Japan welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.
While many tourists travel to the urban and cultural landmarks in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, an increasing number of visitors are exploring lesser-known places like Kanazawa to experience Japan's tradition and culinary delight.
Located on the western coast of Japan, Kanazawa showcases Japanese ancient aesthetic with modern cultural and culinary wonders.
As more and more domestic and foreign travellers are finding, this traditionally important region must be experienced both through its historical attractions and its unique culinary creation alike and that's where this family-owned restaurant comes to the fore.
No place embodies this spirit more than "Soba Yamaneko", a family-owned restaurant located just under one hour from central Kanazawa. Steeped in nature and surrounded by mountains, this "Soba restaurant" not only serves handmade features, hand-rolled buckwheat noodle but also serves unique coffee and soft cream as well.
Yuko Taguchi, the shop owner, said: "We started as a buckwheat noodle restaurant, then we had the idea of making soba tea-flavoured soft ice cream and it proved to be a great success."
Combining the savoury with the sweet, Taguchi has pioneered "Soba-cha Soft"-- soba tea-flavoured soft ice cream and has brought the subtlety of Japanese soba to the dessert realm of soft ice cream.
Having served the Nissei brand of ice cream since the store's inception, "Soba Yamaneko" attracts local people and travellers due to this unique pairing.
In addition, to create Soba- flavoured soft ice cream, Soba Yamaneko also functions as a full-service coffee roaster. Serving unique coffee creation, Soba Yamaneko gives diners a tasty energy boost with their cappuccino infused soft ice cream topping with ground coffee beans.
A customer said, "I am having a mix of cappuccino and soba-cha. The flavor is amazing. Japan has long and rich culinary history that is pushed forward by passion and craftsmanship. For travelers looking to experience Japanese unique combination of tradition and progress, a visit to Soba Yamaneko is sure to delight."
( With inputs from ANI )