Tag: japanese

Del Mar, San Diego County, Mary

shimbashi izakaya / del mar – san diego, ca

Shimbashi Izakaya is a Japanese restaurant located in the heart of downtown Del Mar, CA. They serve a variety of “tapas” style menu items as well as sushi, noodles, and other Japanese dishes and seafood. I recently had the opportunity to try Shimbashi Izakaya for myself and was happily treated to a wonderful line up of delicious Japanese foods.

Shimbashi Izakaya is in such a pretty spot with a nice outdoor patio.

There’s an ocean view and if you’re lucky (ie: not dining in May or June), you’ll be treated to a sunny, ocean view. Our sunset was a little cloudy that evening and it was a bit chilly by the coast, but Laura and I were not deterred in the slightest! Also: heat lamps are a wonderful invention.

This is their menu – it looks like a picture book! I loved this idea, especially for cuisine that I’m not very familiar with. It’s so helpful to see photos of the items you want to order.

[Lychee Martini]

Our hostess pretty much convinced me to try this drink. I wasn’t going to have any alcohol, but with a little pushing and prodding you can get me to try a lot of things.

I admit, it didn’t really take much prodding. But, she did have them split our 1 Lychee martini into two glasses. This was very sweet – and I detected no alcohol, which is a crazy combination. The flavor of the lychee comes shining through on this martini. While I thought the drink was good, it would have been better if it was a little less sweet.

I loved the wooden skewers with the wooden flower bead – so cute!

[Baked Mussels]

After perusing through their large menu, Laura and I decided to get a few appetizers to start. One was this: the Baked Mussels. The mussels come back in their shells, grilled and topped with cheese and onions. Almost like a mini baked casserole in a shell.

I liked the flavors of the mussels but I wasn’t too crazy about the type of cheese paired with it. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t think the flavor of the mussel went that great with the cheese.

[Pri-pri Ebiten]

I first saw this on Leanne’s post about Shimbashi and I already knew I would order it. Gigantic shrimp? In a honey glaze? FRIED?! Well damn, sign me up!
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Los Angeles County, Mary, Downtown L.A., Little Tokyo

eating in la: curry house / little tokyo – downtown los angeles, ca

For dinner on my one and only night in Los Angeles on this trip, I was given a few different options. I chose to go to the Curry House since they had a big variety of items and a Curry-Spaghetti Japanese place sounded really interesting to me. I was sad to find out later that there used to be a location in San Diego off Convoy that has since closed. Sad I never knew about it!

Curry House has ten locations in Southern California serving up their take on Japanese curry and other Japanese items.

I stared my meal off with a simple salad.

Well, sort of simple anyway. I don’t think I’ve seen kidney beans in a salad before… or green beans for that matter. In any case, it was lovely and flavorful and the dressing was very nice.

[Teppan Hamburger with Teriyaki Sauce]

After looking over the long and somewhat confusing menu, I decided to get one of the Teppan Hamburger steaks. It comes to you sizzling hot on a cast iron plate surrounded in a sea of teriyaki sauce, onions and veggies (which are on the other side of those gigantic onion rings).

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