Nothing unusual about eating noodles in Japan. Unless, that is, they are ice-cold and come at you down a waterslide.
At a Nagashi Somen (Flowing Noodles) restaurant, you line up with other customers along a bamboo chute with icy water running down it. Chopsticks poised, you wait for the cry “Iku yo!” (“here they come”!) from the chef and try to grab mouthfuls of the chilled noodles he throws down the slide, dipping them in a delicious sauce. When he releases pink (plum-flavoured) noodles, it means the meal is over.
A popular summertime activity, nagashi somen restaurants can be found all over Japan, but Hirobun, near Kyoto, is extra unusual. Tucked away in the mountains, it has dining platforms suspended over a river at the foot of a waterfall.
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