Photos: DVMG · CC BY 3.0 (1, 3) · そらみみ · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ekisoba is a bowl of yellow kansui Chinese noodles in Japanese bonito dashi, made by Maneki Shokuhin and sold from stands on the platforms of JR Himeji Station since 1949. The down-line stand was renewed in March 2024 with a castle-and-lord exterior.
Why it's unique
Ekisoba is a single company's dish, sold on the platforms where it started in 1949 and nowhere outside Maneki's own shops. The original noodle was a konjac-and-buckwheat mix that went soft, which is why it became Chinese noodles in Japanese dashi, an odd pairing that stuck.
There are seated branches in town, but the point is the platform: eaten standing, between trains, the way it has been sold for over seventy years.
Before you go
Order the tempura ekisoba; regulars call it just "ekisoba". Buy by ticket machine. Eat it on the platform, not at the castle-front branch, which is the point.
There is a takoyaki-topped version that combines two Himeji dishes. Dried ekisoba (3 servings ¥1,180) is sold in the station if you want to take some home.
