Honke Owariya has been serving soba from the same Nijo-dori address since 1465, making it one of the oldest restaurants in the world still in operation. The soba noodles are made fresh daily from stone-ground buckwheat; the flagship dish is the hourai-soba, a tiered lacquerware set of cold soba with dipping sauce. The interior -- dark timber, paper screens, and a few tatami rooms -- has barely changed in a century.
The ground floor operates as a more casual soba-and-sweets cafe selling the restaurant's own wagashi confections. Located one block south of the Imperial Palace.