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Tag Archives: Ramen

Mitsuwa Marketplace – Fun and Yum

06 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by yummcha in Bakery, Food, Japanese Food, Lifestyle, Markets

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Food, Home, Japanese cuisine, Los Angeles, Mitsuwa, Mitsuwa Marketplace, Ramen, Santouka

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Probably the first time I came to the Mitsuwa Marketplace was over ten years ago. As soon as my son was able to sit in one of those light weight stroller, I started bringing him out for lunches at different eateries. As a Stay-at-Home mom, I needed to get out of the house in order to achieve some type of balance and sanity.

The Mitsuwa Food Court provided a good respite since it is casual and offer a variety of choices, and the food are all good and reasonably priced. I was able to relax and eat while my son slept soundly in his little stroller, or if he was awake, I would feed him something.

As he grew older, he really enjoys Japanese food, especially the udons, and ramen. To this day, I believe that Mitsuwa is his favorite food destination. When the place is not crowded, the atmosphere gives a sense of calmness and peacefulness that we both find comforting. And one of our favorite thing to do after the meal is to venture into the supermarket section and look for my son’s favorite Japanese peach candy, and for myself, canned coffee with no sugar.

From the beginning, I have been thoroughly enjoying these lunches with my son. These meal sessions not only provided delicious food tasting adventures, but most importantly, wonderful bonding opportunities for my son and I. We would talk about school, friends, and even life in general at these outings, something that we don’t really do at home, since we are always occupied with chores, computer games, emails, etc.

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The restaurants inside this modest location are probably some of the best of their classes. Santouka is well know for its distinguished ramen, which my son already decided is the best in Los Angeles. Katsuhana, which specializes in deep fried pork, chicken cutlet as well as fried shrimp, is truly superb. While I tried not to eat a lot of fried food, the Pork Katsu is hard to resist –  moist, tender, and flavorful inside with a light and crunchy batter outside. The Katsu meal is a feast that comes with rice, soup, cabbage salad, fruit salad, small side dishes of tofu, and pickled vegetables.

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One of the newer comer to the marketplace is J Sweets , which offers the prettiest, most enticing Mochi Cream –  a mochi ball filled with different delectable flavors.  My favorite is the Cafe au Latte, not too sweet, but with a definite strong taste of coffee. The Mochi Donuts look fantastic but have not tried yet. All the other cookies and sweets in the store are all so beautifully presented and packaged. However, the prices are high so I have not yet had the pleasure of tasting them.

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Miifune is the eatery that I have visited the most throughout these years. This place has a good selection of udons, sobas, and various combo plates. I particularly like the Wakame Soba or udon, the Beef Shabushabu, and the plain Curry Rice. The food is consistent and satisfying.

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I really enjoy the Mackerel plate at Miyabi-Tei. The oily, flavorful fish is grilled and comes with miso soup, a large bowl of rice and some shredded cabbage and little bits pickled radish. A bargain at about $7.00.

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I don’t know why I like these ball shaped octopus snack made with wheat flour based batter, pickled ginger, and green onion, and cooked in a special takoyaki pan. Maybe it is the fact that they are so usual in taste and texture, sort of soft and chewy, salty and sweet, an odd kind of mouth feel and sensation.

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The Hamada-ya Cafe provides a more western style of food selections such as various spaghetti and pasta, risottos, and most delightfully, some of the tastiest cakes I have tried. One can order a set meal which comes with a salad, some bread, and tea or coffee. Almost right next door, is the Hamada-Ya Bakery, which I had already wrote about previously as one of the most outstanding bakery in town.

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The soup noodles here at Beni-Tora are quite substantial in size, as well as the gyozas, which are huge. I like the fact the noodles come with ample vegetables.

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Lupicia, a clean, modern looking store provides over 400  types of teas throughout the year, ranging from seasonal teas to flavored teas. The sales staff are extremely enthusiastic and more than eager to provide a tasting to the teas.

Mitsuwa Marketplace – 21515 S. Western Ave. Torrance, CA 90501  Phone: 310-782-0335

 http://www.mitsuwa.com/tenpo/eindex.html

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Santouka Ramen – Is it that good?

05 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by yummcha in Food, Japanese Food

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Los Angeles, Mifune, Mitsuwa Marketplace, Pork, Ramen, Santouka, Torrance, Torrance California

One day, a friend and I were talking about ramen, and I was advised that this ramen shop inside the Mitsuwa Marketplace food court is rated number one by who knows what. I was skeptical, a ramen at some food court is at the top amongst all the ramen in Los IMG_1874Angeles?

Not a stranger at all to this food court in Torrance, I have been going there regularly for many years for the udon at Mifune. Having never paid much attention to the ramen there, I decided to grab a friend to try out this infamous noodle shop. I was surprised to see a line in front of this tiny store front. As I waited, I noticed to my right side, were the realistic looking plastic displays of all the different ramen sets one could choose from, along with the prices.

One could choose from salt ramen, soy sauce ramen, miso or spicy miso ramen. There were three sizes: small, medium or large. The different combo sets included one of the following over a small bowl of rice: ikura (salmon roe), or natto (fermented soy bean), or chopped green onions, or pork and chopped green onions. Two halves of a marinated boiled egg also came with the set.

I decided on the Combo set of salt ramen with the Ikura don, medium size. There were plenty of ikura on top of the rice. The saltiness of the salmon roe mixed well with the ever so slight sweetness of the Japanese rice. The different toppings on the ramen looked aesthetically pleasing and well thought out. There were the two slices of fatty pork, some bamboo shoots, bits of cloud ear, a piece of fish cake, some chopped green onions, and a umeboshi (pickled plum).

The pork had a good ratio of fat to meat, about half and half, was tender and well flavored. All the other ingredients tasted in harmony with each other. I especially liked the crunchiness and the unique taste of the bamboo shoots. The umeboshi was a nice touch to help balance out the saltiness of the broth. While not a connoisseur of ramen, I would say the Santouka offers a tasty, solid ramen that is well crafted and of top quality.  I would, however, prefer the broth to be much less salty, so that one can consume more of it without worrying about the high salt content.

Santouka Ramen: 21515 Western Ave. Torrance, CA 90501  Phone: 310-212-1101
(Inside the Mitsuwa Marketplace)

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Umenoya – Ramen Anyone?

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by yummcha in Food, Japanese Food

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Tags

Japanese cuisine, Noodle, Ramen, Restaurant, Santouka, Soup, Tonkatsu, Tonkotsu

ramenEven though I am not a huge fan of ramen, I do enjoy a bowl of good noodles from time to time. I decided that my son would take me there for lunch this past Mother’s Day. Being a teenager and not working, his budget was limited. I also figured that I would avoid any crowds by going to a ramen place on such a busy restaurant day.

This place was highly recommended by my friend’s own teenage sons, so I figured it was at least cool to go. The menu was easy, with pictures. We were the only ones there. I was wondering if the cook and the waitress were feeling sorry for me for being there on “M” day. My son ordered the Tonkatsu ramen, while I opted for the Jiro ramen. I loved my bowl of ramen. It came with an humongous amount of cabbage on top of the noodles, with lots of onions, bean sprouts, and minced garlic (I especially enjoy eating garlic and onions). It was my dream come true, ramen with tons of veggies! There were also small rounds of fat floating atop the soup. As unhealthy as it seems, I enjoyed that . The chasyu was tender, and the soup was rich and flavorful.

The Tonkotsu ramen came with around four pieces of chaysu, half-boiled egg, and chopped green onions. I like the fact that there were more meat served with the ramen at this restaurant than most of the other ramen places in town. Upon finishing the bowl, the ramen expert, my son, declared that he still thinks Santouka has the best ramen. I argued with him about the soup being exceedingly salty at Santouka, and that there are only two slices of pork with the noodle; although I must give them credit for the consistently meticulous execution of the ramen.

Thoughts and Questions of the Day:  Why is the broth served with ramen usually so intensely salty? Why is there so very little amount of vegetables served in Japanese restaurant food? Do Japanese eat a lot of sushi or raw fish at home?

Back to Umenoya, the cook came over after we finished the ramen, and presented us with a complimentary plate of gyoza. How great, It was exactly what I wanted to try. The gyoza was not as flavorful as the ramen, but I really appreciated the very kind gesture. It was a comforting, cozy and warm “M” day lunch.

Umenoya: 24222 Crenshaw Blvd. Torrance, CA 90505   Phone: (310) 530-3177

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