Soba Yōkan

A popular soba shop transformed its soba water into a dessert!

Near Jindaiji Temple is a popular soba restaurant called Yūsui, bustling with customers daily.

They also serve yōkan, a traditional Japanese jelly dessert but with a twist that you could only find at a soba shop; they use large amounts of soba water. They call it soba yōkan. The flavor is distinctively sophisticated and not overly sweet.

Soba yōkan consists of three carefully made layers. The first layer is made of the thickest liquid from the bottom of the pot of soba water, the second red bean paste solidified in soba water, and the third soba water that has been further thickened with buckwheat flour.

The soba water they use is the thickened liquid remaining on the bottom of the pot after boiling about 50 portions of Yūsui’s finest soba.

Some people even come after lunch just for soba yōkan, and regular customers swear by it.

”They say that soba water retains the health benefits of buckwheat and is very good for you. Everybody loves soba yōkan, from little kids to our older customers.” (Hiroe Kodama, staff)