After roaming Hayes Valley, we kept on roaming to Japantown. Little did we know that it would be a complete madhouse with the Cherry Blossom Festivities going on. Well, it was just too many people for us. There was tons of food vendors but the lines were atrocious. I wasn’t about to wait for anything ever again after the SF Underground Market experience, so I said f that. Although some of it definitely looked amazing. I mean look at all this meat they’re cooking up!

So instead, we decided to play it luxurious by going indoors and eating some ramen at Tanpopo. This place really seems to specialize in ramen. It’s a small place, with a bar, and pretty much the whole time we were there, we didn’t see anyone order anything aside from ramen. This is all a good sign. They have many different kinds to suit your ramen fancy.

J went with the soy broth with won tons and extra pork. Oh so delicious. You know these bowls of noodley goodness were made with love… just look at the beautiful steam coming off every chopstick-ful bite. The broth was rich, porky, and garnished just right. These bowls could have gone on forever. We only wish they had.

I like a little spice now and then, so I got the spicy miso ramen which is served with sprouts, pork, and the standard bamboo shoots, fish cake, and hard boiled egg. This thing is spicy. It’s not too spicy, but it’s definitely not mild. You have to be able to handle some spice. It was so spicy that it was difficult to slurp up the broth just on its own. You definitely needed noodles and other toothsome bites to take off some of the heat. But I loved it. This was some of the best ramen I’ve ever had. And I got really sad when my bowl became empty. I wanted more!

Service was ok. We were seated immediately but it took awhile for us to get menus and water. We actually had to ask for menus after just sitting there for awhile twiddling our thumbs. But the girls there were really busy, so we understood. And it didn’t take very long for our ramen to come out. If you love ramen, check it out!

Sometimes I get cravings for certain dishes. The other week, I desperately wanted to go to Tampopo, but it just didn’t happen. So this week, I was determined! Just before I headed out to G’s monthly movie event, since I was going to have to be in West Philly anyway, I stopped in at Tampopo 3. Tampopo tends to get mixed reviews. Some people love the ramen, some people hate it. Some people think their sushi is only ok. I don’t care about any of that because all I care about is their fresh tuna bi-bim-bob. It is possibly one of the most perfect dishes ever.

There is nothing in it that I don’t like. And the beauty of it is that nothing is cooked. Well, except the rice, of course. There is raw tuna, avocado, asian pear, cucumber, lettuce, and purple cabbage. These are all lovely things all on their own. But together, along with the zesty and slightly spicy and nutty sauce (which is technically cooked), it’s just perfection. Get it with brown rice, because brown rice is awesome, and it has a more firm texture that goes along really well with the other mostly crunchy ingredients. I literally left nothing in this bowl. And since they didn’t give me a spoon, I chopsticked out every little kernel of rice. I wasn’t leaving anything! It was a lot of work but totally worth it!

M wanted to get some friends together and go out to eat and frolic. Then she decided that we should stay in instead. And so we did, with sushi take-out from Zento. And we had a hilarious time at R’s fancy pad. M made some japanese cocktail, which was strong, yet good. And she even printed out a cute little graphic for the bottle. Yes, she takes her boozing seriously, and is a big time nerd. And we love her for it!
I love japanese style green salad, so I insisted that M pick some up. Ooh, I really like Zento’s version. Baby greens, tomatoes, and even asparagus! And the dressing rocks. I got some random japanese treats for this night too, that’s where the peas came from. R also made a guacamole. Not japanese at all, but definitely delicious.
So, what kind of sushi did we get? Take a look! I don’t have a freakin idea what any of these are. I think the one in front was crab related. One of the ones in the middle had shrimp tempura in it. The one on the far right corner has cooked salmon. And we had some fabulously fresh sashimi on the lower right. My favorite was the rectangularly shaped one at the top. I don’t know what this was, but it was beyond delicious and it all just melted in my mouth. Yummy!
One of the other random japanese treats I brought over was some green tea daifuku. Daifuku is mochi stuffed with something sweet on the inside. I’ve never actually had daifuku before. I’ve had mochi ice cream before. I thought to myself, heck, how different could this be? Well, I’m used to the mochi consistency and flavor, so I didn’t mind that at all, but the green tea innard is what I did not enjoy. It wasn’t sweet at all. It just had a strange bitter green tea taste. I thought it would be a green tea flavored mochi with sweet red bean on the inside. Instead, it was plain old mochi with green tea flavored mush on the inside. It didn’t do it for me. M liked these the most! She got to take the spare container home with her! Oh, it was a fun night. Three red wine spills still couldn’t stop the fun! And I discovered that I am a natural at Wii dancing!