This restaurant has a reputation of being difficult to book and claims to have the best soba in Japan—a lot of visitors don’t tend to argue. As of Sep 15, Watanabe is open at Nihonmura Mall for the Thonglor crowd. 

 

Chef Nakagawa Kiyotaka, combines soba with premium ingredients, including truffle, and the soba flour is imported from Japan, made in-house at their restaurant in Osaka. Not only did they bring their soba, but they’ve also carted over their bowls, chopsticks, cutlery, and other materials.

 

The menu is divided into three courses: standard (B3,500), gold (B4,500), and diamond (B5,500), including delicacies such as the toryufu to hotate no aburi, a grilled scallop topped with shoyu, truffle oil, and truffle sprinkles. The toryufu wagyu sukiyaki, features wagyu dipped in a 72-hour fermented soup and then a bowl of truffle-infused egg yolk. 

 

The standout of the menu is the toryufu soba, which is soba with a generous amount of truffle. The soba is rolled in front of you, and there is a knob of butter on the side to add to the sauce, making it even more silky and aromatic. To cleanse the palette, finish the meal with a scoop of homemade yuzu sorbet.  

 

The restaurant has an atmosphere of understated elegance and intimacy, with a palette of dark tones and gold accents. With only 10 coveted seats available per round, reservations are recommended.