While Old Town Sushi is all the rage in San Mateo, I discovered Dash Japanese Tapas and Sushi last year. It surely didn’t disappoint. I recently went again and fell in love all over again. The shop is inconspicuously located in the alley of downtown San Mateo next to the movie theater. There’s not much of a wait but reservations are recommended for dinner.
We started with the baked baby scallop with uni. This dish was amazing! The creaminess from the uni was well balance with the scallop and roe.
Decent ramen is hard to find in the financial district of San Francisco but the search is over. Kirimachi Ramen serves up a decent bowl of ramen. The noodles are made fresh daily and have a nice tender bite. They offer a variety of pork and fish tonkotsu ramen.
I generally get the number one but this day the the duck truffle ramen special caught my eye. The ramen was topped with roasted pork, duck, soft boiled egg, fish cake, bamboo shoots and green onions. The duck was cooked perfectly and balanced well with the light broth. You could definitely taste the black truffle oil in the broth. It was flavorful yet not overpowering. The noodles had the perfect chewiness and bite. The egg was perfectly slightly runny. Overall, it was a decent bowl of ramen but the portion was small for what you pay ($18.50 for the special). But keep in mind, nothing good comes cheap in FiDi.
Location: 3 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111
A popular udon spot in Oahu is Marakume Udon. The line is out the door but the service is fast. The noodles are freshly made and pulled through a machine.
After being cut and boiled, they go through a quick cold wash to stop the cooking.
The restaurant is run cafeteria style. You place the order with the person in front. He places the noodles in a bowl. The next person adds the broth. By the time you reach the third person, you are asked if you want to top your udon off with fried flakes, green onion or egg. I said yes to it all.
As you move along, you will come across the tempura station. For about $1.50-$2 each, I wanted to try it all but had to hold back.
The curry udon was good but disappointing. I was expecting the udon to have more of a bite but the consistency reminded me of packaged udon. I guess when it’s machine made, you can’t expect to taste the wonderful qualities of handmade. The curry was flavorful but not overwhelming.
The niku udon is a beef broth udon with beef slices. The broth was clear and delectable.
I tried the mushroom, squid, pumpkin, sweet potato, and fish stick tempura. Overall, I’m not a big fan of tempura so I ended up pulling off the fried batter to eat my veggies. Maybe one day I need to try a top notch tempura place to love this Japanese cuisine but for now, I will just enjoy my veggies plain. I also tried the onigiri wrapped in tofu skin. It was a unique twist to the usual seaweed version.
YUMTRAVELS 