Are soba noodles at soba bar vegetarian?

Are soba noodles at soba bars vegetarian, ie no fish stock or meat stock? How would I ask for soba without fish in the soup? I was tempted to go into a soba noodle bar on my last visit to Japan but, they look so busy and I wasn't sure what I would be getting if I asked for soba. Thanks

Scottish blossom,

Soba (buckwheat) noodles themselves are vegetarian, but the soup they come in normally contains fish (bonito) stock. If that is a problem for you, I believe that the soup served with sanuki udon more popular in the west of Japan is kelp-based, so does not use fish broth.

It is very unlikely that you will be able to ask for broth not containing fish stock, other than perhaps the type of noodles mentioned by Dave in Saitama above, because it is not something they are making from scratch for each meal.

I am actually a vegetarian but broth with dashi is the one area where I have decided to let this go because otherwise there is nothing I can eat even at a soba restaurant, and soba is a very healthy meal which I don't want to miss out on.

Thank you for your answers. So do all soba bars server sankuki udon or is sanuki a specialist disk only sold at certain soba bars? I'm going to Kyoto.

Blossom

Sanuki udon is a totally different type of noodles from soba, and they are usually served at sanuki udon bars. Actually, there are sanuki udon bars all over Japan, but I notice that in most places it is not genuine and the soup contains fish broth. I think Dave just mentioned it since you seemed to be interested in either noodles or soup.

If you wish to remain strictly vegetarian, I recommend you go to one of the many genuine Indian restaurants you can find all over Japan. This is not to be confused with "curry" restaurants that are more Japanese. The genuine Indian restaurants run by real Asian Indians serve some vegetarian dishes for those who are strictly vegetarian for religious reasons.

Otherwise, you can try the "shizen-shoku restaurant (natural foods restaurants)" but there aren't as many.

Bon appetite!