A tour of local specialties and unique soul foods only found in Morioka, Iwate!

If you come to Morioka, you must try these three great noodles!

If you've come all the way to Morioka, you can't miss out on the local specialties! First, try the "Three Great Morioka Noodles" at famous restaurants: Wankosoba, Jajamen, and Morioka Reimen.

1. Try the record! Enjoy Iwate's specialty, Wankosoba, at the long-established restaurant "Azumaya"

First, we headed to Azumaya, a long-established soba restaurant that has been in business since the Meiji era, aiming to try the wankosoba that is synonymous with Iwate! It is a popular restaurant that is visited not only by people from all over Japan, but also by many people from overseas these days.

The waiter calls out, "Hai, Janjan. Hai, Dondon," and one mouthful of soba noodles is tossed into the bowl in front of you, a style of hospitality unique to Iwate. The sound of the bowls being piled up and the bowls piling up also get you excited.

15 bowls of Wankosoba is roughly the amount of one bowl of Kakesoba, with the average male eating 50-60 bowls and the average female eating 30 bowls. The all-time record is a whopping 753 bowls! The recommended way to eat it is to enjoy the taste of the soba with the first bowl, then change the flavor to suit your taste. That way, you can enjoy delicious soba to your heart's content until the very end.

Once you've finished eating, you'll be given a certificate with the amount you've eaten recorded, so it will become a memento of your trip. Why not give Wankosoba a try and push your limits?

Soba Restaurant Azumaya Main Branch

If you're interested in Azumaya Honten, check out TikTok!

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Soba has long been a beloved national dish in Japan. Its characteristics and ways of eating vary from region to region, making it a very deep dish. In this article, we will introduce the characteristics of soba from Iwate, Nagano, and Shimane prefectures, which are counted among the three major soba places in Japan, as well as traditional soba restaurants that are definitely worth a visit.

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② Become addicted to the taste of Pairon, a famous Jajamen restaurant that has been loved by locals for over 60 years!

For the second of Morioka's three great noodles, Jajamen, we recommend "Pairon," a long-time local favorite!

It is said that Jajamen was born when the first owner of the restaurant made some adjustments to the Zhajiang noodles (Jajamen) that he had eaten in Manchuria before the war, so that the people of Morioka could enjoy it.

It features minced meat, sesame seeds, shiitake mushrooms, and other ingredients mixed together in a secret miso paste that is stir-fried and left to sit, and chewy flat noodles. Mix the noodles and miso well, and add vinegar, chili oil, garlic, and other ingredients to create your own flavor.

Once you've finished your Jajamen, be sure to try the Chinese egg soup "Chitantan"!

Leaving some noodles aside, the waiter cracks an egg onto a plate, mixes it, and then adds the boiled water from the Jajamen noodles, tops it with spring onions and miso. You can add salt, pepper, chili oil, miso, etc. to your liking, making this a dish that you can enjoy right up to the end.

Pairon Main Store

3. Enjoy the smooth and delicious cold noodles at Shokudoen, the birthplace of Morioka Reimen

Morioka cold noodles have recently become popular nationwide. The long-established yakiniku restaurant "Shokudoen" is the birthplace of Morioka cold noodles.

Morioka Reimen is a uniquely evolved version of the reimen that originated in the Korean Peninsula, the hometown of the first owner. The soup is carefully made with selected beef, and the soft, chewy noodles are kneaded by a craftsman, and the kimchi on the side adds an accent to this bowl that will have you coming back for more.

With an exquisite balance of spiciness, saltiness, sweetness, and sourness, it has long been loved by locals.

There is also a set that allows you to enjoy cold noodles along with the restaurant's signature yakiniku, allowing you to enjoy carefully selected domestic beef yakiniku and the irresistible smooth Morioka cold noodles all at once.

Shokudoen

Full from the morning! Morioka's unique breakfast

One of the best parts of traveling is getting up earlier than usual and enjoying the local cuisine in the morning. Here we will introduce some recommended gourmet foods that have been loved by locals for a long time. We have picked out some unique foods that will leave a lasting memory of your trip.

Start your day off right with a hearty morning at Morioka Mikoda Morning Market, the kitchen of Morioka!

First, we went to Morioka Mikoda Morning Market, known as Morioka's kitchen. Located a little way from the city center, this morning market is loved by locals and tourists alike. It is a historic market that is open for more than 300 days a year, except on Mondays and the New Year.

Not only can you get locally grown vegetables and fruits at low prices, but there's also a wide variety of gourmet foods to enjoy in the morning, including local dishes like Hittsumi soup, oden, snacks like bread, and desserts!

There are so many different restaurants in the area that it's hard to decide what to eat, but we've picked out two unique ones.

Curry from "Ichiya Shokudo"

At Ichiya Shokudo, you can eat breakfast curry. They use carefully selected spices and serve a mellow, rich, authentic curry that is simmered slowly. Ichiya Shokudo is run by the local farm Inoue Farm, and has a wide variety of menu items, including vegetable curry made with freshly picked local vegetables and chicken cutlet curry. In addition to curry, they also serve Japanese breakfasts such as natto set meals and tamagoyaki set meals.

Ramen from "Asaichi Shokudo"

Next up is the morning ramen from "Asaichi Shokudo." This ramen has a soy sauce-based soup and medium-thin noodles, making it easy to eat even first thing in the morning.

It's a delicious breakfast that will warm you from the inside out on cold mornings.

Morioka Mikoda Morning Market

Fukuda Pan's buns are a local favorite of people of all ages

Fukuda Pan's koppepan bread is one of Morioka's beloved soul foods. It's so popular that there are lines before the store opens at 7am.

The koppepan, which has been baked in the same way since the first generation, is a simple yet timeless dish that is perfect for breakfast. Among the many unique combinations available, such as "Jaja Miso" and "Corned Beef and Egg," the classic is "Red Bean and Butter."

The staff will prepare the bread after you place your order. It's also interesting to watch them skillfully spread cream from colorful tins onto the bread.

If you add in variations such as "mixed," where two different flavors are mixed by spreading different ingredients on each side of the bread, and "half and half," where the flavors are separated in the middle so they don't mix, the number is said to be as many as 2,000. It makes you want to try all the different flavors.

Fukuda Pan Nagatacho Main Store

If you're interested in Iwate cuisine, check out TikTok!

We enjoyed a wide variety of delicious gourmet foods, from Morioka's three must-try noodles to unique breakfasts beloved by locals.

For gourmet information on Iwate Prefecture, the tourism influencer "Ryomai Fufu" is also introducing it on JAL's official TikTok! Please check out the video.

JAL Official TikTok

Ryomai couple

A couple travel influencer living in Kansai. They started their social media activities to boost the tourism industry, which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple posts about "outings" and "travel spots" that will make you want to go there tomorrow, and has over 500,000 followers on TikTok! (As of January 2025)

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