Hatsuhana Soba Honten

Nice comfy soba spot. There is a bit of a wait, though. But the view by the river is amazing. They accept credit card (but no metal cards) and have an english menu too. Definitely recommend!

There was a long queue in a weekday lunchtime. A little bit crowded both inside and outside. One should register outside the door and wait for being called. It is definitely worth a try. Lots of choices you can choose from both udon with or without soup. Great view if you get a window seat; you can enjoy the riverside view with your food ordered.

Hatsuhana Soba Honten is a busy place run by a group of old ladies serving homemade soba noodles in several variations. The lines can be long but move quickly as diners are shuffled in and out. I had the Ten Zaru Soba, a set meal that came with cold soba and mixed tempura (including shrimp, pumpkin, nori, and okra), along with a light savory dipping sauce on the side with scallions and wasabi to garnish. I also tried the house original Teijyo Soba, a bowl of soba topped with grated yam and a raw egg in a cold dashi broth, which turned into a sticky coating for the noodles; and the Yamakake Soba, which was the same as the Teijyo but with a hot dashi broth. Overall, the soba here was decent and served quickly, making for a nice simple meal, though the service felt a bit rough around the edges.

Had the tempura and soba. The dipping sauce brings out the flavours of the soba. Tempura was fresh too!

We were staying nearby so we visited around 10 and it was almost full. It's all the grannies working so you can expect it to be good. There's an English menu so it's easy to order. We ordered the oyaku, tori and wild vegetable soba and each one of them was flavourful, umami rich and delicious. Special mention to the wild vegetable soba, there were fiddlehead ferns, mushroom, bamboo shoots and each one of them was naturally sweet. Totally would recommend it if you are in Hakone.