So sorry to hear this - their steak frites with a glass of red was my celebration-comfort-self-indulgent treat. They had a very nice by-the-glass wine list, too.

La Posada. Small, friendly, very good and open for lunch!

An update for anyone else who might want to find this ingredient. I couldn't get it at H-Mart or the little Japanese grocery (Miso?) in Porter Square by the bus stop. I haven't been to Ebisuya yet to check there, but in the end, I ordered it online from naturalimport in New Hampshire. They carry the Mitoku line of soba products, and the soba gome was beautiful! Much milder in taste than kasha, chewier and more distinct in granulation (more like rice) than Bob's Red Mill Cream of Buckwheat. I prepared it by toasting it in a pan on the stove (I'm not sure that was necessary with this version, but I do it with Bob's Red Mill to get a richer flavor.) Then I mixed in some unsalted sunflower seeds and chicken stock and cooked it in my rice cooker. Really good!

P.S. H-Mart does carry buckwheat flour for anyone looking to make their own soba noodles.

Actually, the buckwheat used for soba is a different variety than that used in eastern European cooking. It has a smaller hull and a different flavor; it's not just the difference between toasted and untoasted buckwheat. I will try Ebisuya, a new resource to me and I don't live all that far from Medford!

You are right, emannths, the eastern European kasha style of buckwheat groats are not the same. The Japanese buckwheat groats actually puff up a little when you toast them and they have a milder, although still nutty, flavor. (But I love kasha, too.)

No, thanks for the suggestion. I will look there.

My Whole Foods doesn't have it. Would H-Mart? I'm looking for the fine buckwheat groats imported from Japan.

It's been years, but I am still in mourning for the Ginger Jubilee Cake. Sliced thin and toasted it was my go-to pick-me-up with a cup of tea. When it disappeared, I begged them to reveal the source, but all I was told was that it was supposed to have been a rough copy of Dancing Deer gingerbread. While I love DD gingerbread, too, the Ginger Jubilee Cake was nothing like it - lighter, less moist and with crystallized ginger chunks inside. I'm still baking every recipe I can find that seems similar in hopes of recreating it, but so far, not so good.