Choosing fast and cheap over high-end chic in Yokohama

A reporter goes on the hunt for the best 'B-grade gourmet' in Yokohama.

It was breakfast time in Yokohama Station, a half-hour by train from Tokyo, and I was having some of the best soba noodles of my life. The chewy buckwheat strands were sublime, the broth deeply savory and piping hot. A fresh-cracked egg floated on top, its yolk a gorgeous sunrise orange.

Kisoba Suzuichi, at the station's west exit, had signage only in Japanese and makes just two things: soba and udon. I'd been wandering around, hazy from jet lag; the first time I passed by, I could smell the fragrant dashi broth from down the block, but it wasn't yet open. A half-hour later, there was already a line, composed almost entirely of suit-clad salarymen on their way to work. Soon I was happily slurping. My meal cost 340 yen, $3, at 110 yen to the dollar.