Long before Western chain restaurants entered Japan, the nation was nourishing its population with food served fast. Soba noodles — cheap, nutritious, served quickly and slurped just as speedily (while standing) — are one of Japan's original fast foods and continue to rival burger joints.
Standing soba shops, known as tachigui-soba, tend to concentrate around busy train stations, often inside or even on train platforms. Meals are simple and efficient by design, with orders often taken by a ticket machine outside the shop. After handing your ticket to the service counter your soba will be delivered moments later. Proceed to the standing bar, slurp away and hand your empty tray back upon exiting — it's all over in minutes. A average bowl of kake-soba (simple soba in a hot broth) is around ¥300 and 304 calories; a Big Mac is ¥380 and 563 calories.
You will be hard pressed to find a really bad bowl of soba in Tokyo, but there are some local superstitions about the best tachigui-soba: Some say the shabbier the decor, the tastier the soba, or that the farther it's located from a station, the more precise the flavors. Soba Ichi ticks neither of those boxes, but it does serve tasty noodles fast. Located throughout Tokyo, its touch-screen ticket machines greet you before the entrance. The menu starts at a mere ¥300 for your basic kake soba and up to ¥600 for a soba-and-tempura set. Both hot and cold varieties are available, with various toppings including seaweed, fried tofu, mountain vegetables and kakiage (tempura of seasonal vegetables). Though seating is available, standing shoulder to shoulder with fellow commuters to speed-slurp in unison is the preferred option.