Numata, Gunma, Japan｜たきもと食堂

I had dango soup. It had a lot of mushrooms and the soup stock was very effective and it was delicious. It was a common dish with wheat dumplings at the bottom and a thick soup with a rich wheat flavor. There were no other customers, so I had a long chat with the lady and asked her about the secret behind her dango soup. This dango soup apparently actually refers to ``suiton.'' Dango soup was originally a dish that was made without much effort during the busy season of field farming, so it seems to be a poor-quality dish made by adding wheat dumplings to leftover miso soup and boiling it. Therefore, if the soup is made by boiling wheat into dumplings, it is called dango soup. It is also said that the real thing tastes bad because it is purposely made to be powdery and hard to make it more filling. He said that the one offered here is a deformed one for tourism. Fukaya's miso oyaki was also hard and tasteless, but I had a hunch that it was because they were eaten during breaks from working in the fields. It all started several decades ago when Numata City held a contest in the city to consider what foods they could sell other than miso manju, which were more like snacks. At that time, there were about 30 shops selling dango soup, and after it was featured on TV, there were long lines of people waiting to buy it. However, after the boom passed, more and more stores stopped carrying it, and now there are only about two stores, including this one. The secret to this restaurant's dango soup is not to make it in advance. He said that if you make it ahead of time, the flavor and texture will change. And because the sweet noodles sold at supermarkets are pre-boiled, they don't produce the uniquely thick soup. Since her husband passed away, she has been running the restaurant all by herself, so it has taken a while to serve the restaurant, and now they are only open in the evenings. I felt very sad when I thought that I would no longer be able to eat this dango soup. If you want to eat exquisite dango soup, there may be no other option. If you want to eat it, it might be best to get there early.

Visited in search of local gourmet food on the way back from snowboarding. One reviewer said that the husband was the only one managing the dish, so it took even more time to make the dango soup. I was prepared for a bit of a wait, but I waited quite a while. However, I was able to have piping hot dango soup served for three people at the same time. The soup was different from miso or soy sauce, but had a rich flavor, and the ``dango'' (dango), which was made by kneading flour and shredding it, had just the right amount of flavor and had a deep flavor. I had the fried chicken set meal for lunch, so it was perfect for dinner.

Numata's famous dango soup was very delicious. Lots of mushrooms. I really like the taste that my mom makes with all her hard work and the casual atmosphere typical of a restaurant. It was a feast.