To call Matsugen a new-wave soba shop would be misleading, since the noodles it rolls, cuts, cooks and serves are entirely traditional. But judge it on looks and attitude alone, and it belongs without question to the present century, not the last.
First, it stays open past 10:30 p.m., which is in no way remarkable by Azabu standards but considerably later than the hours most old-school soba-ya subscribe to. Second, it boasts a sizable kitchen staff well-versed in all aspects of Japanese cuisine, not just the art of noodle-making. And, most importantly, Matsugen certainly dresses the part.
Inside and out, the design is quintessential Tokyo minimalist. A gleaming steel-mesh partition cordons off the kitchen, and the walls are of mud-look plaster, adorned only with a row of metal coat hangers (and the clothes suspended from them). The washroom, with its mysterious rotating door and stone washbasin, is a minor classic of the genre.