Ito Chuka Soba

Since June 2025, Narimasu up in Nerima has had the honour of hosting one of the city’s finest purveyors of next-generation chuka soba. That’s right – Ito’s version is far from your orthodox take on the classic Tokyo dish, but a wildly innovative version that can rightfully be said to push the genre in a new direction.

First off, the shop is not bashful about going all in on the niboshi, as evidenced by the smell that hits you as soon as you walk in the door. Besides dried sardines, their distinctive, boldly flavoured broth is drawn from high-end skipjack flakes, kombu, shiitake mushrooms, shijimi clams, chicken, duck and black pork bones, and vegetables.

Ito’s Chuka Soba (from ¥1,000) is a show-stopping bowl: the pungent but complex soup hits you from the first sip, but doesn’t dominate the meticulously crafted whole. The thick and juicy char siu, gorgeous medium-thick noodles and minimalist array of toppings all push in the same delicious direction, beseeching you to keep slurping.

If you’re a true niboshi sicko, opt for the Niboshi Soba (from ¥1,000), in which five types of dried sardines come together in a harmony of pure umami.