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Popular with fresh made Soba noodles

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Popular with fresh made Soba... Popular with fresh made Soba... Popular with fresh made Soba... Popular with fresh made Soba... Popular with fresh made Soba...
By Keiko Fukuda

When a good Japanese restaurant opens, the news spreads very quickly in the Japanese community. A friend of mine who lives in Orange County told me, “A nice restaurant just opened. It is called Soba Izakaya Minami”. After that, I had a chance to have lunch with another friend who lives in Orange County, so I suggested the place. He said, “My wife said she has been there. She thought the food was good”. What a small world!

This place is located in the Laguna Hills Shopping Mall, about 45 minutes down south from where I live. Its interior provides a loft-like modern ambience, and does not look like a typical Izakaya. I visited toward the end of peak lunch hour; however, there were still several groups of customers enjoying meals. I ordered hot gobo tempura. To my surprise, the server told me that the price would be the same for any 100, 200, or 300g of soba. I thought 100g might not be enough, so I ordered 200g, which was just the right amount. If you really like to fill up, you should order 300g. This unique ordering system, and of course, the flavorful soba and crispy gobo tempura were also pretty impressive, and this place was added to my list of restaurants which I want to visit again.

On another day, I visited again to interview the owner, Ray Hattori. Mr. Hattori worked for Asahi Beer for a long time. He retired as the President of its American division. After that, he moved to Orange County, and started working as a restaurant business consultant. He explained to me that he thought he ought to have experience in running a restaurant himself, in order to call himself a consultant, and decided to launch this business by inviting in an enterprise which has been developing a large-scale restaurant chain in Japan as the partner. I asked him why a Soba restaurant, and he replied as follows:
“First of all, I wanted to have a restaurant of which Japanese people think “the taste is authentic”. Second of all, there are many various types of Japanese restaurants in Orange County, including a lot of ramen restaurants, but there are only a few soba restaurants.”

Before opening this soba restaurant, he worked as both a Lyft and Uber driver for the purpose of finding a good location, and market research. “I talked to the customers about where they were headed out to, and what they are looking for in a restaurant. By doing so, I was able to get some ideas,” said Mr. Hattori. In fact, people who use transportation services like Lyft to go to restaurants, often have drinking in mind.

Thus, Soba Izakaya Minami opened its doors in October of 2018. The reason for its open-feel, high-ceiling structure is that he wanted to give customers an image of a soba factory where freshly made soba is offered. In fact, they start the soba making machine after each order is placed. They really serve freshly made soba. They also serve udon dishes. You can take our udon, but not soba which is dine-in only. They are very particular about the freshness of soba, so you can only have soba in the restaurant.

When I made this report, it was about 6 months after the opening. Hattori-san then told me that he was already getting a good vibe. “I am so relieved to know that American customers don’t have much hesitation about soba, unlike what I had expected. Originally, I was aiming for the kind of taste that gives authenticity to Japanese, but as the result, half of our customers have become Americans. I am feeling unexpected happiness.”

Besides being a soba restaurant, they are also an izakaya at night. Because Mrs. Hattori is from Okinawa, they have a plan to gradually increase Okinawan cuisine in the menu. I am looking forward to that, too. Naturally, the beer brands they carry are Asahi, which Mr. Hattori worked for a long time, and Orion beer from Okinawa.


打ち立て蕎麦で人気

美味しい日本食屋ができると日本人社会の中ですぐに噂が広がる。オレンジ郡に住む知り合いに「いい店ができた。蕎麦居酒屋みなみという名前」と教えてもらった後、別のオレンジ郡の知り合いとランチをする時にその店を提案したところ、「ワイフが行ったことがあるらしい。美味しいと言っていた」という返事が返ってきた。スモールワールドだ。

 その店は私が住むエリアから45 分ほど南下したラグナヒルズのショッピングモール内にあった。内装は蕎麦屋らしからぬロフト風のモダンな雰囲気。ランチのピークが終わった頃に入店したのだが、それでも数組の客が食事を楽しんでいた。私がオーダーしたのは温かいごぼう天蕎麦。驚いたのは、サーバーに「蕎麦は100g、200g、300g のどの量でも値段は一緒です」と教えられたこと。100g だとさすがに足りない気がして200 にしてみたが大正解だった。さらにお腹いっぱいになるまで蕎麦を味わいたいと思う人は300 にすれば良いだろう。このユニークなシステムと、そしてもちろん風味豊かな蕎麦とサクサクのごぼう天の印象は抜群で、「再び訪れたい店」の一つに加わった。

 日を改めてオーナーのレイ・服部さんに話を伺った。服部さんは長年、アサヒビールに勤務、米国法人のプレジデントを最後に退職した。その後、オレンジ郡に引っ越し、レストランビジネスのコンサルタントとしての活動をスタートした。しかし、コンサルタントを名乗るからには一度自らレストランを経営すべきではないかと考え、日本で大規模な飲食店チェーンを展開している企業をパートナーに迎え店を手がけることにしたのだと説明してくれた。なぜ、蕎麦屋にしたのかと聞くと服部さんの答えは次のようなものだった。

「まず、日本人として『これは本物の味だね』と言っていただけるような店にしたかったということ。次にオレンジにはいろんな日本食店があり、ラーメン店も多いですが、蕎麦屋があまりないということです」

 蕎麦屋を開店するに当たり、ロケーションを探すための市場調査を目的に服部さんはリフトとウーバーのドライバーになったそうだ。「お客さんがどこを目指して出かけるのか、また実際に話をしてみて、彼らが求めているものが何かを聞くことで参考にさせてもらいました」と服部さん。確かにリフトのような配車サービスの利用者はお酒を飲むことを前提に飲食店に向かうことが多いはずだ。
 
 こうして2018 年10 月に蕎麦居酒屋みなみを開店。天井が高い開放的な造りにしたのは、新鮮な蕎麦を提供している「蕎麦工場」のようなイメージを顧客に与えたかったからだそうだ。そして蕎麦は、オーダーが入ってから製麺機にかける、まさにフレッシュな打ち立てを出している。メニューにはうどんもある。ただし、テイクアウトはうどんも受け付けるが、新鮮さにこだわる蕎麦はダインイン限定にしている。

 取材をしたのは開店から半年ほどが経った頃だったが、既に手応えを感じていると服部さんは話す。「アメリカ人のお客さんが思ったよりも蕎麦に抵抗がないようで安心しています。最初は日本人が食べても本物だと思っていただける味を目指していましたが、結果的には顧客の半分はアメリカ人になったことで想定外の嬉しさを感じています」。

 また、蕎麦屋だけでなく、夜は居酒屋としての顔を見せる。服部さんの奥様が沖縄出身ということで、メニューには沖縄料理を少しずつ増やしていく計画なのだとか。それもまた楽しみだ。ちなみに同店に置いているビールは服部さんが長年在籍したアサヒビールと沖縄のオリオンビールだということだ。



Soba Izakaya, Minami
24391 Avenida De La Carlota Suite A, Laguna Hills
(949) 215-5375
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Japanese-Restaurant/Soba-Izakaya-Minami-438038653298633/

11:30am-2:30pm
5:00pm-10:00pm
7 days open
#alljapannews #izakaya #minami #soba

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