Located in Tsuboya, in the eastern part of Naha City, EIBUN is an Okinawan soba restaurant that looks like a cafe. The owner moved to Okinawa in 2012, visited 500 Okinawan soba restaurants, trained at a long-established restaurant, and opened his current restaurant in 2016. What kind of restaurant is this that there is a huge line for even before it opens?
Point 1: Has “EIBUN” changed the image of the Okinawa soba restaurant? Very stylish store interior!
When you think of an Okinawan noodle shop, you may have an image of a Japanese-style restaurant with a traditional Japanese brick wall and a long-established business that has been run by your grandfather or grandmother for many years.
But when I went there, I was surprised! The exterior of the shop looks like a café. The walls with hand-drawn illustrations are cute! The long picture of a buckwheat noodle is unique (laugh).
The interior is also café-like, with a huge wooden objet d’art in the middle of the restaurant! I have never seen an Okinawan noodle shop like this before!
The owner is a young man in a T-shirt and dungaree-style hat, running a one-man operation. His earnest appearance is like that of an up-and-coming urban ramen shop.
The menu is cute with hand-drawn illustrations, and I couldn’t help but want to take a picture of it!
Point 2: I am very curious! What is the profile of the owner of EIBUN?
The owner of EIBUN, an Okinawa soba restaurant in Tsuboya, Naha City, is a former French chef.
He moved to Okinawa in 2012, ate at more than 500 Okinawan soba restaurants including those on the main island and remote islands, and trained for 4 years at the famous “Nakamura Soba” in Onna Village before opening his own restaurant in 2016.
The reason why he moved to Okinawa and started his Okinawa soba restaurant was because of the Great East Japan Earthquake!
The owner, who is from Iwate, returned to Iwate to volunteer after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and while having drinks with his classmates, his classmate’s wife was from Naha, and while listening to her talk about “Okinawa soba,” he became interested in it.
At that time, he had already applied for a visa with the intention of going to Singapore, but he decided to cancel it and headed for Okinawa as if drawn by a “gut feeling. His “gut feeling” was right on the money!
Maybe it was because it was a little far from Kokusai-dori (International Street). But word of mouth gradually spread, and now the restaurant is so popular that customers line up before it opens, and it is constantly being interviewed by reporters.
I think your “intuition” is very important in life!
Point 3: What is the innovative menu of “EIBUN” like?
Now let’s unravel the secret of “EIBUN’s” popularity!
First of all, Okinawa soba is all about the taste of the broth, which is cooked for as long as eight hours to extract the flavor.
Also, the sampan meat, cartilage soki and makanai meat are cooked for hours and hours. The restaurant opens at 11:00 a.m., but the preparation time is much longer than the business hours, as they sometimes sell out by mid-afternoon (laugh).
After looking at the cute illustrated menu, you can choose from four types of noodles.
There are four types of noodles: “EIBUN noodles” made with an original formula, “hooch bar noodles” kneaded with mugwort (+50 yen), “fresh noodles” (+50 yen), and “squid ink noodles” (+50 yen).
Toppings such as raw egg, aji-tama (seasoned egg), pak choi, arsers, cartilage soki, seared cartilage soki, etc., are combined with it.
The most popular dish is the “Bunbun Soba,” a hearty bowl of Okinawa soba noodles with fresh noodles topped with pakuchi and uncut cartilage sausage, and a carefully prepared broth that gives it a great flavor.
There are also other stylish dishes such as beef bean sprouts covered with crunchy sauce, spicy beef bean sprouts soba, triple cartilage sausage soba, and mazesoba with special cold jelly bukkake!
My schedule is jam-packed on my trip to Okinawa. If you don’t want to wait in line, why don’t you try their online store first?
