Tabelog ratingTakaesu Soba is widely credited as the place that invented yushi-dofu soba, Okinawa wheat noodles topped with fluffy tofu curds served just after they set. The bowl comes in a light broth of pork, bonito and kombu, with cartilage pork rib, thin omelette strips and kelp. Locals, business travellers and many professional baseball players eat here, and the players' autographs cover the walls.
Nearly every review praises the broth. Reviewers call it clean and gentle without being thin, many drink it to the last drop, and several recommend it as a hangover cure. The yushi-dofu is singled out again and again, including by English and Thai visitors. The pork rib falls apart. Nakami soba, made with pork offal, wins fans for well-cleaned, chewy innards. The juushii, Okinawan seasoned rice served as a rice ball, is a popular side.
The firm, slightly coarse crinkled noodles divide opinion. Portions run small, and the 'medium' is really a small. A few reviewers found the broth too plain or the offal slightly smelly, and one felt the bowl was not worth the wait. Yushi-dofu often sells out by about 2pm.
Reviewers in 2025–2026 paid around ¥900 for a medium yushi-dofu soba and ¥1,000 for a large. Soki-tofu soba was about ¥1,300, a large soki soba ¥1,150, a juushii rice ball ¥150–200 and vegetable tempura ¥130. Typical spend is ¥1,000–1,999 at lunch. The menu is the same all day, and the restaurant closes at 15:45, so there is no dinner service.
It is good value. Around ¥1,000 buys a bowl that many reviewers rank as the best of their Okinawa trip. Order the large size if you are hungry.
- Getting there: it is easiest by car. From Nishihara IC on the Okinawa Expressway, take Route 330 and Prefectural Route 153/251 towards Iso for about 4 km. The nearest station is Urasoe-Maeda, about 1.7 km away.
- Parking: available in two small lots that fill fast. There is no queue system for parking.
- Booking: reservations are not accepted. Walk in and write your name and party size on the whiteboard outside before queuing or waiting for parking. Queues form before the 10:00 opening.
- Payment: cash only. Credit cards, electronic money and QR payments are not accepted. You order and pay at a ticket machine, and one visitor reported it took only ¥1,000 and ¥2,000 notes.
- Language: the machine buttons are in Japanese, so note the dish names in advance. One visitor was given a Chinese menu.
- Seating: 51 seats, made up of 5 at the counter, 24 at tables and 22 on raised tatami. There are no private rooms.
- Children and smoking: children are welcome, and the restaurant is non-smoking.
