This year for mother’s day, we went to Gaya. We haven’t done the brunch thing for awhile, which I don’t mind at all, and on mother’s day, mother gets to pick. And lately, she’s been pretty much picking Gaya for everything. The thing that bummed me out a little was there there was a special mother’s day menu in place. This meant that some of my favorite dishes weren’t even available at all. Oh well.

Meat! We got korean bbq, of course, and it tastes just fine here. There was a nice variety of banchan, including two different salads. One was the kind you would get at a sushi restaurant, with the ginger dressing. This other one had a sweet and vinegary pepper sauce. I loved them both.

One thing to note about the korean bbq here. You will not leave this place stinking of korean bbq! It has ventilation built into the bottom of the tables, and it must be as strong as turbo jets because I’ve never been to a korean restaurant and not smelled at all. But here, when you leave, you leave the smell! It amazes me!

We also ordered the ganpoong saewoo, which were fried shrimp in a sweet sauce. These were good, but nothing spectacular.

When you eat here, you get your choice of white or mixed rice. The mixed rice has beans in it, and the coloring of the beans makes the rice this deep purple color. I like the taste of this, and it makes me feel like I’m being healthier.

We ended the dinner with mul naengmyun. Apparently, when you eat korean bbq, you finish it off with mul naengmyun. It’s just how it goes. I love naengmyun in general, but this one wasn’t anything special either. I missed my favorite dishes, but it was still a good meal.

While picking up some groceries at H Mart, I decided to be extra lazy and pick up some takout from Pho & Cafe Anh Hong. It hasn’t been around for too long and I’ve been meaning to try it. If it means a pho place within 10 minutes of me, then I’m extremely happy with this new addition already. I was also happy to find out that they have various banh mi and also bubble tea. They also have other takeaway treats, including this mysterious green goop. What is this exactly? Someone, please tell me! Since I was picking up food to-go, I got a vermicelli bowl with grilled pork and spring rolls.

This was great! The pork was flavored well and grilled so it was slightly crunchy. The veggies were fresh and plentiful. But it was the fried spring roll I really liked. The skin was different from ones I’ve had before. It was more like what you’d find being the crepe of a vietnamese crepe. It wasn’t a crunchy flaky rice paper outside, it was more chewy and thick. It seemed to be made from rice flour like the crepes are. And I really enjoyed it! Man alive, knowing that there’s a good and cheap vietnamese joint so close to my house is like music to my ears. Next visit, I’ll try the pho! I can’t wait!

We wanted to see a movie, so we headed to the Kabuki Theater. Little did we know that no regular showings were happening due to the SF International Film Festival. Doh! So after roaming around a bit, we got hungry, so we just decided to take advantage of being in japantown and went to Tanpopo again. Yes, we’re addicts.

J got the Ankake Ramen, which was a thick starchy soy sauce flavored soup with sauteed vegetables and ground pork. Oh this thing was so beyond good. The broth is indeed thick, and it has a lovely nutty taste, which I assume is from sesame oil. It isn’t overly seasoned, so when he added a few drops of soy sauce to it, it became just right. This thing comes with mostly veggies, including shitake, cabbage, onion, green onion, carrots, and been sprouts. And the ground pork is a nice touch.

It was really really hot out, so although I wanted ramen, I didn’t think I could do it. So I just stole some of J’s ramen and got the curry instead. Even though it had its own heat, it was just what I wanted. It had chicken, onions, and carrots in it. As a trade for stealing his ramen, I forced him to eat my carrots. It’s a fair trade!

We adore this place. The food is great, cheap, and the service is efficient. But their bathrooms are pretty gross. I say hold it and go across the street in the Japan Center instead. I could eat here every day if I didn’t live on the other side of the country.