Viewing entries tagged
ika

Hama Sushi - Little Tokyo

Comment

Hama Sushi - Little Tokyo

My brother and his now fiance

Yes they got engaged! They've been dating for over a decade and it's heart warming to know they are moving towards starting a new path together. That's all. I'm not saying anything else nice about my brother so that's all he gets! Oh and I guess one more nice thing was that he paid for this dinner /___\

347 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

I've only been to Hama sushi once and was pretty impressed. I think... the best way for me to describe what their sushi tastes like to me, in one word, is traditional. I'm sure there's a lot of techniques to sushi than just fish and rice. I could spend over $100 on an Omakase, and the sushi will be great, but the flavors are somewhat different at a traditional Japanese sushi bar. I can't really describe the taste and feeling, but I can tell you I get that hear. And it's a really good thing.

First and foremost, there's none of that teriyaki stuff. Not that it's bad, but again we are at a sushi bar so don't be asking for a bowl of white rice. Secondly, there's signs that says no pictures. And of course, rude to use cell phones. Well I took pictures. But got approval. AND I made sure to limit to 3 photos per dish. Plus, the chef was super dope, but I will let you find out who yourself.

We had a good variety from yellowtail, to ika with shiso, to toro, salmon belly, natto handroll and all the other good bites. I think good sushi rice is not too sweet, but seasoned so slightly to enhance the flavors.

Ankimo Ponzu

When I used to work in an Izakaya, Ankimo in ponzu is one of the items I ate with hot white rice. The flavors are mild, but I wouldn't tell someone it doesn't taste like anything. It's nothing like Foie Gras so don't believe anything people tell you when they say it does. This is one of my all time comfort foods in Japanese cuisine. It's hard to mess up Monkfish liver, but no worries here because it is excellent.

Engawa

To me, this is what Engawa is supposed to look like. Engawa is the Halibut's fin, the meat of the fin of course. Normally served like the way you see it, raw with green onions, chili daikon and a dab of citrus soy. Sometimes, it is seared and then dressed with a dab or so of citrus soy. Delicious and something I highly recommend ordering if available.

Salmon Belly

Salmon. The first raw fish I ate when I was young. After that, it's always been my favorite. I love how sweet it tastes. But when I got older, I've learned the existence of salmon belly. And pretty much gravitated towards it when available on the menu. Here, you an see little slits to cut the fat. People think fat is great on a piece of fish or steak. It's somewhat true, but you want the fat to be marbled. This technique helps relieve the chewiness that the fat can create. Amazing.

Tamago Sushi

Only a few chefs do this and I wished more did. This version of tamago is just eggs that is mixed with ingredients like sugar, dashi, mirin, blah blah. This was the last item we had and we treated it like a dessert due to it's sweetness.

Make sure to come earlier. If you plan on having dinner at 7, come at 6. The restaurant is really small with only 2 tables or so if you want to sit intimately away from the crowd. The rest of the seating (about 15) is all sushi bar.

347 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

 

 

 

Comment

Tokyo Central

Comment

Tokyo Central

One of the questions I kind of get stuck on answering is always "What do you like to do?". I'm always thinking what do you mean? like, as a career? oh... you meant on my free time.. It's kind of like asking someone what do you cook? or what's your signature dish? I want to get a pan and whack someone every time I get asked that. It can't be something simple either. If I say steak and white rice, I get this "Oh.." Umm sorry? were you expecting me to say some fancy bouillabaisse?

So day off. What do I like to do. To be extremely honest, I love to go grocery shopping. But, on a really good day, you will find me here at Tokyo Central. It's fantastic. It has the best meats you can find for shabu shabu or a night of sukiyaki. If you want to crank up some yakitori, they sell shichirin and coals for you to do so at home. If you want to make sushi, they have a great fresh variety of seafood as well as different oshinkos and tsukemonos for you to make a spread. From different shoyu to different tare, you will also find tons of Japanese snacks to host at your next sports fare.

Oh, don't ever forget to stop by their liquor selection. From a wide range of sake and shochu, they also carry a few Japanese whiskeys that's worth some fancy quarters to put on your top shelf. But, hurry before they sell out.

What I love about Tokyo Central, like many Japanese markets, have a pretty kick ass food court. Tokyo Central in particular, has a pretty glorious sushi bento selection. From decadent chirashis, to cute little nigiri boxes, to your basic cut rolls and colorfully stuffed inari. With that being said, you cannot beat the price. They focus mostly on sushi for their bentos, though they do a few bentos with salmon shioyaki, katsu bentos, curry and some pasta.

Cutting to the chase. Me. Super hungry. Need food now.

I can't pass this up. Once I got my eyes on this, the anxiety of walking around the selections thinking someone might snatch this box got me feeling a bit uneasy and violent. What is also included in this bento besides ikura and uni, is ika. And if you don't know what any of these are: uni=sea urchin, the best mother f*cking tasting part of the ocean. Ikura = salmon roe, pops in your mouth with sweet sea salty pockets. And Ika, squid, snappy and slightly slimy as you chew it. But flavors are mild and slightly sweet.

But what's the kicker here. I obviously mentioned the price before. But you can't even guess. $7.49. I mean I can stop there, or I can keep going about how f*cking awesome it is. The uni was extremely fresh and creamy, exactly how it looks and why I was drawn to it. If you don't know, uni and ikura are like a match made in seafood heaven. You can't beat these 2 together, ever.

Ate this with some wasabi, soy sauce, and some citrus ponzu. By the way, a shiso was hidden under the ikura (normally the case). A lot of you don't know what shiso is. I don't even know, but I can tell you how it taste. It's citrusy and slightly spicy in a not hot in your mouth way (kind of like arugula spicy), but people don't normally eat this. Your life is missing out. Eat the shiso with the ikura and a bit of rice and you will have a mouth explosion.

So that is my hobby. And one of the things I love to do. Not just shopping for groceries, but going to specialty markets like Tokyo Central to enjoy a great experience.

1420 S Azusa Ave, West Covina, CA 91791

Comment