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Otafuku – Carb Coma

Aug19

Restaurant: Otafuku

Location: 16525 S Western Ave. Gardena, CA 90247. (310) 532-9348

Date: June 21, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese Izakaya / Tempura / Noodles

Rating: Great noodles and tempura

_

Asian Food Friday (AFF) is another of my fun food “groups” — composed of a bunch of Santa Monica guys that on certain Friday’s set out in search of great Asian eats.
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This time we headed off to Otafuku, recommended as one of the best soba and tempura places in LA — located in Gardena Little Japan. You enter through the less than glamorous back.
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It’s really an Izakaya, they have a lot of sochu on the wall and a very drinking friendly menu.
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Very casual small interior. Really nice staff.
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Pickled Vegetables. Japanese love pickles. Several radishes, Japanese Mountain Yam, cucumber, carrot, etc. Nice complex vinegar flavor. Good crunch.
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Japanese Omelet (tamago). Really nice savory omelet. Great fluffy texture.
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Small horse mackerel with fresh vegetable bowl. Very fresh mackerel, not at all fishy, with a good bit of ginger and various veggies.
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Delicious Small Tuna Bowl. Just straight up tuna sashimi.
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Fishcake Tempura. A battered chopped shrimp and scallop with assorted vegetable tempuras. This was the best “tempura mixto” I’ve had — and I always get it. Lots of tender shrimp and scallops in here. Perfectly crispy light breading.
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Sea Eel Tempura. Extremely “Big” sea eel tempura which is “absolutely unique” (with a few assorted vegetables). I’ve actually had eel tempura several times, but this was light and fabulous. Hannosuke has a somewhat similar eel. Not sure if it’s exactly the same type.
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Shrimp Tempura. Black tiger shrimps with some assorted vegetable tempura. Excellent. Classic.
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Vegetable Tempura. Shitake mushroom, red pepper, onion, asparagus, perrilla, enoki, sweet potato, Japanese Squash etc. I like the perrilla (shiso?).
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Broiled chicken leg. Really nice dark meat.
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Stir fried Kurobuta pork with ginger soy sauce. Like a pork version of the meat that goes in a beef udon bowl — delicious.

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The pork came with miso soup.
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Special Seiro Soba (cold). Specialty soba which is quite thin white noodle made of a mixture of special white buckwheat flour. The difference from the Zaru is used on heart of soba seeds. It’s that special!  Really nice light noodles. These were served with a bowl of noodle sauce I forgot to photo, plus some chopped green onions and wasabi.
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Kikouchi (cold). Dark brown noodle made of 100% buckwheat flour. Gluten free. Really great buckwheat noodles! These are also dipped into the dipping sauce.
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At the end they bring this broth you can add to the dipping sauce to drink it like a soup. Very nice too.

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Curry Udon. Great curry udon. Chicken, onions and curry. Lighter and more complex than most curry udons.
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I brought some of my gelato too:

Arancia Crema Fiorentina Zabaione — Marsala Orange Vanilla Zabaione base with Orange Variegate — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Very close to the oldest gelato flavor!! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #orange #Zabaione #CremaFiorentina

Salted Caramel Chocolate — House-made salted caramel forms the core of this base which then is layered with house-made Valrhona dark chocolate ganache and Valrhona milk chocolate chips — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — my best salted caramel yet — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #caramel #chocolate #Valrhona #ganache
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The owner loved my gelato so much they brought us free this fabulous flan with dark caramel. Really nice custard with a perfect creamy texture and contrasting caramel.

Overall, this was a great place. On the border of sketchy neighborhood wise, and very hole-in-the-wall, but super nice staff and really great food. Everything we had was quite good, particularly the tempura and noodles.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Không Tên – Brunch
  2. I-Driva to I-Naba
  3. Hannosuke Tempura
  4. Szechuan Impression Tustin
  5. Happy Table 2X
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: AFF, BYOG, Gardena, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, noodles, Sashimi, soba, tempura
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