#B1-41 Paragon, 290 Orchard Road, Singapore. Tel: 6735 9882

As the name suggests, handmade soba is this restaurant’s specialty. Passers-by can watch the process of making this from start to finish in the impressive glass-walled showcase kitchen – from the grinding of the buckwheat to the resulting flour being kneaded into a dough, then being deftly hand-cut into thousands of thin noodles. These noodles are firmer and richer tasting than what you may be used to, and delicious in whatever way they are served: plain and chilled as in the seiro soba, or in a hot soup base such as the mushroom and vegetable sansai soba. I went for the chilled – it’s really the best way to appreciate the quality of the soba. The atmosphere is convivial if slightly noisy when the restaurant is bustling, but the prompt service makes up for any shortcomings. Apart from soba, there are the usual hand rolls and sashimi but if you would like something different, order the kamoshio,a very tasty dish of grilled duck. And do leave room at the end for the uguisu kuzumochi:green tea-infused sticky kuzumochi dusted with finely ground peanut and served with vanilla ice cream – some find the fragile, jelly-ish texture of kuzumochi off-putting, but it’s one of those Japanese ingredients that it’s well worth acquiring a taste for. Another addictively toothsome sweet is the soba abekawa: tiny spheres moulded from the same buckwheat used for the noodles, and topped with matcha powder, peanut powder and mashed red bean paste – very authentic and very delicious. Wine: No wines served.