August 18, 2022: Busy Restaurants in My Town, Soba Restaurant, Standing Alone （ボクの町の繁盛店、そば屋、孤軍奮闘）

Another busy restaurant in my town is a soba restaurant. It is near my apartment, and I have often visited or ordered from it on the phone. I have loved to have the Tendon and Nabeyaki Udon, not soba. I have always missed the Nabeiyaki Udon in winter.
As opposed to the ramen restaurant, it is run by the owner almost alone. It has a woman staff, but she only serves customers who visit it and takes orders on the phone. The owner is old. Probably, he must be about eighty years old but is still energetic. He delivers orders taken on the phone by the motorbike with a carrying box. I often see him driving it while I am walking. But it has stopped taking telephone orders at night. I have heard that the owner’s family was so concerned about his health that it required him to close the restaurant. But he refused to do that. Thus, it has reluctantly accepted him continuing to run the restaurant as long as he does not take orders on the phone at night. If anything wrong happens to him, it is bound to close. I will miss it so much.

　もう一つはボクのマンションの隣にあるそば屋さんです。ボクもよくお世話になっている見せです。お気に入りのメニューは、そばではなく、天丼と鍋焼きうどんです。特に、冬になると鍋焼きうどんが恋しくなる。
　この店は、前述のラーメン店とは違い、店主がほぼ一人で忙しく切り盛りしています。女性のスタッフはいますが、店の客の応対と出前の注文とりしかしません。店主は高齢です。多分、80歳前後だと思います。でも、元気いっぱいです。出前もスーパーカブに岡持ちを乗せて対応しています。最近は、夜の出前はやらなくなりました。聞くとこによると、家族は亭主の体を心配して、店を閉店するよう進言したこともあるようですが、店主の強い意向で、夜の出前を断ることを条件に店を続けることを了解したようです。店主に万が一にことがあると、店を閉めざるを得ない状況です。寂しい限りです。