Munjeong soba shop: perilla oil natto soba and zaru soba, Usagi Soba

What is Usagi Soba?

Usagi Soba (우사기소바) is a Japanese restaurant near Munjeong Station in Munjeong-dong, Songpa, Seoul, specializing in house-made soba, rice bowls and tempura. I usually like Japanese soba, but this time I wanted something a little more special, so I headed to Usagi Soba.

What impressed me is that they mill the buckwheat themselves with a stone mill brought straight from Tokyo, then make the noodles in the shop. They even prepare the soba broth, tsuyu (dipping sauce) and tare (sauce base) themselves, so you can feel how serious Usagi Soba is about soba.

Usagi Soba location and opening hours near Munjeong Station

Usagi Soba is at 114 Beobwon-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul, in Unit B153 of M State Building E. On weekdays it is open 11:00-20:30 with a break from 15:00 to 17:20; on Saturdays it is open only 11:00-15:30, and it is closed every Sunday.

• Weekdays 11:00 - 20:30
• Break time 15:00 - 17:20
• Weekday last order 14:10, 19:40
• Saturday 11:00 - 15:30 (last order 14:40)
• Closed every Sunday

It is a handy spot near Munjeong Station if you want Japanese soba for lunch or dinner. Since it is in the M State building, it is also worth a look if you are searching for a Munjeong Station lunch place or restaurants around the Munjeong legal district.

It is a hot spot for office workers around Munjeong Station, so expect long waits at peak meal times.

What are the atmosphere and seating like at Usagi Soba?

Usagi Soba has a clean, cozy atmosphere, with seats from solo seats up to 4-person tables. That makes it good for eating alone near Munjeong Station, and for a family meal too.

Overall it was comfortable to eat in. The staff were kind and attentive, so the meal felt pleasant. Not just the food but the atmosphere and service were satisfying too.

Usagi Soba menu and prices

Usagi Soba has a varied menu, from hot soba to cold soba, rice bowls and sides. Here is what I ordered and the prices.

• Assorted tempura — ₩15,000
• Zaru soba (cold soba on a bamboo tray) — ₩16,000 (extra sauces: sesame dipping sauce, yam tsuyu made with Andong yam)
• Natto perilla oil soba — ₩14,000
• Added onsen egg (soft-cooked egg) — ₩1,500
• Cola — ₩2,500

Soba alone felt a little lacking, so I ordered the assorted tempura too. Japanese soba with crispy fried food? That is the honey combo at Usagi Soba.

The onsen egg I added separately was rich and delicious too. It worked perfectly as an appetizer.

The pickled radish with yuzu was a perfect palate cleanser as well.

What does Usagi Soba's perilla oil natto soba taste like?

The natto perilla oil soba (₩14,000) is Usagi Soba's recommended dish, with natto, shredded seaweed, bonito flakes and chopped green onion piled generously in a big bowl. With the added onsen egg, it looked quite appetizing from the first glance.

Natto is a divisive food because of its distinctive smell and sticky texture, right? But soba with perilla oil and natto? The name alone made me curious.

I really love natto anyway, so I picked it the moment I saw it. Lots of other tables were eating it too, so it seems to be a popular dish.

It combines the nutty aroma of perilla oil, the deep savoriness of natto and the softness of the egg. With bonito flakes and seaweed too, you can expect that typical Japanese umami. It is clearly a different style from ordinary cold soba, so I'd recommend it to people who like natto or want to try a different kind of buckwheat noodles.

The nuttiness of Usagi Soba's noodles, the perilla oil and the natto go together really harmoniously. "A reinterpretation of soba" suits this distinctive dish well.

Usagi Soba zaru soba: are the extra sauces worth it?

The zaru soba (₩16,000) is Usagi Soba's most basic dish, and besides the regular tsuyu you can add a sesame-flavored dipping sauce (gomadare) and a yam tsuyu made with Andong yam. The soba arrived neatly arranged on a bamboo mat on a large plate, and it already felt like a soba shop in Japan.

Shredded seaweed ttops the noodles, and you can enjoy them your way with the tsuyu, wasabi and grated radish served alongside. Usagi Soba's trademark is milling its own buckwheat and making noodles in the shop, so I was curious how they'd differ from ordinary soba. Since the buckwheat aroma and texture of the noodles matter most in soba, it's nice to taste them first without dipping in much sauce.

Goma dare vs yam tsuyu: which dipping sauce?

Besides the regular tsuyu, I added the sesame sauce and the yam tsuyu made with Andong yam. Even basic zaru soba becomes more varied with extra sauces.

The sesame sauce is appealing for its rich, nutty sesame flavor, while the yam tsuyu is known for the soft, thick texture of yam. It was fun that the same soba can taste completely different depending on the sauce.

Texture of the house-made buckwheat noodles

The freshly made buckwheat noodles had a subtle nuttiness and a clean, mild flavor. They had a good springiness and broke softly when bitten, and the more I chewed, the more buckwheat aroma I tasted. They weren't overpowering, yet I could fully enjoy the flavor of the noodles themselves.

Each sauce had its own charm, so it was fun to enjoy them in different ways.

The tsuyu was delicious, and the sauce with yam was really good too.

Usagi Soba assorted tempura: what's included and the price

The assorted tempura (₩15,000) comes piled generously on a deep teal plate, with fried shrimp, eggplant, chili pepper, pumpkin and more. Compared with prices these days, the tempura felt really reasonable.

I couldn't skip the assorted tempura I ordered with the soba.

The golden batter makes you expect a crispy bite just by looking. The shrimp tempura, crisp all the way to the tail, was especially impressive. The eggplant contrasts a moist inside with crunchy batter, and the vegetable tempura lets you enjoy a different flavor from each ingredient. Dipping them lightly in the salt served alongside would be a good way to taste the ingredients themselves.

A bite of cold soba followed by a bite of hot tempura was the best combination. The different temperatures and textures work so well together that if you order soba, I'd recommend getting tempura too.

Usagi Soba, where you can feel the perfect pairing of soba and tempura. By the way, they even gave me a cup of ice with my cola, a detail that touched me.

Who should try Usagi Soba?

What impressed me most about Usagi Soba near Munjeong Station is that it goes beyond simply selling soba: it is a Japanese soba restaurant that cares about the whole process, from milling the buckwheat to making the noodles. The menu range is appealing too, from basic zaru soba to distinctive soba with perilla oil and natto and assorted tempura made with various ingredients. I especially liked that you can add different sauces to the zaru soba.

If you're looking for a good soba restaurant near Munjeong Station, Japanese food in Munjeong-dong, or house-made noodle soba in Songpa, it's worth a visit. I'd recommend it to soba lovers, and also to anyone who wants to try Japanese buckwheat dishes a bit different from the usual cold buckwheat noodles.