After finally getting back to Seattle, it was time to have my first meal here. So I headed over to the international district to have some japanese food at Maneki. This place is old. I mean like really really old.

How old you say? Try over 100 years old. Yeah, I said it. This place has been around for more than a friggin century. That’s an accomplishment if I’ve ever heard one. It was Seattle’s first sushi bar. As well as Seattle’s first tatami rooms. As well as Seattle’s first karaoke bar. That’s a lot of firsts! It’s actually run by japanese people. They speak japanese to each other! It’s authentic, and popular, and that’s why I had to sit at the bar, even on a quiet Sunday night.

A couple of delicious sushi rolls… Tasty and adorable, with little sprouts and all. Yes, you don’t even have to ask, it was extremely fresh!

One of my favorite japanese dishes of all, the agadashi tofu. Why do I like this so much? I like tofu. I like dashi. Put them together! The grated daikon was an especially tasty touch.

Tempura udon. I always crave bowls of noodles, and udon is a particularly favorite noodle of mine. This bowl wasn’t particularly exciting, as the broth was kind of bland, but it was just fine. The tempura was great though, especially the sweet potato. Not only is this place old and good, but their prices are great! It’s some of the most afforable sushi and japanese food you’ll find anywhere. It certainly isn’t fancy, but who cares about fancy, just care about the great food!

Before heading home, in order to avoid the traffic on 95, I grabbed a quick bite right near the customer. There’s a big fancy strip-mall with all kinds of stuff, so I randomly selected Jesse Wong’s. It was either this or california pizza kitchen, quizno’s, or panera. I always pick the non-chains as much as I possibly can. snowboarding, the hunger set in and I had to eat. This place is large and kind of fancy. It’s definitely not your typical chinese joint. It’s definitely trying to be upscale. There’s a large sushi bar in the middle. It’s an open kitchen so you can see all the hubbub. This place is trying so hard to be fancy, there’s even a dude playing the piano! It’s a little crazy.

I could hardly make a decision. I wasn’t sure whether to go for chinese or to go for sushi. I kept going back and forth. Then when the waitress showed up, I just decided on chinese. So I ordered some hot & sour soup. This was an extremely large portion of soup. For $3, you get so much soup! I liked this a lot. It was extremely flavorful. I’m a big fan of hot & sour soup, and it’s definitely a soup that you either like or dislike. This one I liked, despite it being the darkest and most opaque hot & sour soup I’ve ever had.

For my entree, I got the chilean sea bass in a spicy black bean sauce. This was so good! It was a nice sized hunk of fresh chilean sea bass (you could definitely taste the freshness) in an extremely savory sauce. The fish was lovely and flaky and the sauce was perfect for it. It was a bit on the salty side, but not in a bad way. The fish came on top of three pieces of broccolini. It was the perfect accompaniment. Service was ok. Prices were a bit on the high side for chinese food, but not overpriced. There were plenty of items on the menu that were very affordable, so there’s something for everyone. All in all, a nice surprise.

Jesse Wong’s Kitchen
118 Shawan Rd
Cockeysville, MD 21030
(410) 329-1088

Before heading out to a cabaret show, R and I stopped by Chinatown to grab some vittles. I hadn’t been to yakitori boy in awhile, so that’s where we ended up. R went with sushi and I went with non-sushi.The rolls at yakitori boy have fewer pieces than at other restaurants, but that’s ok, because the price tags tend to be smaller as well. Here are two philly rolls. And a couple sets of tuna and salmon nigiri. Even though it was actually fairly warm out, I still wanted noodle soup. So I went with the tempura soba. This is a fairly small sized bowl, but it’s a decent portion for the price. One big piece of tempura shrimp and firm soba noodles. I like their udon broth here. I also got the tatsuta age, which is a deep fried marinated chicken dish. These were super duper hot! As in temperature hot. This chicken is awesome. And I totally dug the dipping sauce that came with it. I would put it on everything if I knew how to make it or if I could buy it! The food here comes out as it’s made. There’s no waiting for everything to be ready or appetizers showing up first. It just comes out when it’s been made and ready. My chicken didn’t come out until we were pretty much both done with everything. Which is bad timing, but that’s part of their concept. And all the dishes are delivered by different people as well. Service is ok. Nothing bad, nothing great, somewhat inconsistent. But it’s not fancy dining so it doesn’t really matter to me. I did order a side of rice though and I had to ask for it again before they brought it out.