Choosing fast and cheap over high-end chic in Yokohama

Diners at Kisoba Suzuichi, which serves soba and udon noodles at Yokohama Station's west exit. Photo provided to China Daily

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.

Panda-face steamed buns in Chukagai. Photo provided to China Daily

Though Japan is known for being a nation of meticulously crafted sushi and a sky-high number of Michelin-starred restaurants (Yokohama included), "B-grade gourmet" - code for food that's fast, cheap and good - is currently all the rage here, with a ton of passionate blogs devoted to the subject. There are even B-grade gourmet food festivals that celebrate different takes on tasty, down-home cooking. Yokohama, the second-largest city in Japan and its historic center of foreign trade, has a cross-cultural history that makes it a particularly rich entry point to sample the range of what B-grade gourmet can be. Recently, I spent a few days combing the city's waterfront and neighborhood shopping streets, tailing locals on a mission to track down cheap, comforting meals for every hour of the day.