Martina: This is a 'Harry Potter' moment for me.
Dan: We're almost at Hogwarts. Soon.
M: Yeah, and then say, "Maybe they have a chocolate frog."
D: Maybe they have a chocolate frog.
M: And they do! So many chocolate frogs!
Simon: I am super thrilled about this right here.
We got a really tiny table and we got a big bowl of katsudon.
I can't even fit this bowl on the table.
That is a really thick piece of katsu. M: Eat it thick, bruh.
S: I like this train ride.
M: Look at this gorgeousness.
That's a natural hot spring that you can stop at.
Here's the 'Spirited Away' stop with the single train.
S: WHAT?!
M: So we just travelled five hours from Tokyo.
We are in Ouchijuku. We're here for really, really, special soba.
I don't wanna tell you how it's special. You're gonna see how it's special when we get there.
But what's even more special is this town that we're in right now.
S: I feel like I'm in a movie but this is real life.
People live here. M: Yup.
They have buildings here that are from the original, like, Edo period.
It's like - S: Oh my gosh - 30 of them have same, the thatched roof.
S & M: Thatches!
*Simon gasps* M: This is like 'Samurai Champloo'. Oh my God!
In 'Samurai Champloo', they would stop at, like, post stations along the way.
And they would work and try to do things for food and she'd be like,
"I'm looking for the samurai that smells like sunflower."
S: (in character) Ugh. Bugger off. M: Bugger off?
M: What are you? S: Bugger bugger, I used the British version of Spike.
M: Let's just go get some soba.
S: This is gonna be amazing.
M: To the Soba-mobile. S: Let's go.
S: Are you ready for this? This here is soba, with a giant leek.
M: You'll notice that there's no chopsticks, - S: Right
- or spoons; utensils, because you're supposed to eat it with the gigantic green onion.
S: I mean, did you ever go to a restaurant and after you were done eating, did you ever think to yourself,
"I'm hungry and I want to keep on eating. Can I eat my chopsticks?" Well now you can.
M: Now you can. You can only do this here.
S: So this is super special. I'm really excited to try this. *Martina laughs*
M: I didn't wash my hands and I'm gonna eat the green onions. S: I know.
M: This is crazy. S: Oh my gosh, this is gorgeous.
M: How do you scoop this, though? S: You just gotta shovel it on.
M: Like, I'm trying. S: Okay, you mix it all up.
M: Everyone's green onion is different. Mine's quite thick. S: Mine curves a bit at the base.
But the whole point that you need to know is that so long as you can keep your thing firm
when you wet your noodle, then you should be alright.
M: You don't want the noodles, like, flopping around everywhere, you know. S: No, no.
S: I'm gonna scoop, see, I don't wanna bit mine yet because this is a perfect - M: I'm gonna do like a twist. I'm gonna do a - I'm doing like a -
S: We can do it Korean style, where they - M: No it didn't, it didn't work.
S: Didn't work. Okay, just scoop it. M: Okay, just scoop it. And do we bite it right away?
S: No, no. You gotta slurp it, gurl. M: 'Cause then we can't finish. Okay.
S: Here we go. M: Okay. Ready?
S: That is great, great, cold, refreshing soba.
M: A good soba, the noodle is bouncy. S: Oh yeah.
M: But it's still a little firm. It's not like an overcooked mush in your mouth S: Yeah. No.
M: That's what you get when you have fast food stuff. S: Because Martina always likes her noodles overcooked.
S: But this right here is - this is legit. M: We've been through this. I like my noodles just cooked. It's normal.
M: Okay, I'm doing the next bite with actual - I'm doing it. S: Okay. You're gonna bite into your green onion at the same time? Okay, here we go.
M: I'm doing it. Ready? S: Okay. Ready?
*Martina giggles*
M: Mmm. S: Mmm.
M: This is so sweet.
S: This is - so del - I don't even want the noodles.
M: Don't eat your chopsticks. Hey!
S: This is really good. M: You need that.
S: This, I just thought was a gimmick but it actually really makes the dish that much better.
M: And this is one of those things where it's difficult to explain because people will be like,
"Oh, green onion tastes like a green onion." This tastes different than other green onions I've even had in Tokyo
Okay, I'm gonna try a really big -
It's delicious but it's not graceful.
Do you think we can drink the broth through the holes? S: Oh my gosh, let's try.
M: No? S: Wait.
*Simon coughs*
Nope. Don't try that. M: Don't try it out.
S: Wait. Maybe this way.
M: Is it actually working?
And that's how we learn that onion fumes are really dangerous.
S: The answer is no. M: Okay *laughs*
S: I'm a little lightheaded now.
This broth is also magnificent.
It's got a sweetness in there, it's got bonito flakes. M: I definitely taste some daikon.
S: Oh yeah. M: And there's like a peppery flavour that almost tastes like the onion itself.
S: I just feel, like, revitalised after eating this. M: You sound like a - you sound like an Asian commercial.
M: Do you want to feel revitalised?
S: That is great. M: Have some green onion soba.
Now when we first got these we actually didn't have utensils. And I thought,
"It's like an ancient tradition that you eat mochi with your face." S: Yes. You tie your hands behind your back and mush your face into it.
S: That's not the case. We've got actual chopsticks. M: Actual chopsticks here.
S: Not green onions. M: What a shame. This place could have gone its entire life without any utensils.
S: So here we have mochi for dessert. M: It feels really warm and this gonna be, like, soul-movingly, like, grandma's food.
S: Let me just say, chopsticks are not the ideal kinda utensil. M: Why not?
S: You just - I think, you just gotta pick it up and bite it, gurl. M: No, no, no. You push down and you spread the chopsticks out as you go.
M: It'll take about 25 minutes. S: Is that how you do it?
S: It's so good. Mmm.
M: Okay. S: Mmm.
S: That's some warm mochi. M: Mmm.
S: Why does this taste like grandmother's love? M: It's got - I don't know. That's what I'm saying.
S: This tastes like a holiday.
M: I really think that mochi is one of those things that you have to have fresh.
S: It's not really photogenic. It looks really ugly but it tastes so great. M: Yeah.
M: It's almost like having a fresh mozzarella cheese, right?
S: Mmm. M: Woah.
S: Woah. M: Woah.
S: I'm happy to have this last piece right here. M: Oh.
S: Oh man. Oh man. M: Mhmm.
S: I love you so much. You're my favourite girl.
M: Simon's drunk on food now.
This is the part of the show where Simon gets 'food drunk'.
S: Mmm
S: So happy - how - and warm. So glad I had that mochi.
Well that was just amazing. I definitely need to do more small town food exploring.
M: Abso - I wanna go to all the places that have that one dish - S: Ohh - because if this is an example oh how good it is,
Then we need to hit every small, rural town. S: And there's so much more here in this area to explore.
And we just came here for the noodles and - but there A LOT more to see.
M: Like the sake. S: Like the SAKE!
M: Apparently the sake here is like the best in Japan. S: SAKE.
M: If you guys are curious about how we got up here, /Sharla in Japan/ actually recorded that whole trip.
So make sure you check out her channel and her video, and you can see the entire ride it took us to get here.
S: Yeah. M: Because, guys, it was gorgeous.
S: Oh my god. M: You already saw a sample of us where -
S: There is a rolling kitty in the background. This is my life.
M: This is some BS. S: This is what I want.
M: There's a river that's cooling people's beer. River beer. S: What am I doing in Tokyo? This is where I need to be.
S: Even though, like, everybody here is minimum 80 years old. Like, 80 years old. M: It's like being in our neighbourhood again. What's the difference, Simon?
M: Let's do a little bit more exploring. S: Let's do this.
M: Let's go get our shoes. Okay. S: Okay. We don't have shoes on right now.