【Nice nostalgic vibe, but there's a bit of a sewer pipe smell】 Visited 2024/01/04 around 8 PM I happened to get off at Nakano, so I decided to give it a try 【How to get there】 ・Obviously, it's inside the ticket gates of JR Nakano Station ・Platform for tracks 1/2, in other words the Chuo Line local trains. 【Payment】 ・Prepaid meal ticket system; since it's on the platform, you can use all kinds of e-money like Suica and so on. ・You buy a meal ticket and go inside, but the entrance is surprisingly hard to find, so be careful. It's on the track 2 side. 【Atmosphere】 ・It's a prefab shack, basically. You hardly ever see a station soba shop this old anymore. ・Standing space for about 6–7 people, I'd say ・The inside is reasonably cleaned and tidy, but only to the extent that you can eat a meal there. ・However, maybe the pipes are a bit worn out, because there's a smell, so watch out for that. 【Kake soba】 ・¥340 ・The broth is on the strong side, and the noodles are on the soft side. ・But with this kind of thing, it's not really about whether it's good or bad.

Station soba that I crave every now and then. At Ajisai Chaya, which has become a minority even within JR East territory, I had the basic ten-tama soba. Nakano Station is the turnaround station for Chuo Line local trains. Quietly standing on the turnaround platform for tracks 1・2 is this shop. Its appeal is that you can enjoy a bowl of soba in the little time before your train departs. Ajisai Chaya isn't one of the fresh-noodle soba shops that have become mainstream in recent years, but a "boiled noodle" type shop. So the soba has a soft, fluffy bite; those who want authentic firmness and texture may find it lacking, but it's perfect for people who want to slurp down soba like a drink. The kakiage isn't freshly fried either, but let it soak up the strong, bonito-dashi-rich tsuyu like a sponge and it becomes twice as tasty. It brings out the savory aroma of the carrots and onions inside. Finally, coat the fluffy soba and kakiage with the rich yolk of a raw egg, and you'll finish everything, down to the broth, in no time. Truly a bowl that busy businesspeople can rely on. Thank you for the meal.

Visited Wednesday around 6. Accepts cash and transit e-money. A chain with the strongest location ever, on the Sobu Line platform 1・2, between door 4 of car 4 and door 1 of car 5! ① Ordered kakiage soba 400 yen, large size 110 yen, korokke 100 yen. The inside is super cramped, but since it's not a place with lines, it's pleasantly uncrowded and comfortable☆ It's a one-person operation, but both the male and female staff deliver flawlessly precise, super-fast service thanks to their reassuring operation! The rough, chewy noodles, and the broth that's super hot enough to bring cold fried stuff up to a tasty temperature yet still full of dashi flavor — the groove is the best!!

After work; that day I'd been working somewhere far away, so I came in staggering on my way home. Ordered shoyu ramen. Served right after buying the ticket from the machine. Gentle shoyu flavor, thin curly noodles — THE shoyu ramen. Cheap, and it warmed me up.

Ajisai Chaya, enshrined on tracks 1・2 of Nakano Station. NRE group (←they change their company name so often that I've gotten tired of correcting it). The staff was really friendly, and I enjoyed the soba happily. But kakiage really is better freshly fried. It's a matter of timing, though. No Hoppy. Non-smoking.