Soupy Soup Days at Soup Stock Tokyo

Slog slog.
Get around
wet people
with big umbrellas
we bump
and walk
in pedestrian holdups
chilly.

And then,
like that longrunning
Campbell’s Soup commercial,
with the warmth of our hearty bowl of soup,
we melt off our
outer
snowmen,
our soggy city-coats.

Soup Stock
steams
like a
fall & wintry beakon.
Rice, bread, & soup.
Warm, happy people can write cheesier poems.

Yes, I literally slogged-out in the cold rain to choose from one of Soup Stock’s fall soups. They, like most every restaurant, change menus to feature vegetables, temperatures, and tastes best suited to each season. While convenient stores stock sweet potato-flavored chips or chestnut candy, Soup Stock brings-out the winter stews and hot drinks. Summer at Soup Stock may feature a crisp and chilly summer gazpacho. Yep, they know how to market soup through every season.

Actually, Soup Stock also serves curry and maybe one dessert-choice. The menu is quite simple, quite basic.

They are what Muji’s is to home-ware or clothing. Minimal and plain good.

Here are your choices in size. Large, regular, & small.

A regular cup for 610 yen, does not include bread or rice. Just soup. A bit boring, but obviously you save some yen.

Add to your regular cup some of their fluffy rice laden with white sesame seeds/goma, or their bread roll, for 760 yen.

For those who love variety or can’t make up their soup-loving mind, choose two small cups, plus the bread or rice, for 900 yen. 

You have about six soups/5 plus a curry to choose from. On a whole, Soup Stock has over 20 soups in their rotation.

Curry rice, not plain, but usually featuring onion, or shrimp, or some creamy curry concoction is 720 yen for your wide curry/rice bowl. Currently, they offer a pork and root veggie curry. See? Root veggies–very in-season.

Every wooden tray is served with a glass of water and there is a station for easy refilling.

If you’d like a non-water drink, choose from lemonade hot or cold (real and not too sweet), for 250 yen. There is hot oolong tea and coffee.

They also sell orange juice, iced tea, iced coffee, or iced cafe au lait, for 260 yen.

Beer, not that I have ever seen it ordered here, is 400 yen.

Here is the soup I ordered, Brown stew with Cheese & Vegetables.

Soup Stock currently features this soup, along with another soup I ordered for take-home, The Van Gogh Onion Soup. Boy, I had no idea why Van Gogh is part of the soup title. I was in such a rush, and my soup was ready so quickly, that I dashed-out with out asking…and I would have, for curiosity-sake.

Turns-out, the soup of carmelized onion, cheese, and bread, brought-out the art-patrons in Soup Stock, reminding them of Van Gogh’s onion still-lifes.

One thng I appreciate about Soup Stock, for Japanese readers & non-readers, is how clearly they print allergens and ingredients. Rather, they do not print all ingredients, but thery are keen and quick to answer your questions. The website (translated for me), also includes ingredients for ALL their soups, as well as the type of cooking oil for sautéing, and calories.

There is a reason why Soup Stock feels like a healthy choice: chemical seasoning, artificial coloring, synthetic sweeteners, and preservatives are absent. I also counted 3 large broccoli, 2 sweet and wholesome carrots, and 2 great hunks of beef in my brown stew with cheese.

This is the Soup Stock I often visit, ducking-in for a quick soup & rice combo, between students.

This shop in Hiroo is just across from Arisugawa Park, so on nice days, you could take your soup to-go & laze with the ducks.

Another Soup Stock I’ve eaten at, as well as brought visitors to, is the Omotesando Station shop.

Not that this should be a stop on your tour, but it is handy for a quick and hearty meal on the go–not so expensive, so that you can save the group’s yen towards something else. You’ll have the energy to keep slogging and trekking. It’s all about the soup.