If you have been reading Ibaraki Eats thus far you know that I love ramen. I also really love maze soba. I have called maze soba the bad boy of ramen before and it is. Maze soba is ramen without the soup and it is amazing. I love getting my chop sticks in there and mixing all the ingredients myself. There is just something so fun and satisfying about it. So you can imagine my excitement when a maze soba place opened up in Tsuchiura's City Hall building. I can walk to the place and have delicious maze soba whenever I want. Today, I am going to talk about Tsuchiura's own Abu Take.
Abu Take
Wait my Tsukuba people! You might be thinking, "yeah this is in Tsuchiura, probably not going to check it out." But before you leave this post, you should know that this place is also in Tsukuba but it has a different name. In Tsukuba it is called Abu Tora (oily tiger, awesome name). Abu Take and Abu Tora are owned by the same person and I believe they have the same menu. Why am I only talking about the Tsuchiura location?
It is closer.
Abu Tora always has a long wait time! I have driven by there three times and only eaten there once.
Abu Take is a brand new place that opened up last spring so the wait time is still doable. It is in the Tsuchiura City Hall building across from the train station on the first floor.
Inside
Abu Take isn't a big place and neither is Abu Tora. I believe Abu Take can hold about 15 people max. Everything inside is new and very nice. The tables have a bunch of different condiments you could add to your maze soba.
The Menu
Like almost every ramen restaurant in Japan, the menu is on a ticket vending machine. The top three yellow buttons are the regular sized maze sobas. The first yellow button is just maze soba, the second button is maze soba with ontama which is an onsen cooked style egg, the third button is maze soba with meat. The second row's yellow buttons are all the same options but omori (large) size. The green buttons are all extra toppings you can add to your maze soba. Cheese, meat, negi, ontama and ajitama. The white buttons all deal with rice. They even have a mini fried rice. The blue buttons are drinks, beer, high ball and olong tea. The red buttons to the left are for the tantan maze soba. I haven't tried this maze soba yet but I think it is more spicy than the other maze sobas.
Meat Maze Soba
The first time I went to Abe Take, I was all by my lonesome. Unfortunately, my wife could not join me because she was working. She has been to Abu Take before and she loves it.
The first time I went to Abu Take, I ordered the meat maze soba. I went during lunch time and couldn't wait to dig in. My maze soba came with grounded garlic which I happily into my maze soba, some spicy stuff which I also added, a small bowl of white rice which is free during lunch, and a cup of soup broth with negi which you drink separately. I stared at my maze soba in awe of all it's meaty glory. I got my chopsticks and started mixing everything together. I then picked up a few noodles and started slurping. The thickness of the noodles with the garlic and the delicious minced pork was absolutely perfect. Next, I grabbed a cube of that soft delicious looking chashu and it was fantastic. I couldn't stop eating this amazing bowl of maze soba. It felt like I could let go of all my worries and just get lost in this spectacular bowl of maze soba. Once I finished the noodles, I added the rice and it was still heavenly. Everything in that bowl was great and I loved every second I spent eating my maze soba. I finished my maze soba in pure bliss and headed home. Feeling very full and extremely satisfied.
Since then I have gone back to Abu Take and their maze soba has not let me down. Even now while writing this post, it is hard not to just get up and walk there for lunch. I prepared my lunch for today, so I can't go. Tomorrow though, I think I might just pop in for more delicious maze soba.
So if you are around Tsuchiura station or in the Tsukuho area of Tsukuba, why not give this great bowl of maze soba a try. Abu Take or Abu Tora, take your pick. They are both great maze soba joints and I am 100% sure you will not be disappointed. Who knows, you might see me there, most likely at Abu Take enjoying my meaty maze soba.
Enjoy!
For more information on Abu Take and Abu Tora, check out their Twitter page:
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