‘Nama Yuba Tokoro, Machida Ya’ is on the top of my list of places to visit during my family trip to Gunma prefecture. Here, my family and I were able to experience fresh Yuba making in Gunma: a quiet, mountainous region of Honshu Island, 50 minutes from Tokyo via bullet train.
Machida Ya in Numata city, lets you scoop and eat your own fresh Yuba! Enjoy an all-you-can-eat lunch featuring soy bean dishes for only $3.
It all started when I visited another major tourist spot in Gunma: Fukiware falls, described as the Niagara of Asia (a bit of an over-exaggeration in my opinion). Here, I discovered a Yuba shop called ‘Nama Yuba Tokoro, Machida Ya’, that allows visitors to scoop their own Yuba. For around $3, you can scoop as much fresh Yuba as you want, as well as be treated to an all-you-can-eat lunch, seriously!
I love fresh Yuba! It’s the skin that forms during the boiling of soy milk to make Tofu.It’s nearly impossible to find fresh Yuba in Australia, it’s mostly all dried, so this place definitely belongs at the top of my list.
The important thing is to have clean water and good quality soybeans, luckily Numata city in Gunma has both!
First, you’re given a special tool to scoop the Yuba, a small bowl and chopsticks
Using this special tool, I was able to scoop some fresh Yuba! It was super easy and lots of fun, my family all enjoyed themselves.
You can enjoy this fresh Yuba with soy sauce, wasabi or ramen soup (their broth is not Vegan). While we were scooping, staff were also scooping fresh Yuba to sell, or use in our food.
This worker collected fresh yuba to sell and be used to make our simmered, deep-fried, rolled yuba!
There are a variety of side dishes including different types of tofu like black sesame tofu, edamame tofu, oboro tofu and deep-fried tofu (all vegan).
Be careful though, their other dishes like the simmered deep fried yuba, coleslaw with crunchy yuba, potato salad, and tofu with ankake sauce are NOT vegan.
The cucumber salad and asazuke pickles ARE vegan.
This is their miso soup. Any soup in Japan that isn’t explicitly labeled as vegan contains fish stock, so be careful!
But my dear vegans, don’t get upset that you can’t have half the dishes. This place is SUPER AFFORDABLE! Their website says ¥550 per person, which is already cheap, but when we arrived they charged us only ¥300 per person! In Sydney, one cup of coffee will cost you more…
While in Gunma, make sure to also stop by the famous Fukiware Falls.
The falls are often described as the Niagara of Asia; my mother and sister have both been to Niagara Falls and they say it’s a little bit of an overstatement, but still a very nice sightseeing spot!
Watch Me Scoop Fresh Yuba on My Instagram:
Machida Ya
Address:
176-1 Kamikokobu Aza Dousojin, Shirasawa-machi,Numata-shi, Gunma 378-0126, Japan
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