Tsurukian sits right beside Hikone Castle and serves Ibuki soba, a native buckwheat from the foot of Mount Ibuki that nearly disappeared. I spent the morning in the Ibuki fields with two of the men who brought it back (read the Ibuki soba story). Their own restaurant was closed that day, so they sent us here for lunch.
The banner out front reads 献上伊吹そば, “kenjō Ibuki soba”: Ibuki soba fit to present to the shogun. In the Edo period the Hikone domain sent Ibuki soba to the shogunate, so this felt like the right place to eat it. Their soba is made only from buckwheat grown by contracted Ibuki farmers.
What I ordered
I had the tendon set for ¥2,000. It brought a round of cold Ibuki soba on a bamboo mat, with flecks of the grain visible in every strand, and a bowl of rice under prawn and vegetable tempura: lotus root, eggplant, pumpkin, shiitake and green peppers. Alongside came spinach with sesame, the dipping sauce, wasabi, spring onion and grated daikon, and a little plate of crunchy fried soba to nibble.
One thing I hadn’t expected: the soba we ate was last year’s harvest. This year’s was still in the field, days from being cut.
How it tasted
I’m no food critic, but here’s what I noticed. The soba was textured and firm to chew, yet smooth. Not soft like spaghetti, and nothing like ramen. With grated daikon, wasabi and spring onion stirred into the dipping sauce (soba tsuyu), it was delicious.
The tempura was just as good, and every piece had a different feel in the mouth. Underneath, the rice had soaked up the sweet tempura sauce, and it tasted great.
Then came the finish I’d heard about. Once the noodles were gone, they brought out soba-yu, the cloudy water the soba was cooked in. You pour it into what’s left of your dipping sauce and drink it like a warm broth. After a morning learning how much goes into every grain, it felt right that nothing was wasted.
Visit
| Name | Tsurukian (献上伊吹そば つる亀庵) |
| Type | Restaurant |
| Prefecture | Shiga |
| Area | Hikone, beside the castle moat |
| Address | 1-1 Tachibana-chō, Hikone, Shiga |
| Phone | 0749-26-2615 |
| Closed | Wednesdays; irregular during cherry blossom and autumn leaf seasons |
| Season visited | Autumn |
| Date visited | 15 October 2026, lunch |
| Price paid | ¥2,000 tendon set (others at our table: niku soba ¥1,700, ten soba ¥1,600) |
| Payment | Credit cards accepted, but bring the physical card: phone tap-to-pay (Apple Pay and the like) wasn’t. Across Japan it varies: some places take tap-to-pay, others only cash, a local payment method or a physical card. Carry cash and your physical card so you’re covered either way. |
Want to see where the soba comes from? The fields and the cooperative’s own restaurant, Soba no Sato Ibuki, are about 30 minutes away in Maibara (read the Ibuki soba story).
