The towns of Hokkaido - Biratori Hokkaido is Japan's largest buckwheat producing area. There is only one restaurant serving locally produced soba (buckwheat) noodles in Biratori-cho. Mitsuzuka has an ambiance like the living room of a private home, and from inside the restaurant diners can look out over the rural landscape of the Saru River Basin. We recommend the Vegetable Tempura Zaru Soba. The attraction of this restaurant is the delicious flavors of edible wild plants picked in area hills and fields and of vegetables grown in home gardens or on local farms.
Fuki flowers in your dish will herald the coming of spring in March, and in May your dish may be filled with udo, kogomi, green asparagus, white asparagus, and if you're lucky, false acacia. In July, people are happy to see zucchini flowers. Other vegetables served include okra, snap peas, carrots, kabocha and burdock.
The buckwheat used for the soba at Mitsuzuka is grown on Sikerpe Farm. It was about 20 years ago that the farm began growing buckwheat. Because it uses no agricultural chemicals, the farm doesn't have large harvests. So it can't be helped that Mitsuzuka is the only restaurant using Biratori buckwheat.
Soba restaurant 'Mitsuzuka' 
Zaru soba (noodles served cold with dipping sauce) or kake soba (noodles served in hot soup) - 550 yen. Mushrooms and soba noodles in hot soup - 650 yen. Vegetable tempura with zaru soba - 800 yen.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the summer, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the winter.
Closed: Every Tuesday
Address: 18-4 Nina Biratori-cho, Saru-gun, Hokkaido. Tel.: 01457-2-2655
