Archive for japanese

korean food by japanese?

February 5, 2008 at 10:00 pm · Filed under asian, bbq, japanese, korean

Hahn’s Hibachi
535 Irving St. (x 6th Ave.)

Hahn’s is located in one of my favorite areas – Irving Street. Very Inner Sunset, this area is littered with restaurants and bars that are all pretty tasty and varied. A nice little walk from my apartment, bbg and I venture out there on weekend nights for grub. It’s a pretty good change in scenery, plus you feel better about gorging on (insert your favorite food here) and then walking the mile and a half home.

Anyway, we’ve passed by Hahn’s every time we’ve been to Irving. It’s one of those “oh we should go there some time” but you never ever go there type places. It’s small, couldn’t fit more than 20 people in the place that was probably once a cafe. The decor is simple if not lacking. There’s a counter immediately ahead of you when you enter the door. Many people stopped by to pick up orders, so it seems popular enough and convenient. When we first walked in, we were unsure of what we were supposed to do – order and sit or sit and wait to be served? No one was behind the counter, so we were bold and sat. The cashier/waitress came from out back and saw us and immediately brought us menus. It wasn’t hard to get her attention since we were the only customers there besides another couple. Perhaps it’d be slower if there were more take out orders or generally people in the place. It was quiet, but only because it was dead. A few times people came in to order and were talking with a friend or chatting on their cell phone and that was loud. I couldn’t imagine the ruckus if the place were packed. On to the food!

I ordered the soft tofu seafood soup for about $11 before tax and tip. The soup comes out boiling hot in one of those iron type bowls, which is set on a wooden plate. I was saddened that our waitress didn’t crack an egg in it, but oh well. The soup comes with rice and a lettuce salad. Waiting for the soup to cool down, I munched on the salad, which was pretty good eats. Typical iceberg lettuce, shredded, with some shredded carrots and topped with a miso-style dressing. Very good, maybe a bit too creamy.

The soups come at varying degrees of spiciness: mild, medium, and hot. I chose medium, which turned out to be a good idea since it was pretty spicy. Spicy, but not really more tasty. I think you just get to pick the level of burning your mouth experiences. The soup itself is very very very mildly fishy tasting, which is actually a good thing since I don’t like fishy-ness all that much. Sadly, that doesn’t mean that there were other flavors to compensate for the lack of fishy-ness. The soup is red, though I’m not sure why. It’s good, but pretty watery and doesn’t taste like much. Compared to other Korean tofu soups I’ve had, this was pretty mediocre.

As promised, the soup came with soft tofu, which was plentiful. I liked the big chunks throughout. They added substance to the plain soup. The soup had a couple pieces of shrimp and then pieces of an unidentified seafood. I want to say it was squid, but I really don’t know. It was white and came in skinny sort of tube shaped pieces and tasted mildly fishy. It was pretty chewy, but not impossibly so. Overall, it only slightly bothered me that I didn’t know what it was.

BBG got the BBQ spicy pork. The dish came with bean sprouts, salad, and rice. I ate his salad and he gobbled up the pork. It was spicy enough, but the portion was tiny (especially when compared to what you can get at Steve’s Korean BBQ in Berkeley). He was satisfied, but I’m sure he could’ve eaten a lot more.

Most people ordered the Bi Bim Bop and looking at other reviews on the place, it seems like that’s where it’s at. Maybe next time, if there is a next time for me. BBG said he’d go back, perhaps I’ll tag along. Lastly, aren’t hibachis Japanese? The place serves udon and tempura, so there’s more to the mystery.

Overall: Ok food for this small joint. Seems like it’s really made for takeout, generally nothing special. Considering the fact that there are about a billion other restaurants in the immediate area – ones I like a lot and others that I’d like to try, I probably won’t be back any time soon. Mediocre.

Rating: 3/10

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welcome to japantown

August 22, 2007 at 11:08 pm · Filed under american, asian, breakfast, brunch, hawaiian, japanese, sandwiches, sushi

May’s Coffee Shop08150712352.jpg
Kintetsu Mall, Japantown
1737 Post St. (near Buchanan St.)

So as stated in the last post, I got a new jobbie. Whoo hoo! While I’ll miss working in Chinatown (because, face it, where else will you get a nice lunch for under $1?), Japantown is my new love. I knew going into the area would be dangerous, it always is. You can lose an arm and a leg out there what with the good, expensive food and all the stuff you could buy! Never have I been so sad to have my cell phone – it doesn’t have a place to hook on a charm! And here I am, amongst a gazillion amazing charms. Life is rough.

Anyway, back to the food. Japanese food is a hardcore favorite of mine. When in doubt, Japanese will do just fine. Sadly, it’s almost always pricey. It would be a challenge to find an affordable lunch place…. We’ll see how I fare.

My first day consisted of a tour of the several different office buildings my organization is housed in. On the way from one to another, my supervisor took me on a detour and showed me a few things. We walked by May’s Coffee Shop and it looked less pricey than the rest. Sweet.

At lunchtime, my first official “working” lunch in Japantown, instead of opting for Denny’s (probably the most affordable place in the area, but not, uh, up to snuff for the area), I went back to the mall and checked out May’s menu. Lo and behold – they serve eggs! May’s became my new favorite spot.

The place isn’t really a restaurant.  It’s a little like an eatery with a counter you order at and picnic style tables surrounding it.  It’s nice in that it’s under skylights so it’s bright and sunny.  Not so great when it’s warm out, though.   You get the mall foot traffic walkin by and looking at you, but whatever.  This place is much better than any food court in any mall.  Ok, well, except for maybe the Westfield mall downtown.  It’s quaint and not intimidating at all (compared to the fancy Japanese restaurants throughout the mall).

Let’s back up for just a second. Last week bbg and I went to Mazatlan, Mexico for vacation. While there I had an epiphany: breakfast is my favorite meal. I love scrambled eggs with tons of pepper and a little bit of ketchup. Other than that, who doesn’t love sausage and pancakes and waffles and potatoes and everything else that comes with breakfast? Part of it has got to be sentimental. When I was growing up (and even today, though I don’t live there anymore) my dad would always make breakfast on the weekends. We’d have eggs and fried rice or potatoes and sausage or pancakes or whatever. So it’s a bit nostalgic for me. But seriously, most of it is because it tastes great. And it’s really difficult to mess up, so it’s always gonna be pretty satisfying.

Anyway, so yeah. For just under $5 you can get a combo with the following: eggs how you like them, toast, potatoes as you like them (hash or home fries with peppers and onions) or rice, and your choice of meat (sausage, spam!!, ham, bacon). Pretty amazing, I think, so I order that. The wait is about 10 minutes.

Beyond what I got, there are a variety of other combos to choose from and breakfast is served all day (again, hella awesome). You can order other breakfast items like waffles and omelettes. And of course, there are lunch items, the usual diner fare: sandwiches, salads, and hamburgers. There are Asian things like curries, Asian type sandwiches, hawaiian stuff, different udons, shaved ice (!), and spam masubi! There are specials everyday like spaghetti and stews, so basically it’s pretty hodgepodge (note the plethora of tags).

Like I said before, breakfast is easy, so no big complaints here. It was a bit greasy, so the shop on the whole is more of a diner than anything else. Or I guess coffee shop. Go figure. The eggs weren’t really fluffy, but they were good and cooked well. The home fried potatoes come cooked with slices of bell peppers and onions, which I tend to avoid in general. I tried a couple of the veggies, blah. Skipped the toast and the meat (I wasn’t that hungry), which was probably smart since those items would’ve increased my grease intake. Strangely, I couldn’t find any black pepper around for my eggs. I thought it’d be in the shaker next to the salt, but its contents turned out to be sesame seeds. Huh. Didn’t matter, they had ketchup and that’s just fine with me.

Overall: Probably your best bet in the neighborhood for lots of good-tasting food for a more than reasonable price. The menu’s filled with your basics, plus some Asian stuff, though a little greasy. But hey, I’m ok with that. I’ll be back. A lot.

Rating: 7/10

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