【オホーツク美幌の「板前農家」そばを食す】

　娘からの情報で、行列の出来ている蕎麦店を教えられた。そういう情報にはたいへん弱いので、さっそくものは試しと食べに行ってみた。ちょうど不動産関係の要件もあって、清田区里塚のセカンドハウスに向かう予定でその途次に店があった。
　写真の通り「板前農民」というキャッチで「自ら育て、自ら調理」というコンセプト。行ってみたら11時の開店早々15分後くらいに到着したのだけれど、20人くらいの行列。すでに開店しているのでなかに同数くらいは入っているだろうから、普通は諦めてしまうところだけれど、娘からの情報がアタマにくっついているので、覚悟を決めて待つこと約１時間。ようやく写真のように「天ぷら蕎麦」にありつくことが出来た次第であります。後で確認したら「新そば」の初出日ということで常連ファン大集合だったよう。
　きのうまで空知南部の栗山のことを書いていたので、こういう北海道内での各地域の独自性・風土性に敏感になってきている。「シン民俗」っていう造語をきのう書いたのですが、柳田國男さん的な民俗の派生形態、日本中の多様な地方から北海道という日本民族文化にとって未踏の大地に移住してきた人びとの生き様が、独特の北海道の「シン民俗」を生成させてきていると思う。そんな雰囲気つながりが、この蕎麦店の心意気に感じられていた。
　すっごい量が多いよ、との娘からの情報だったけれど、蕎麦の切り方がけっこう「太麺」だったせいか、お、案外少量じゃないのかと錯誤した（笑）。ところがどっこい、食べ始めてみると蕎麦の山がなかなか減少していかない。大皿に盛りつけてあるのだけれど、目測に相違してどうも「深さ」があるよう。
　で、天ぷらの方ですがこれもエビが５本も揚げてある。そのほかに丸く切ったタマネギ、カボチャ、半切りのナス。これもなんとか野菜優先に平らげたけれど、エビの方は２本がやっと。
　で、カミさんにエビ食の応援を頼んだのですが、彼女は悩んだ末にふつうのざるそばにしたところが、「サービスで」ということで野菜の天ぷらも付いてきていた。う〜む超満腹。
　ふたたび蕎麦に挑み始めたけれど、夫婦とも「ふ〜ふ〜」の混声合唱状態。カミさんも完全にオーバー気味で「もうムリ」。ここで、娘からの情報がふたたびアタマに再生。「残すひとが多いようで、持ち帰り用の容器を手早く出してくれる」とのことだったので頼んだら、すぐに持ってきてくれた。
　わたしも体重管理の成果で10%ほど体重減しているので、食事量はだいぶ落ちてきている。結局、この昼食で昨日の食事は完全終了（笑）。家に戻っても夕食の元気はまったく出てこない。というか立ちんぼでの行列が予想以上に体力消耗で、帰宅後は爆睡〜爆睡という状態。まぁ契約関係の書類確認などでの精神疲労も加わっていたことはありそうですが。
　本日朝になって、「あれ、けっこうウマかったな」とようやく平常が戻って来ています（笑）。


English version⬇

Eating soba at “Itamae Farmhouse” in Bihoro, Okhotsk.
I was expecting to make buckwheat noodles, but I chose to eat buckwheat noodles (laugh). But the training continues. Lunch at a buckwheat noodle restaurant that grows and cooks its own buckwheat noodles. The day ended with a full stomach. ...

My daughter told me about a buckwheat noodle restaurant with a long line of customers. Since I am very susceptible to such information, I decided to give it a try and went to eat there right away. I was going to visit a second house in Satozuka, Kiyota-ku, Tokyo, and the restaurant was right next to the house.
　As you can see in the photo, the restaurant is called “Itamae Farmer” with the concept of “grow your own food and cook it yourself. I arrived about 15 minutes after the restaurant opened at 11:00 a.m., but there was a line of about 20 people. Since the restaurant had already opened, there were probably about the same number of people inside, so normally I would have given up, but my daughter's information was stuck in my head, so I braced myself and waited for about an hour. Finally, I was able to get a bowl of “Tempura Soba” as shown in the photo. Later, I found out that it was the first day of the “new soba” season, so there was a large crowd of regular customers.
　Since I had been writing about Kuriyama in southern Sorachi until yesterday, I have become sensitive to the uniqueness and local characteristics of each region in Hokkaido. I coined the term “shin-minzoku” yesterday, and I believe that the way of life of people who have migrated from various regions of Japan to Hokkaido, a land unexplored by the Japanese ethnic culture, has created a unique Hokkaido “shin-minzoku”. Such a connection with the atmosphere was felt in the spirit of this soba restaurant.
　My daughter had informed me that it was a very large portion of soba, but I was under the illusion that it was not as large as I had expected, perhaps because the soba was cut in a rather “thick” style (laugh). However, when we started eating, the pile of Soba did not seem to decrease. Although it was served on a platter, it seemed to be deeper than I had guessed.
　As for the tempura, there were five deep-fried shrimps. There were also round slices of onion, pumpkin, and half-sliced eggplant. I managed to eat these vegetables first, but I could barely manage to eat two prawns.
　I asked my wife to support me in eating the shrimp, but after much deliberation, she decided to go with the regular zarusoba, which came with vegetable tempura as a “service. She was very full.
　We started to try the soba again, but both of us were in a chorus of “mmmmmmmmmm! My wife was also completely overloaded and said, “I can't eat any more. At this point, the information from our daughter replayed in our minds. I asked her for a take-out container, and she brought it to me right away.
　I have lost about 10% of my body weight as a result of weight control, so the amount of food I eat has been decreasing considerably. After all, this lunch was the end of yesterday's meal (laugh). When I returned home, I had no energy at all for dinner. In fact, the line at the stand-up bar was more physically draining than I had expected, and I went to sleep after returning home. Well, I guess I was also mentally fatigued from checking the documents related to the contract.
　Today in the morning, normalcy has finally returned to me, saying, “Oh, that was pretty tasty.