunch time, and I even had lunch for the next two days sorted.

If language barrier is a concern for you, I wouldn’t worry at all. All of the staff we spoke to at Kugino Soba Dojo were super friendly and seemed thrilled to have some foreigners there. The day was relaxed and fun filled, with us going to three great locations.

Afterwards we headed to the source of the Shirakawa River, where you can see it bubbling out of the ground. After taking a sip and having a paddle (of course I almost fell in), we headed to a soft cream stall where I had the most delicious kiwi soft cream. Take note if you every want a romantic date near Aso.