Soba Masa in Imabari: The Old Soba Shop Where the Third Generation Also Makes Nagoya Kishimen (2026)
Imabari is udon country, and ramen country, and rice-bowl country.
Soba is not the noodle most visitors come here for.
Which is exactly why Soba Masa (そば正) is worth the short ride out of the centre.
It is an old soba shop where the third-generation owner also makes kishimen, the wide flat noodle of Nagoya, six hundred kilometres away.
You order one or the other from the same menu, and choosing is the whole pleasure of the place.
What kind of shop this is
Soba Masa sits on a quiet residential street in the Kitakouge area, across from a kindergarten, in a low wooden building that looks more like a mountain lodge than a restaurant.
Inside there is a counter for about five people, five tables, and a small tatami room at the back.
The owner and his wife run the front, and they are easy company even if your Japanese runs out early.
The soba is the shop’s inheritance.
The kishimen is the third generation’s own addition, made with wheat from Aichi and salt from Hakata Island, which is one of the islands you ride past on the Shimanami Kaido.
The first decision: soba or kishimen
Nearly every dish on the menu comes in both versions, at the same price or a hundred yen apart.
Soba is the buckwheat noodle, thin and fragrant, served hot in broth or cold on a bamboo tray.
Kishimen is flat and wide and pale, closer to a ribbon than a noodle, with a springiness that is surprising for something so thin.
A hot kake soba is 730 yen and the kishimen version is 830 yen, which is roughly how the whole menu is built.
Cold zaru is 780 and 880 yen, tempura is 1,080 and 1,180 yen, and the shop’s own inaka soba, the coarse dark country-style buckwheat, is 1,080 yen.
A handwritten note on the board added a third option: any dish on the menu can be switched to udon for 100 yen more.
How much noodle you want
A standard bowl is 150 grams of noodles.
If you have been riding all morning, 1.5 times (300 grams) is 250 yen more and double (400 grams) is 350 yen more.
Ordering in the cold zaru style comes with a larger 200 gram portion for 150 to 200 yen more.
This is the part worth knowing before you sit down, because a cyclist’s appetite and a standard lunch portion are not the same thing.
What to order the first time
The shop’s own signature is the inaka meshi teishoku, a set built around the country-style noodles.
It is 1,100 yen with soba and 1,150 yen with kishimen, and it arrives as noodles plus rice, a side dish, grated yam with daikon, and pickles.
That is a full meal for the price of a bowl of ramen in most cities.
The other easy choice is the tororo set in the photo at the top of this page: barley rice under grated mountain yam, soba alongside, with pickles and small dishes.
Grated yam is slippery and mild and faintly sweet, and it is one of those Japanese textures that people either love immediately or need a second try for.
Toppings, tempura and the thing at the end
Tempura is ordered by the piece rather than by the set: chikuwa fish cake 250 yen, prawn 250 yen, avocado 350 yen, maitake mushroom 400 yen, chicken 400 yen, or a mixed plate for 650 yen.
Noodle toppings are cheap and some are free.
Tenkasu, the crisp bits of fried batter, cost nothing at all.
A raw egg or fried tofu is 100 yen, extra spring onion 50 yen, grated daikon 150 yen, and grated yam 350 yen.
When you finish a cold soba, ask for sobayu.
It is the cloudy water the noodles were boiled in, poured into your leftover dipping sauce and drunk like a soup, and it is how soba is properly finished in Japan.
The menu says to just ask, so asking is expected rather than presumptuous.
Buckwheat ice cream, and a local drink
Dessert is a single line on the menu: soba ice cream, 400 yen.
It is vanilla with buckwheat groats folded through it, and the groats give it a nutty crunch that makes more sense than it sounds.
To drink, there is Pon Juice for 400 yen, the mandarin juice that Ehime is famous for, and a bottle of Yamatan Masamune for 880 yen, which is sake brewed in Imabari itself.
Beer is 700 yen and there is a non-alcoholic option at 550 yen if you still have kilometres to ride.
Getting there from JR Imabari Station
Soba Masa is about 3.4 kilometres south-east of JR Imabari Station.
By bicycle that is a flat fifteen minutes or so on ordinary streets, and by car or taxi about ten minutes.
It is not on the Shimanami cycling route, so treat it as a detour into the town rather than something you pass on the way.
There is parking for seven or eight cars beside the shop, and it does fill at the peak of lunchtime.
Opening hours
Lunch runs from 11:00 to 15:00.
Dinner is Friday, Saturday and Sunday only, from 17:00 to 20:00.
Last orders are taken thirty minutes before closing, at both services.
The shop is closed on Tuesdays.
That weekend-only evening is the thing to watch, because a Tuesday or a midweek dinner will find the door shut.
Several listings online still show older hours, so trust the times above, which are correct as of August 2026.
The shop’s phone number is 0898-22-5777.
Questions visitors ask
Is there an English menu? Not that we can confirm.
The menu is laid out in two clear columns, soba on one side and kishimen on the other, so pointing works.
What is kishimen? A flat, wide wheat noodle from Nagoya, not normally found in this part of Japan.
Eating it here is the point of coming.
Can I get a big portion? Yes.
Ask for 1.5 or double, at 250 or 350 yen more.
Is it good for a group? Yes, there are tables and a tatami room as well as the counter.
Is it near the cycling route? No, it is a detour into town, about 3.4 kilometres from the station.
When is it closed? Tuesdays, and every weekday evening.
Dinner is served on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only, so lunch is the safe plan.
Making a half day of it
Barrel Coffee is in the same neighbourhood, so lunch here and coffee afterwards is a short and easy pairing.
See Barrel Coffee and Roasters for that.
If you would rather compare noodles than switch drinks, the handmade udon at Matsu Seimenjo near the port and the rich back-fat ramen at Honebuto Mikaku are the other two ends of the local noodle map.
Imabari’s most famous dish is not a noodle at all, and the three classic shops for it are compared in the yakibuta tamago meshi guide.
Everything else on the Imabari side is gathered in the Imabari guide for Shimanami cyclists.
Prices are as shown on the shop’s menu in July 2026.
Menus and hours can change, so please check before you travel.
Original article in Japanese: 『そば正』雰囲気のある蕎麦屋さん・ボリュームと栄養満点のとろろ飯定食｜今治ランチ隊が行く！
