Reiwa Soba – Fresh Made On-Site Sobas With A Fusion Twist

Japanese soba made from scratch on-site with 100% buckwheat flour. MSG and additives-free bone broth. House-made chilli oil infused tsuyu dipping sauce. Hormone-free meat slices.

Not quite what you would expect from a humble little 3 months old coffee shop stall in Jalan Besar, amirite?

Reiwa Soba prides itself on delivering churned-from-scratch soba with a distinctive Singaporean twist from its cosy premises.

The Reiwa Pork Soba ($12) came with a serving of fresh soba generously topped with nori and sesame seeds nested on a sieve-like separator in a shallow bowl. We added on a perfectly cooked soft boiled egg ($1) with a gooey and runny yolk for some extra protein and #eggporn.

The 100% gluten-free buckwheat noodles which are made on-site daily were indeed outstanding in every right. Each delicate strand of noodle was chewy with a firm texture. Dip the noodles into the tsuyu (dipping sauce) and, oh wait, have we mentioned the tsuyu already?

Instead of your usual shoyu-based (soy sauce) tsuyu, Reiwa’s signature dipping sauce is made from a fusion of fish, seaweed and chicken dashi (broth). The sauce is then laced with chilli oil and topped with crispy rice puffs and negi (leek).

After having his first taste of a spicy tsuyu in a soba shop in Tokyo, Reiwa Soba’s owner, Shinji, a Ehime native was inspired to create his own savory concoction. Reiwa’s spicy tsuyu, the first in Singapore, paired particularly well with the fresh soba. The subtle spicy kicks from the house-made chilli oil left a slight tingle on our taste buds. If one of our colleagues who usually orders either non-spicy (不辣) or mildly spicy (微微辣) for mala can handle this spice, we are confident that it will be a pretty comfortable level of heat for most.

The slices of thinly-shaved hormone-free Spanish white pork slices had a good lean meat-fat ratio. The layers of creamy fat provided a shiok mouthfeel with no unpleasant porky smell, which we greatly appreciated.

Pro-tip: coat the pork slices and soba in the creamy golden yolk of the soft boiled egg for an ultimate silky soba experience (in a coffee shop). Slurpsss.

A unique offering on the menu was the Mango Salada ($4) which we managed to try. The Thai-inspired mango salad was crunchy, refreshing, and flavourful. You can also go for the Mango Salada Soba ($10) which comes with the same salad atop fresh soba noodles.

Interestingly, they offer a Soup Of The Day Soba ($10, soup without noodle: $6) which sees their signature soba drenched in a Thai or locally-inspired soup such as green curry and ba kut teh. On the day of our visit, the Szechuan Vegetable and Pork Soup was available, but what was unavailable, unfortunately, was our stomach space. Guess that only warrants a return visit soon!

With a steady stream of Japanese customers gracing the stall and exchanging polite nods, you know that Reiwa Soba is the place to go for fresh house-made soba. Come only if you’re open to trying modern sobas with a fusion twist as you won’t be able to find your traditional soba with tsuyu anywhere on the menu. And oh, come also if you’re into #health as these gluten-free carbs, hormone-free proteins, MSG and preservatives-free broth will keep you on your #fitspo track.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.