karaage — Wine & Dine

I'm not in this area often, but was attending an audiophile event in the area. What I love about traveling a few 10-30 miles outside of my neighborhood is that it really pushed me to find a new restaurant to try. Being at the event, walking up and down stairs, visiting rooms by rooms filled with amazing HiFi can really stir up an appetite. It can also make me very hangry.

What sucks about being a nowaday foodie is no matter what, you are in charge of picking a place. Even if that baton has passed... it always comes back.

Kotohira was discovered by the love Yelp app. I'm not a fan of the reviews people leave, but I use it just to know what there is around me. I've been to this plaza before where Kotohira is located. I've eaten at Furaibo a few times mainly for their tebasaki karaage.

I wanted something warm, hearty, and comforting. Kotohira was a perfect choice. It had the traditional Japanese lunch combos available with sizeable bowls that will make you take a nap. Here are a few things I was able to snap.

Side udon that comes with a combo. Slurp away.

Pan fried gyoza. Dip this in a mixture of vinegar and hot chili oil.

Chicken Karaage. Another one of my favorite dishes as mentioned before somewhere in this blog. I love extra lemons. I'm salivating just thinking about it.

Bento combination with tuna sashimi, chicken karaage, grilled saba, tempura, and Japanese root vegetable. When I went to Japan a few years ago, I ate a lot of combinations like this. It's really comforting and brings back a nostalgic memory.

unagi over hot rice.

Subtle scoop of Neapolitan ice cream.

Edit 1747 W Redondo Beach Blvd Gardena, CA 90247

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Everyone went crazy when Daikokuya opened in Monterey Park. The whole 'Yay we don't have to drive to little tokyo!' or 'Yay we don't have to wait that long!' perception will be crushed in a matter of seconds that moment you start writing your name on the wait list. Along with the line of other groups ahead of you. As you slowly count up and realize you are not number 1, but number 15. And then you start reflecting on your life. Have you ever been number 15? It's worse than a midlife crisis. Or, you're all happy pulling up to see tons of parking spaces. But then you see the crowd of people huddled outside like it's below 0 when it's hot as a mother F'er.

Honestly, I have no idea where that rant came from. This is what happens when you have hot noodle soup during a hot summer day. You start seeing and saying sh*t.

Luckily, my friends and I got here in time where we didn't have to wait over an hour. Maybe it was 30 minutes, but it's fine since I ran into really good friends of mine.

I wouldn't say famous, but this is a very delicious bowl of salad that comes with an order of Ramen. It's their own house dressing which you can also purchase a bottle to take home. A must have.

I ordered their Tsukemen which is all the fixings; Seared Chashu, green onions, sprouts, soft boiled eggs and ramen that has been cooked and cooled under running water. Served with a bowl of pork broth.

Salmon sashimi with housemade carpaccio sauce, passer leaf, salsa and parmesan cheese. A lot of flavor, but quite tasty.

Honestly, chicken Karaage is the ultimate beer food. I take that back, it's the ultimate food to have with any alcohol. I love this stuff. With a lot of lemon. And when I am really hamming, over a bowl of rice. Sitting on the floor, with stretchy pants..

This is their signature Tonkotsu Ramen (Ton-KO-t-su, not katsu please). The tonkotsu (pork base soup) is infused with their house blended soy sauce. Served with boiled chijre style egg noodles, kurobuta pork belly chashu, marinated boiled egg, bamboo shoots, bean sprout, green onions and a dash of sesame seeds.

Their famous shredded pork bowl. Ok I'm not sure if it's famous, but it's extremely popular. Tender kurobuta pork belly that's grilled and served over rice with green onions, pickled ginger and a sweet sauce. If you are hungry, and want something extremely umami like, this is it. It's hard not to get this and even harder not to take a bite when someone offers.

111 N Atlantic Blvd, Ste 241, Monterey Park, CA 91754

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Wine & Dine

Kotohira Restaurant

Daikokuya - Monterey Park