Although noodle dishes such as soba and ramen are usually popular among foreign visitors, there is a special dish called Wanko soba that deserves just as much love and attention.
        This famous dish originates from Iwate Prefecture, and although it consists of soba noodles, it is eaten in a very unusual way: instead of devouring it in one bowl at a time, the soba is divided into small portions and quickly served in several portions. In a bowl, it’s like an unlimited food challenge.
        Usually you have to travel to Iwate Prefecture to enjoy Wanko Soba, but now you can try Wanko Soba at a new restaurant in Tokyo called Amusement Wanko Soba Kurukuru Wanko. While food is traditionally served to the table by staff, in Tokyo they’ve given food a new twist by literally placing bowls on a rotating conveyor belt so diners can serve themselves.
        As Japan’s first conveyor belt soba restaurant, the restaurant has made waves on television and online since opening in Kabukicho, Tokyo on June 25th. Given our reporter PK Sangjun’s extensive experience with conveyor belt sushi restaurants (known as conveyor belt sushi in Japan), he was the perfect person to appreciate this new way of eating soba in a bowl, so he stopped by for a visit.
       A standard lunch costs 3,300 yen ($24.38), lasts 40 minutes, and includes as much soba as you can eat, as well as green onions, wasabi and ginger, while other condiments such as seaweed and grated radish cost 100 yen per serving.
       It wasn’t just the carousel that made this place special, the PC discovered that it was a standing room restaurant with no chairs inside.
        Although he thought it was unusual at first, he soon realized that this standing position facing the conveyor belt was actually better for shoving the noodles down his throat. Eating as many bowls of noodles as possible is part of the fun of Wanzi Soba, and the PC’s goal is to remove at least 100 bowls of noodles within the time limit.
        ➡ This is a set lunch offered by PC. You can add broth to a larger bowl and mix noodles, broth and seasonings in a smaller bowl as needed.
       When PC grabbed a bowl of noodles from the conveyor belt, he became more confident in his ability to achieve his goal—he ate over ten bowls in just one minute!
       Luckily, the small portions made the task fun and doable, and the empty plates quickly began piling up, and within five minutes there were about 30 on his table.
        As for the taste, there is nothing special here, PC simply described it as “soba”. However, flavor is not integral to the taste of soba in a bowl – it’s all about speed and consumption, and after 17 minutes, PC had reached his goal for the day, with 100 empty bowls on the counter.
        Whenever he feels tired, PC uses seasonings to refresh his taste buds, which goes a long way to cleansing his taste buds between bowls of noodles. However, when he completed 100 plates, PC began to feel full, and although if he were a younger guy he might have continued to do so, he decided to quit after a century so that he could enjoy his achievement without worrying about any unpleasant bloating.
       ∫ PC also has a confession: he probably took a few smaller bowls of noodles to get to 100.
        In fact, offering smaller portion sizes is quite convenient and can help diners achieve their goals without having to do too much. This forced P.K. wondered where his 100 plates fit into the grand scheme of things, and after asking the staff, they told him that women eat on average about 60-80 plates, while men typically eat about twice as much.
       ➡ As for the highest record, 317 plates were eaten in two days after the opening, set by a female visitor.
        All visitors could take a memorable photo in a special place located near the entrance, and P.K. looked like a rock star admiring his bowl dog achievement.
        It’s a fun way to enjoy a plate of soba in the heart of Tokyo, and PC definitely recommends adding it to your list of must-see restaurants, along with prison-themed restaurant The Lockup, which will unfortunately close on July 31st. Close the door. .
       Bowl of Pleasure Soba Kurukuru Wanko / ¡ Address: J GOLDBUILD 5F, 1-22-9 Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo æ ±äº Øé¡ ¡ 新宿 Opening Hours: 12:00 – 22:00.
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