Kanda Matsuya

Along with nearby Yabu Soba, Matsuya counts among Tokyo's most venerable noodle joints – it's been in business since 1884, and the current, gorgeously preserved building dates back to 1924. But well over a century of history doesn't translate to a stuck-up attitude here: on the contrary, Matsuya is a wonderfully down-to-earth place, always bustling with eager slurpers who come for the simple and unpretentious but flawless combo of handmade soba and power-packed dashi, which – we imagine – tastes almost exactly as it used to back in the Taisho era.