Soon Tofu that lifts up the spirit - So Kong Dong

So Kong Dong is my favorite soon tofu place in Los Angeles. It serves the best-tasting soon tofu, is pretty easy to go to and the parking situation is usually not bad. Last week, I was in a poor mood and didn't want to eat any dinner, but my wife suggested So Kong Dong and I ended up eating way more than normal, and was very happy afterwards.

The banchan is great and comes with spicy raw crab. Good stuff.

Their soon tofu is so hot it's like lava in a stone pot. I like the dumpling soon tofu because the dumplings are good and taste even better after soaking in the tofu soup. Their tofu has a unique flavor that stands out from other soon tofu places. Their soup is also more flavorful, not just filled with jalapeno taste.

DineLA menu at JiRaffe

JiRaffe is a French/California restaurant near the Third Street Promenade. Don't let the location fool you, this place is a serious restaurant. I've wanted to go for a long time and the DineLA menu finally got me to go.

The first thing was a complimentary mushroom cappuccino. It has great mushroom flavor with a little spicy kick to it. The foam on top integrates perfectly with the creamy mushroom soup. What a great start to the meal.

The bread are all pretty fancy. I can't really tell what ingredients are in them but they are all  delicious.

The people's omakase - Wakasan

Wakasan has been the gold standard of omakase dining in Los Angeles for many years. They serve only the chef's choice menu of traditional Japanese dishes. I always want to eat there but it's difficult to get a table without reservation, and I don't like making reservations :P Finally today I made the reservation because I tried Morinoya and really missed this place.

First course was a cold chawanmushi with egg and mushrooms. The egg custard is silky smooth with good salty flavor.

The sashimi appertizer is of kampachi, albacore, halibut and salmon. The soy sauce is just the right amount of sour and saltiness to bring out the best flavor of the sashimi.

[Travel] Visit to the Din Tai Fung flagship resturant in Taipei

I was in Taipei a couple of weeks ago and I took that opportunity to visit the Din Tai Fung flagship restaurant in Taipei. I have visited the Din Tai Fung in Arcadia several times but was never quite impressed with their Steamed Pork Dumplings. The flagship restaurant is where it all started so I was hoping to get the true taste of their world famous dumplings. This location is four stories but it's massively popular with tourists so we went there right when they opened to avoid the lines.

We got the Steamed Crab Meat and Pork Dumpling. It's a deluxe version of the Steamed Pork Dumplings that tests the chefs' skill of balancing crab flavor with pork.

Jidaiya - ramen dining by yakotori-specialist Torihei

Jidaiya is the new ramen venture from the same people who brought us Torihei, the best yakitori in Los Angeles. Needless to say I was pretty excited to try their ramen.

The Seaweed Yatai Ramen was quite light with a lot of interesting seaweed. The soup is light, maybe a little too light to go with the ramen.

Ramen Jinya - surprisingly good fusion ramen

Ramen Jinya is the final entrant to the Sawtelle ramen battlefield for a while and it is at last open for real. It's located south of Olympic Blvd where all the fast food restaurants are. The first thing I noticed was the decor; it's very Studio City :P I wasn't expecting much but this trip had me surprised.

The Jinya Chicken Ramen had a thick, milky chicken stock soup with the sweetness of corn swimming throughout. It's not too salty and quite drinkable in a good way. The pieces of chicken meat have a slight wine taste to them that makes them interesting.

Omakase at Morinoya - a fancy seafood feast

Morinoya is the new venture of chef Takayuki Morishita, who was also the head chef of Place Yuu that closed last year. I was pretty excited that he decided to continue serving his creations in Sawtelle. Morinoya now offers a wide variety of dishes, including yakitori, oden, small plates, sushi and sashimi. It even offers two kinds of 8-course omakase menu, a $45 version and a $70 version that requires advanced reservation. We tried the $45 omakase this time.

The first dish was cucumber, yam with plum sauce. I liked the yam but the plum sauce was too intense for me. 

Try it before it's gone - Ramen Iroha stages a temporary ramen invasion

For a limited time, famous ramen chain Menya Iroha from Toyama is setting up shop inside the Gardena Marukai food court until 9/16. Menya Iroha is known for their black shoyu ramen and has set a record of selling 14,585 bowls of ramen within 5 days at the Tokyo Ramen Show. Head chef Kiyoshi Kurihara has come personally to oversee operations for the first week. You just know it's going to be good.

Finally a good tempura bowl in the Westside - Tendon Hannosuke

A new place opened at that cursed spot at the Santa Monica Mitsuwa food court! This time, it is tempura bowl specialist from Tokyo, Tendon Hannosuke. According to reviews on tabelog, there is always a line at the Nihonbashi location on weekends. We're pretty lucky here in Los Angeles! The storefront is quite attractive. They have a window for you to look at the tempura making process.