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AFF – Dong Ting Noodle

Dec15

Location: 1947 Sawtelle Blvd suite c, Los Angeles, CA 90025. (310) 867-5937

Date: June 28, 2024

Cuisine: Chinese Noodles

Rating: Focused, but good

These days I can only go to AFF (Asian Food Friday) when it’s REALLY close to my house/work — too busy.

Dong Ting is a lake in Hunan and Hubei Provinces and this restaurant features noodles from the region opened recently on Sawtelle.

Very casual noodle bar.

The small menu, mostly variants on 1-2 noodle dishes.

House Special pickled cauliflower. Crunchy.

Fried Egg. Hints of anise.

Wood Ear Mushroom.

Changsha Style Spicy Medley. Mixed vegetables and some tripe.

Crispy Chicken. These were good.

Two kinds of spicy sauce, a dry and wet. I liked the smokey quality of the wet.

House Special Crystal Noodles with Vegetables. These were their house wide noodles. The fresh vegetables, cucumber and tomatoes even, were fresh and quite “un-Chinese” in some ways, but the net effect was very refreshing and delicious.

Crispy Chili Beef Rice Noodles (dry). These were the wider round rice noodles. The beef is like a Chinese beef jerky and quite good. There are preserved vegetables.

Crispy Chili Beef Alkaline Noodle (dry). This is the same toppings but with the wheat based alkaline noodles. I liked these noodles better but the overall flavor was basically the same.

Shredded Chicken Noodle In Golden Soup with rice noodles. A mild chickeny soup with the ticker noodles.

And the thinner noodle version.

Dong Ting was quite good, but is very specific — just Hunan/Hubei style noodles. Basically there are 3 noodle types with about 4 toppings. It’s certainly a good addition to Sawtelle.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: AFF, Asian Food Friday, Chinese Food, Noodle

Szechuan Delicious Was

Sep03

Restaurant: Szechuan Delicious

Location: 8921 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 559-9017

Date: December 29, 2023

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Very tasty

It’s been like 6 months since I was able to get out to an AFF, but the holidays provided a decent openning.

Szechuan Delicious is a relatively new addition to the profusion of often excellent SGV Szechuan restaurants.

Straightforward interior.

Good sized menu.

Salty / sweet peanuts.

Hot & Sour Jelly. Excellent version of this dish — which is always a favorite of mine.

Sliced Beef & Ox Tongue in Chili Sauce. This dish is known as Couples Sliced Offal in Chinese and delivers a very solid chili/salt flavor profile. There were some nice onions and celery underneath.

Szechuan Style Marinated Duck. Very solid duck with nice ducky flavor. Lots of bone of course.

It also came with this random Duck Fried Rice.

Szechuan Pork Slices with Preserved Vegetable. Super soft and fatty with great mustard greens underneath. This avoided either the mushy quality or over salting that some versions suffer from and instead had a lovely fat and savory quality.

Rattan pepper Live Fish. Great chili mala broth with delicate soft fish and plenty of bones. Not as hot as SI.

Sour & Spicy Shredded Eel & Vermicelli. This was a newish dish for me. I’ve had what was essentially the same without the veggies or eel, but I loved this sour/spicy sauce and the eel was soft and delicious.

Griddle Chicken. Lots of bones, but awesome depth of flavor. Really delicious.

MaPo Tofu. Very solid version of the classic. Some mala.

Dan Dan Mein. This is the soupy version. Pleasant, but I like the nuttier more intense variant.

OMG was this a deal. $35/pp all in. Szechuan Delicious is one of the better Szechuan places I’ve been to recently. Big menu and every dish was quite good. A bit on the rustic side, but very nice kitchen.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: AFF, Chinese Food, SGV, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan cuisine

Lunch Quest – Bang Bang

Jun08

Restaurant: Bang Bang Noodles

Location: 9355 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232.

Date: July 21, 2023

Cuisine: Western Chinese Noodles

Rating: Prefer the SGV

One of my last AFFs before I got too busy with work.

Bang Bang has an outpost in this Culver City food court.

I’ve wanted to try Bang Bang for a while — being the spicy Chinese noodle lover that I am — and it was decent. Certainly the cucumbers, dumplings and dry garlic noodles were solid. But I wasn’t blown away. Sigh.

Knife cut noodles. They are fairly heavy and a bit more awkward than one would want them to be. Nice chew though.

The menu. Lamb was out :-(.

Cold chili cucumbers. This shareable side dish is the perfect complement to any of our noodle entrees as it provides a nice textural contrast with it’s subtle sweet chili crunch. We make limited quantities of this daily, so don’t miss out. This was probably my second favorite dish. Nice crunch and a bit of sweetness.

Mama’s Dumplings. Their mom’s recipe for Pork & Chive dumplings topped with our signature sauce & chili oil. This was my favorite dish. Tangy sweet.

Tingling Cumin Noodle Soup. A Chef favorite that holds Northern Chinese Flavors. This is the perfect bowl of our famous handmade Biang Biang Noodles in a tingling cumin soup. This made to order dish is topped with house chili oil, fresh cabbage, green onions and cilantro.

A wonton soup. Couldn’t find it on the menu.

Szechuan Garlic Noodles Soup with Braised Beef. This is their new fan favorite and specially crafted for all those garlic lovers out there that appreciate the aromatics that makes this dish really come to life! And to take it up a notch, they’ve incorporated a signature Szechuan chili that really takes this dish to the next level! Much less flavorful than the dry noodle.

Szechuan Garlic Noodles Dry. This is their new fan favorite and specially crafted for all those garlic lovers out there that appreciate the aromatics that makes this dish really come to life! And to take it up a notch, they’ve incorporated a signature Szechuan chili that really takes this dish to the next level! This was my favorite noodle and certainly had tons of flavor — but it could have had more heat and more garlic :-).

Tingling Cumin Noodle Dry with Braised Beef. This Dish Is Influenced by Northern Chinese Spices. Fresh handmade Biang Biang noodles are made to order in our signature tingling cumin sauce, a dash of homemade chili oil, aged black vinegar, topped with fresh cabbage, green onion, and cilantro. Lots of cumin, but the noodles are heavy and awkward.

Xi’an Tomato Dry Noodle with Mushroom. An authentic Biang Biang Noodle that brings Fresh Flavors from Xi’an. They’ve utilized fresh stewed tomatoes, crisp bok choy, seasoned ground soy, chives, house chili oil and (in this case) mushrooms. My least favorite of the noodles, a bit bland.

Overall, I didn’t love Bang Bang — despite being a Chinese noodle fiend. Part of it was the take out container and food-court format, part was that it just wasn’t intense enough.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: AFF, Bang Bang Noodles, Chinese Food, Lunch Quest, noodles

Rolling into Issan Station

Oct17

Restaurant: Issan Station

Location: 125 N Western Ave unit 111, Los Angeles, CA 90004. (323) 380-5126

Date: March 3, 2023

Cuisine: Thai street food

Rating: Really bright and tasty

Bovon and Jeffrey sussed out this new KTown casual Thai place.

Semi-industrial strip front frontage.

The menu. Pretty lunch oriented.

Cute decor.

Thai Iced Tea.

Isaan Sausage. Deep-fried sausages of fermented pork and glutinous rice. Very nice “gamey” and slightly sour sausages.

Glutinous rice.

Crying Tiger. Charcoal grilled beef tenderloin. Great. Nice tender meat with lots of flavor and a delicious spicy/sweet sauce.

Golden Wings. Deep-fried fish sauce chicken wings. I was skeptical of these as I generally consider chicken wings a waste, but these were actually hot, juicy, and delicious. Not a ton of meat but nice and crispy.

Naked Shrimp Salad. Raw shrimps in spicy seafood sauce. This was a great salad, with very tender shrimp, mostly made by the spicy lime/chili “seafood sauce.” Underneath was a nice mix of celery and cabbage.

Pickled Crab Papaya Salad. Regular papaya salad with pickled crab. Great fresh flavor, crunchy texture, and a bit of funk from the delicious “pickled” raw black crab. Not for noobs, but delicious.

Tom Kha Soup. Coconut milk soup with mushroom, chili and tomato in a Thai herb broth. Served with mixed seafood. Wonderful rich broth flavor with lots of lemongrass and kafir lime. The seafood was nice. This was an excellent Tom Kha, although not quite as amazing as the super spicy one at Palms Thai.

Some of the seafood inside the soup.

Grilled Tilapia. Salt crusted.

The meat was very flavorful.

It was served with this fresh greens, the optional rice noodles, and a wonderful limey sauce.

Dtub Waan. Spicy pork liver with red onion, mint leaves, lime, rice powder, cilantro, coriander and green onion. Spicy. Thai liver and onions! Probably my least favorite dish, although well made for what it was, this was just a bit too livery.

Bamboo Shoots Salad. Shredded bamboo shoots with lime, red onions, chili powder, dried chilies, fermented fish sauce, cilantro, coriander mint leaves and green onion. Very “exotic” forward on the fish sauce flavor. Nice fiberous texture and extremely interesting, but not my favorite. It reminded me of Northern Thai Food Club.

Green Curry. Green curry with meat, bamboo shoot, chili, kaffir lime leaves and basil and chicken. Highly unusual light green curry with so much basil that it took on a pesto-like note. Tasty, but not super strong on the classic curry flavor.

Pad Kra Prao. Stir-fried minced meat with fresh chili and basil. Essentially like a larb, this pork dish was full of flavor. The sweet/spicy sauce was great and it was all very juicy with strong basil notes.

Fried Pork Spare Ribs. Fried marinated pork rib with sour taste. Our extremely nice server brought this as a gift. Fabulous pork nibblets with a delicious fried taste, sizzling hot, and with a nice sour flavor. Went very well with the ginger and garlic.

Pad See Eew. Stir-fried flat noodles with chicken, egg and broccoli in dark sauces. Very nice soft, sweet, savory noodles.

Overall, not only is Issan Station quite a deal, but they have an extremely good kitchen. The flavors are fresh and bright, tuned up a bit, not tuned down for American taste. Plenty of fish sauce etc. Nice modern plating, tastyfully done, but not fancy. They execute extremely well on what they have on the menu, but they don’t have the scope and breath of phonebooks like Jitlada.

After, we headed next door for some “snacks.”

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: AFF, Issan Station, Street Food, Thai cuisine, Thai Tour

Lunch Quest – Dai Ho

Dec07

Restaurant: Dai Ho Restaurant

Location: 9148 Las Tunas Dr, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 291-2295

Date: May 27, 2022

Cuisine: Taiwanese Chinese

Rating: Notoriously reasonably priced

Dai Ho has been on my “to try” list forever (maybe close to 10 years). It’s a very small menu Taiwanese lunch place known for noodles and being incredibly cheap (and tasty).

Typical old school SGV frontage.

The extremely casual interior space.

Tubs for sale.

Bean curd and anchovies. Nice texture and a bit savory.

Mustard greens with Bean Curd.

Mixed “spicy”. Peanuts, peppers, bean curd, garlic.

Tripe and Bean Curd. Pretty good for tripe.

Ground Pork Dry Noodles.

Ground Beef Dry Noodles.

Sesame Dry Noodles. Like a dan dan with less spice. Probably my favorite of the noodles — although not as strong as a good dan dan.

Beef Noodle Soup.

We pretty much ordered everything. There are some variants of above, but we covered our bases. Everything we had was very tasty and the bill was ridiculously low, but I do like a restaurant more more variety!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: AFF, Hai ho, lunch, Lunch Quest, noodles, Taiwanese Cuisine

Luscious Dumplings

Sep22

Restaurant: Luscious Dumplings

Location: 919 W Duarte Rd, Monrovia, CA 91016. (626) 821-0518

Date: January 14, 2022

Cuisine: Chinese Dumplings

Rating: Fabulous Homestyle Dumplings

This is the second AFF (Asian Food Friday) in a row where we set off — Omicron be damned — for some homestyle dumplings.
This time I picked Luscious Dumplings, which I had heard were very good.
The menu is pretty simple, but has nice pictures.

The decor is even simpler!

This is the full menu.

Sliced Pig Knuckle. Sounds scary but was delicious!

Marinated Wood Ear Mushrooms. I love me some cloud fungus.

Seaweed Salad with Chili Garlic Sauce.

Shredded Sichuan Pickle and Pork Noodle Soup. This was an interestingly different noodle soup.

Pan Fried Flakey Fish Dumplings.

Pan Fried Chive Pockets. A bit bigger in form factor, but one of our favorites.

Boiled Chive, Egg, Pork, and Shrimp Dumplings. Awesome classic.

Pan Fried Pork Dumplings. The super classic.

Steamed Pork and Blue Crab Soup Dumplings.

Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings. No one complains about XLB.

Bank breaker.

This was a great place for both boiled and pan fried Jao Zo dumplings. Some of the best I’ve had actually. Unfortunately I forgot to order the unusual “Pan Fried Beef Dumplings with Onions and Cheese” — darn, I’ll just have to go back.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: AFF, dumplings, Friday Lunch, Luscious Dumplings, pork

One One Dumplings

Sep08

Restaurant: One One Dumplings

Location: 704 W Las Tunas Dr #4, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-8695

Date: December 17, 2021

Cuisine: Northern Chinese

Rating: Solid boiled and fried dumplings

AFF and another Friday trip to the SGV to check out some Asian goodness. We actually intended to go to Hui Tou Xiang next door but they were only open for takeout — and since daddy don’t do takeout, we hit up one one.

Small interior.

Very casual sauce containers.

The menu is smaller than the interior and doubles as an order form. And a third of it is crossed out.

Flavors stewed bean curd. Tastes pretty normal actually. Flavors is mostly soy sauce (and maybe some sugar) and a couple of spices like star anise.

Fried pork dumplings. Great crispy bottom.

Stewed pork noodle in soup.

Flavors stewed beef. Presumably this meat is braised in the same liquid as the tofu.

Cabbage, pork, and shrimp. Straight up delicious boiled dumplings.

Pork with soup, steamed. What they mean here is soup dumplings, ie. that frozen or solidified broth was included in the filling before steaming. Delicious of course.

Chive, pork, egg, and shrimp boiled dumplings.

Fried chive, pork, egg dumplings. These had the most perfect pan fried bottom!

The mess.

One one is a simple place, but if you crave straight up boiled and fried jiaozi dumplings, it’s certainly got ’em.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

This is where we intended to go. When they reopen for sit down, I’ll try again.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: AFF, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, dumplings, Friday, lunch, noodles, One One Dumplings, SGV

Pa Ord Noodle

Apr11

Restaurant: Pa Ord Noodle

Location: 5269 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, Ca, 90027. 323-536-9929

Date: September 3, 2021

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Another solid (authentic) Thai

Pa Ord Noodle is another highly regarded Thai Town place.

We visited in the middle of the pandemic “opening up” phase and ate outside in the parking lot — hence all the takeout wares.

The menu.

Various chili sauces!

Papaya Salad – great.

Coconut Soup with Seafood — also delicious. Similar to the “coco lotus” soup at Jitlada.

Fried Shrimp Cake – Delicious. Very friend but great.

Roast Duck Noodle Soup w/ Egg Noodles.

Drunken Noodles Combination meats – very nice.

Pad Prik King Chicken – spicy and quite good.

I pulled this out of the freezer because it was “on theme”:

Buko Pandan Gelato — Infused the milk with fresh Pandan Leaves and then crafted it into a dairy coconut base as my take on the Filipino favorite. Unusual and soothing. — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #buko #pandan #coconut

All the dishes here were quite good, and while this was just a lunch, and not a “comprehensive review” (aka big dinner), it’s clear Pa Ord has a very good kitchen. You certainly couldn’t go wrong stopping in here for a Thai food fix!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: AFF, Asian Food Friday, BYOG, curry, Gelato, Pa Ord Noodle, Thai cuisine, Thai food, Thai Town

Amphai – Northern Thai Food Club

Mar06

Restaurant: Northern Thai Food Club

Location: 5301 Sunset Blvd #11, Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 474-7212

Date: January 17, 2020

Cuisine: Northern Thai

Rating: Small Space, Big Taste

Asian Food Friday is always a good opportunity to try out some of the oddball and amazing corners of Los Angeles eating.

Which brings us to Amphai, or Northern Thai Food Club, which has been on my “to try” list for some time. Supposedly this is some of the best and most authentic Northern Thai in the country. It’s on a grungy Sunset corner in Thai Town.

And the interior is tiny. The staff appear to be family and are extremely friendly. Service is casual and all on disposable plates with the flimsiest of plasticware. On entering the thick pungent smell of fish sauce blankets the air and informs you that this is the “real deal.”

Much of the food is on display in a big deli/steam table — including the amazing Norther Thai Sausage (that looks like something a large dog might leave in the yard).

They also sell some random Thai snacks.

The menu is surprisingly long.

Som Tum Thai. Papaya Salad. Salted Crab Flavor. Green Papaya with Thai chilies, tomatoes, dried shrimp, green beans, fish sauce, lime jices and salted crab. Bright flavor with a hint of fishiness.

Spicy green laxative — I mean chili sauce — awesome complex flavor and hearty burn.

Sai Qua. Northern Spices Pork Sausage. Ground pork marinated with herbs and spices. Tons of flavor, very soft texture.

Cabbage and sticky rice.

Moo Sam Chan Tod. Fried Pork Belly. Deep fried pork belly. Tasty, particularly with the green sauce.

Larb Moo Kija. Minced pork northern spices salad. Pan-fried minced pork, liver pork, skin pork with fresh mint leaves, in Northern spices. Tons and tons of flavor. Interesting fishy and livery notes.

Gaeng Hang Lae. Northern pork curry. Stewed pork in Thai-Burmese curry powder and tamarind paste with ginger root. Very tender meat and lots and lots of flavor.

Gaeng Khanoon. Jackfruit soup. Spicy soup of young jackfruit chunks, Chaom leaves (Acacia) and pork ribs seasoned with tomato and garlic.

Yum Nor Nam Poo. Bamboo shoots with crab paste. Bamboo shoots with Thai chili, limes, fish sauce and crab paste juices. Lots of fiber and a very different funky flavor. Probably my least favorite dish, but still tasty and interesting. Plus it has “poo” in the name.

Kao Soi Gai. Curry egg noodle with chicken. Seasoned chicken drumstick curried with flat egg noodles, topped with crispy noodle and served with sour mustard green, shallot, lime, and thick red chili sauce.

Condiments for the Kao Soi.

Kao Soi Nua. Curry egg noodle with beef. Seasoned chicken curried with flat egg noodles, topped with crispy noodle and served with sour mustard green, shallot, lime, and thick red chili sauce.

More condiments for the Kao Soi.

With the toppings.

Special of vermicelli and jackfruit and I don’t know what. Mushy texture but tasty.

Sample of something with jackfruit. Sour, but tasty too.

A kind of strong pork curry. Very strong “bay leaf”? flavor sauce. Tasty.

Sour pork rib soup. I think Jor Pak Pung. Ceylon spinach in tamarind soup with cut pork ribs.

The kitchen is tiny.

The shelves on the way to the rest room are loaded with Thai products.

See!

And the bathroom includes its own glamorous strapped water heater — clearly not going anywhere!

Overall, this place is legit. Not your suburban strip-mall Thai by any means. Eating here on the tiny plastic stools makes you think of a little hangout in Chiang Mai. Nearly every dish is $7. Very unusual flavors, and quite spicy, but if you can handle all that well worth the trip.

After, we felt we needed some authentic Thai desserts to quench the burn.

Inside this crowded shop.

Pandan pudding being made fresh.

Pandan custard pudding. Super thick, creamy, mild in flavor but hit the spot.

Ultra light crispy crepes with coconut cream (crispy) and either yellow mango (sweet) or curry (orange)

Taro cakes.

Mystery in a banana leaf.

Cookies.

Delicious hot fried rice and coconut balls.

All sorts of yummy stuff.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: AFF, Amphai, Asian Food Friday, curry, Fish sauce, lunch, spicy, Thai cuisine, Thai Food Club, Thai Town

Noodle Harmony

Dec20

Restaurant: Noodle Harmony

Location: 735 W Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 656-6562

Date: November 8, 2019

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Pretty good — I love me some Szechuan

My AFF group (Asian Food Friday) wanted to go to Korean but I steered them to the SGV to try out a new Szechuan place that’s been on my “list.”

Noodle Harmony. I always like to try new Szechuan places.

It’s in the mini mall at one of my favorite corners: Garvey and Atlantic. Right next to Capital Seafood.

Decor is that new casual style. No big tables. The place was pretty empty.

The menu.

My “notes” for ordering. I did it in waves so we could control the order and pacing.

Cucumber Salad. This was a nice garlicky (but not spicy) take on this classic opener. Always refreshing.

Jellyfish Salad. Some great jellyfish with that really nice chew/bite. Tangy spicy sauce.

Mung Bean Cold Noodle. I love this dish in general, but this version was a bit heavy and needed a more tangy sauce.

Green Onion and Chili Paste Cold Tofu. Loved this dish. Great salty/tangy flavor and really nice silken tofu texture. TONS of garlic.

Szechuan Spicy Chicken. Cold. Not a bad version. Lots of flavor. Bone sucking good.

Szechuan Style Dumplings. Very nice version. Lots of tasty pork inside, a bit of chili oil outside. Good dumpling skins.

Steamed Beef with Rice Paste. This is a Szechuan classic. Tender (I mean really tender) soft beef coated in rice paste which has this interesting carby and toasted quality. Very nice version.

Dan Dan Mein. The classic Chengdu street food. This was one of the better versions I’ve had in the US recently. It had lots of flavor and that mixed mala, meaty, a bit of nutty taste.

Traditional Tri-Delight (rice) Noodle Soup. Cuttlefish, pork stomach, pork, mushrooms. This soup showcases a fish cuttlefish. Very interesting. Quite delicious too.

I brought a bunch of gelato in honor of AFF.

Cran-Cherry Cassis Sorbetto — French Cranberries and Amareno Cherries with a bit of Crème de Cassis — tart! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Currents from Avignon, blended with Creme de Cassis –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #cranberry #cherry #current #cassis

Ruby Chocolate Gelato — base made with Callebaut Ruby Couverture Chocolate and a Stracciatella of ruby chocolate mixed with berriy puree — this isn’t a flavored chocolate but a special “ruby” cocoa bean Callebaut has bred with a natural pink color and fruity finish — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Callebaut #chocolate #RubyChocolate #ruby #berry

Matcha Almond Latte Gelato – Ceremonial Matcha Green Tea and Sicilian Noto Romano Almond gelato base — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #almond #matcha #GreenTea #Sicily

A new “dessert reinterpreted” gelato — German Chocolate Cake Gelato — Valrhona Chocolate base with house-made coconut pecan praline “icing”! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #chocolate #valrhona #GermanChocolateCake #Icing #coconut #praline #pecan

Overall, service was great. We were pretty much the only people there and they were extremely friendly. Food was good, but not the best Szechuan I’ve had by any means. Menu is pretty limited. Definitely a lunch place. Everything was fine. Nothing too sloppy or anything, but most dishes just fine. A few were standouts though. Dan Dan, tofu, jellyfish, maybe the steamed beef.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: AFF, lunch, Noodle Harmony, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan Chinese

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.

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.

It’s really an Izakaya, they have a lot of sochu on the wall and a very drinking friendly menu.

Very casual small interior. Really nice staff.

Pickled Vegetables. Japanese love pickles. Several radishes, Japanese Mountain Yam, cucumber, carrot, etc. Nice complex vinegar flavor. Good crunch.

Japanese Omelet (tamago). Really nice savory omelet. Great fluffy texture.

Small horse mackerel with fresh vegetable bowl. Very fresh mackerel, not at all fishy, with a good bit of ginger and various veggies.

Delicious Small Tuna Bowl. Just straight up tuna sashimi.

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.

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.

Shrimp Tempura. Black tiger shrimps with some assorted vegetable tempura. Excellent. Classic.

Vegetable Tempura. Shitake mushroom, red pepper, onion, asparagus, perrilla, enoki, sweet potato, Japanese Squash etc. I like the perrilla (shiso?).

Broiled chicken leg. Really nice dark meat.

Stir fried Kurobuta pork with ginger soy sauce. Like a pork version of the meat that goes in a beef udon bowl — delicious.

The pork came with miso soup.

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.

Kikouchi (cold). Dark brown noodle made of 100% buckwheat flour. Gluten free. Really great buckwheat noodles! These are also dipped into the dipping sauce.

At the end they bring this broth you can add to the dipping sauce to drink it like a soup. Very nice too.

Curry Udon. Great curry udon. Chicken, onions and curry. Lighter and more complex than most curry udons.

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

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.

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