Yabu Restaurant... Handmade, Authentic Soba

It seems that lately, I've been unintentionally going on a global food tour of Los Angeles. French crepes, Cuban pastries, Italian pizza, and now Japanese soba noodles, I don't think I've ever fully appreciated how lucky I am to have the access to such a wide array of foods. Always a fan of Japanese food, I love finding new, authentic places to eat, especially when they make me feel just a tiny bit like I'm back in Japan. This afternoon, I had the pleasure of trying out one of these said places, Yabu Restaurant in West LA.

Yabu's speciality is their homemade buckwheat soba noodles, but their menu also boasts tasty rice bowls, sushi, side dishes, and tempura. With a such large variety of delicious sounding soba dishes to choose from, it was difficult to decide on just one thing to order. I will definitely have to make multiple trips back to try out some of their other offerings.

Nameko Oroshi Soba- Nameko mushroom, daikon oroshi (grated Japanese radish), spinach, and sprout cold soba. Very light and refreshing. 

Katsu don (deep fried pork cutlet rice bowl) and hot soba set. 

Zaru Soba and assorted tempura set. The tempura was probably the best thing I tasted out of the entire meal. It wasn't heavy or oily at all, the veggies were fresh, and the shrimp sweet and succulent. 

While the food was delicious, the service was slow and we waited nearly 40 minutes for our dishes, but we did happen to go during their busy lunch rush. Despite the wait, I still plan to come back again (and again). The table next to me had a chirashi sushi (assorted sashimi over rice) and soba set that looked amazing, so I'll certainly have to try that. 

Yabu Restaurant- 11820 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064