Mutsuko Soma’s Handmade Soba Restaurant Brings Good Luck to Fremont

Mutsuko Soma’s highly anticipated handmade soba restaurant, Kamonegi, is set to serve its first customers on Friday, October 13 in Fremont. The former chef of Miyabi 45th has taken over the original Art of the Table space at 1054 North 39th St. (left vacant by a relocation) and crowdfunded her way through a bevy of expenses. When it opens, Kamonegi will be one of the few U.S. restaurants to showcase handmade soba noodles.

Soma made a name for herself cooking Japanese cuisine at Miyabi 45th in Wallingford. She departed last year, but has been keeping fans fed with occasional Kamonegi pop-ups in the interim, and announced plans over the summer to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Soma’s Indiegogo campaign exceeded its fundraising goal after only two months running.

The name Kamonegi “refers to a harmonious culinary pairing of duck and leek, or more specifically, a duck bringing you a leek which symbolizes the good luck of one good thing that brings another,” according to the Indiegogo campaign. Perhaps the opening will bestow a bit of good luck on this superstitious date.

Soma’s menu will of course include the handmade soba she learned to perfect in Japan. As is often the case there, Kamonegi will pair its noodles with tempura, made from seasonal produce. The soba will come seiro (cold, with warm dipping sauce) or nanban (hot, with hot broth). Also available will be bukkake soba, with toppings like smoked salmon, daikon, nori, and a sous vide egg. Appetizers like pickled herring and beet salad and foie gras tofu with sake poached shrimp and wasabi are among some of the non-noodle options.

Kamonegi’s operating hours will be Tuesday through Thursday, 4 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 4 to 11 p.m., reports Seattle Met. The restaurant will be closed on Sunday and Monday.