1054 N 39th Street, Seattle, WA 98103 (206) 632-0185
Main content starts here, tab to start navigating

About

The Gist

Soba is delicious. It's popular in Japan, but we hope that someday, it will be just as popular here! Our soba is handmade by chef and artisan soba maker Mutsuko Soma. Buckwheat is a nutritious and delicious seed, not grain, which makes our soba very low in gluten and difficult to make. Check out the crew behind the magic and some frequently asked questions below!


#sobacrew

Behind every chef is a dedicated crew. We are a fun bunch of Japanese food enthusiasts working to promote soba and tempura to the masses through outreach and our menu at Kamonegi.

Mutsuko Soma

Owner chef

While Mutsuko Soma served as chef in other restaurants in Seattle, she dreamed of introducing fresh soba, like the kind her grandmother made for family dinners, to the masses. She founded Kamonegi as a pop-up and opened Kamonegi the restaurant in October 2017.

Kamonegi translates literally to “duck and leek,” and alludes to when one good thing brings another. In Japan, duck and leek is also a classic culinary pairing so the sight of a duck bringing a leek connotes an abundance of good fortune where one closely follows another. The namesake Kamonegi soba is also one of the most popular soba dishes at the restaurant.

In its inaugural year, Kamonegi was named Restaurant of the Year by Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, Best New Restaurants of 2018 by the Seattle Times, among the 20 Best Restaurants in Seattle by Conde Nast Traveler, one of America’s Best New Restaurants by Eater critic Bill Addison, and a Top 50 Nominee for America’s Best New Restaurants by Bon Appetit. Chef Soma was named as one of Food and Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs 2019, star chef rising star 2020.

Chef Soma also has WSET Level 3 certified sake and Wine. 

She opened Hannyatou sake bar in 2019 which is 2 doors down from Kamonegi.

Erika Micek

General Manager

Erika was born in Aichi prefecture of Japan and lived back and forth between Japan and the pacific northwest during her youth.

Before becoming the General Manager of Kamonegi, Erika has worked at Azabu Miami Beach in Florida and moved back to Seattle recently to pursue her career as a manager focused in Japanese cuisine and hospitality.

What do you like about working in the hospitality industry?

I love that hospitality nurtures you to find your strength as well as weakness. You will learn the reality, in terms of how difficult it is to operate a restaurant: people management and operation-wise, the broad depth of the restaurant business. You will also see how much hard work, love and thought is put into each product and space. 

I love how you always learn and keep learning in this industry, individually and as a team. It pushes you out of your comfort zone to achieve many goals every single day and there never is a boring day working in service. 


Frequently Asked Questions

Email Signup

Please check errors in the form above
Thank you for signing up for email updates!