Geko-Tei: A Japanese restaurant in Cerritos, CA

Geko-Tei Japanese kitchen in Cerritos, CA

Today was so gloomy :( Damn California weather. We're on a perpetual cycle of sunny, warm weather and then cloudy cold days. I was just getting excited for summer, ugh. Such a tease you are, CA! But on a good note, I ate at a cute japanese restaurant today after school. Their walls had these adorable hand-painted murals on them!

The frog is so cute! Reminds me of something from a Studio-Ghibli film. I love Hayao Miyazaki's films. Actually, now that I think about it, I swear there's a frog lying in the rain in one of the movies... But I digress, on to the food!

Katsu Don ($8.50) "Breaded deep fried Berkshire pork cutlet, onion and egg over rice" Topped with some nori and green onion. Comes with a side salad, miso soup, and garlic-y cooked...tuna?

This was definitely yummy. It's a big portion for only $8.50. If you've never had it, it looks kinda... brown and blah haha. That was what I thought when I had this but it's super good! Deep fried pork cutlets with egg and sauteed onions. It's good, home-y food. Geko-Tei's katsu don was good but I like Mitsuwa's better haha. Geko-tei seemed like it was missing something. Pretty sure Mitsuwa puts MSG on theirs ahaha but that little white powder makes a hell of a difference. Yes, still talking about MSG 

Oh, and the side salad it comes with is freaking delicious! Looks unassuming but that yuzu dressing Oh My GoSh. If you've never had yuzu, it's a japanese fruit. Kind of like a lime/lemon but not as sour and has strong citrus notes. The dressing was so good, I bought some of it to take home.

Mini roast pork don ($5)

I felt like eating some meat so I ordered this. I debated between the small or regular size but I knew the regular size would be too much for me. Good thing I got the mini don because this was the perfect amount. The bowl is like a small rice bowl but they give you 5-6 slices of pork, so it's not too mini. 

Underneath the pork is some nori-topped rice.

 I'm a true Southeastern Asian so I added some chili pepper for a kick.This was good in a fattening way. The  pork was super fatty and tender mmm. The sauce was a sweet, soy-based sauce, kinda like teriyaki but not as sweet. I do wish the sauce were sweeter or something to cut through all the fat of the pork. I would definitely order it again, but I'd feel guilty about all that lard I'd be consuming. 

Agedashi tofu ($4.50)

My first time trying agedashi tofu. Deep fried tofu with tempura sauce. Topped with green onion, bonito flakes, and radish. 

This wasn't as good as I was expecting. The tofu was too soft, it might have been better if it was deep fried longer. And the sauce was nothing special. 

Uni and raw shrimp carpaccio ($7.00)

The best part of the meal was definitely this! I swear this dish was made for me. Uni aka sea urchin (if you don't know, uni is sea urchin gonads ;)) and raw shrimp are my favorite sushi and to make them into a carpaccio is heaven! When the server set this down on the table, I thought it smelled kind of strong and funny. Fresh sushi should not have a strong smell, so I wondered if the distinct smell was really coming from this. But when I took a bite, yep--it was stankyy. JK, the sauce had truffle oil in it! Really interesting, I never had truffle with raw fish before. The uni and shrimp were great together as is; the creaminess of the uni and the plump texture of the the shrimp made for a great bite but that truffle sauce rounded it out by adding a nice earthy note. SO GOOD! If only the dish came with double or triple portions. We can always dream...

Mmm, that sauce. Actually i'm not sure what the sauce really was. It had a definitive green color but all I tasted was truffle oil. I'm going to guess the green is from spinach. Oh well, I don't need to know what was in the sauce. You don't question perfection.

Would I come to Geko-Tei again? Eff yes! I'll order that uni and shrimp carpaccio every time (although, it was a special so not sure how long they'll have it). The only thing that was eh was the server. She was kinda slow but she was the only server and also seemed new. However, when I asked her what kind of tea they had, she replied with, "um brown tea." Hahaha what in the world is brown tea? I had some anyway and it was probably rice tea, but I'm still amused at her explanation. Regardless, Geko-Tei has great food at great prices and big portions. I'll be baaack!

Wish List: Yamashiro in Los Angeles

Once upon a time, long, long ago when my boyfriend still tried to impress me (again, long long time ago. JK dear!), he told me he'd take me to this beautiful Japanese restaurant in LA that sits on top of a mountain. I just looked at him funny and said "are you crazy, we live in California. There's no freaking magical restaurant on top of a mountain." Then he made me goggle Yamashiro Restaurant and I fell in love! It really is a restaurant on top of a mountain!! Okay, well, not a mountain, more like a hill... overseeing the business buildings of LA... but close enough! According to their website, the restaurant was the backdrop for several movies like Memoirs of a Geisha. Just look at it!

Classy shizz, no? But the best part is the dining courtyard!

Wahh so gorgeous! Diners sit around a very Zen garden that lies in the middle of the restaurant. So beautiful and romantic!

Oh and their food looks good as well lol.

"Darth Vadar Roll" with black rice

Wagyu beef cooking on a block of Himalyan salt

Miso chipotle lamb rack

 But gosh damn it, that courtyard! 

Imagine my disappointment when I learn that it's rated $$$ on yelp. I'm only a poor starving college student! Actually, I spend quite a lot of money on food. It's a bit embarassing how much of my paycheck go towards eating out as opposed to important things (like paying off my credit card debt) but Yamashiro would be a stretch for one meal. BUT THAT COURTYARD.

Maybe some day I'll sit in that courtyard and dine on overpriced steak, but for now it remains on my wishlist.

Hot Pot City in Westminster, CA

I've been debating if I should keep my anonymity but my yelp account links to this blog so I suppose I'll be open. 

I work at the best place on Earth! No, not Disneyland you cray cray! Matsu Japanese restaurant in Huntington Beach, hollaaa. Every year we have a Major Cleanup Day, where everyone (that includes the servers, cooks, hosts, busboys, everyone!) comes in before opening and cleans the entire restaurant. Ughh. I swear it hasn't been a year yet but this weekend we all came in to clean up boo. I'm sure I inhaled quite a bit of Windex and dust T_T. Jk, cleaning isn't that bad; my coworkers are hilarious. My boss is the biggest goof of us all. He found an umbrella and purse in our lost and found and started posing with them. I told him to pose for my camera but he said no. I snapped one picture of him that came out funny and kind of cool. 

Why so shy, Yu-chan?

After cleaning up, we all sit in the bar and eat lunch. Sometimes we get burgers, sometimes sushi, one time Thai food. This time...

 Pizza! Boo, my coworkers and I wanted salad hahah. Ironically, I've never been a big fan of pizza but sometimes I get cravings for it. Mmm crispy yet doughy crust with sweet tomato sauce and a crudload of meat and veggies. 

Pizza doesn't really come close to satisfying my culinary cravings so the next day, I went to eat hot pot!

Hot Pot City in Westminster. This place is just A-OK (portions are pretty small) but I like it because it has both hot pot AND a grill. Some places have only hot pot or shabu shabu and places like korean bbq have only grills. Hot Pot City is a satisfactory medium; I can slurp on some soup and eat some hot, sizzling meat. They have meat and seafood plates ranging from $3-$6 and vegetable sets (~$5) as well. Hot Pot City is different as well in that you kind of serve yourself. You walk to these big glass refrigerators in the back of the restaurant and just grab whatever dishes you want, go back to your table, and cook! We got: quail eggs, a veggie Canh Chua set, clear noodles, ribeye beef, pork, and prawns. There's  housin sauce, nuoc mam, chili pepper, peanut sauce, butter, etc that you can use to flavor up your food. I really just wanted canh chua, yumm.

Canh chua, my favorite Vietnamese soup!

Then when I got home from that, my little sister made my favorite sushi! My little sister is a great cook; she's only 16 and still learning but I give my props to her. Sometimes (actually, a lot of times) her food doesn't come out that well haha, but sometimes she makes great things. I've been cooking since I can remember, but sometimes my lil sis even exceeds me. This time, she made me a garlic shrimp roll! I know, sounds gross but so good. Replica of Sagami Tei's Stinky Grilled Shrimp Roll. 

California roll and on top is grilled shrimp and garlic chips. 

Mmm, rice, seaweed, shrimp, garlic. Delicious combination.

I've had chipotle chicken breasts marinating in my refrigerator for a while and this morning I cooked them to make healthy chicken burritos. I cooked brown rice, sliced some avocados, made corn salsa. But right when I was done, I had a craving for something else...

Neoguri: Spicy seafood flavor

Instant ramen! Hahaha instant ramen is one of those guilty pleasures that I think most people love. I haven't had a dose of MSG in a while soo I abandoned my chicken for this. Not sure if this brand is new, but I've never had it before.

So cute, it actually has strips of dried seaweed for flavor!

I do not subject myself to eating instant ramen by itself, so I prepared some shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, green onion, corn, arugula (unorthodox but I love arugula) and a poached egg. 

Unhealthy, but hey, I put some veggies in it!

I'm still new at food blogging so it's been a bit of a struggle trying to document my culinary experiences. Like this evening, my boyfriend and I made Japanese beef sukiyaki that came out soo good, but I was so absorbed in eating that I forgot to take pics. The one time I actually cook something, I forget to take pictures of it. *bangs head against wall* Oh well, I'll get used to this soon enough!

Canaan Resaurant in Artesia, CA

Today I went to Canaan Restaurant with my bf for lunch. It's a Taiwanese restaurant that was apparently founded by a pastor. We actually wanted to go to a Japanese place nearby but it wasn't open for another 30 minutes T_T So I yelped the nearest restaurant with four stars and Canaan Restaurant popped up! There's this delicious Taiwanese pork noodle soup I love, so I picked Canaan in the hopes of it possibly having that soup.

While we were waiting, we took pictures with my Instax. I love it <3

We were the first customers of the day so right when we walked in, there were like 10 servers all lined up just staring at us and saying hi haha. Looking at the menu, it seemed like typical Chinese food mixed with Taiwanese dishes. I couldn't find the pork noodle soup :( So we ordered from the lunch specials. We ordered string beans with bean curds, spicy intestines soup in hot pot, and sweet and sour spare pork ribs. 

String beans with bean curd

I LOVE chinese style green beans! This dish was simple but I think they may have used satay sauce or something to season the green beans and bean curd. Yummy! I ordered another dish of it to go hehe.

Spicy intestines in hot pot

When they brought this out, it was super hot and bubbling hot like crazy! It comes on a hot pot with a little burner. I chose this dish because of the congealed pork blood. Sounds gross but it's a staple of almost all asian cuisines, I believe? The dish also had intestines, bamboo, cabbage, and tofu--all in a nice think broth with just a hint of heat. This had a distinct taste. It sounds messed up but the flavor reminded me of old Asian people hahaha. 

Sweet and sour pork ribs

These were more like just sweet pork ribs. I didn't taste any sour at all! Since we were the first customers, these came out fresh and the pork was still crispy from being deep fried. Fattening but so good.

The dishes were nothing spectacular but everything had a homey taste that gave me nostalgia. It brought me back to the times when my family would all eat dinner together every night. If I'm ever in the area and want Chinese food, I'll come back here and try more authentic Taiwanese dishes.

Soju Belly--Korean bar in Garden Grove

A few nights ago we went out for my friend Caro's birthday. We went to Soju Belly, a korean bar, for drinks. We asked the server if he could bring out a cake for Caro; she's so old, look at all the flames on that thing! JK Caro ;)

(Excuse the shoddy picture quality, these are from my phone)

The cake was our only surprise, but Soju Belly had another surprise for Caro as well.

Hahaha we all cracked up when he brought it out. 

We forced Caro to pose with it, I think she likes it! Happy birthday girly :)

Note the PSY placemats. Someone took one home to "hang on his wall" haha

                                                       

On a foodier note, Soju Belly has these cool cocktail sojus ($15) that come in fruit. Cute and tasty. I can't say anything about the alcohol content, our dinner before at Boiling Crab absorbed any alcohol we might have felt!

Sweet oranges from the farmer's market

Don't you hate those sour, dried-up oranges? My aunt has been visiting us a lot lately and she always brings these huge bags of juicy, super sweet oranges from the local farmer's markets. I don't want them to go bad because they're soo good so I've been gorging on them.  I've been eating two oranges a day for the past five days straight T_T Actually, I'm eating some right now haha. But at least I'm getting lots of vitamin C!

Anndd I ate some on the way to school today, aren't I a neat orange eater? Reminds me of lazy summer days.

Sakura mochi

My current obsession: sakura mochi! Glutinous rice with red bean paste inside. Wrapped with a pickled sakura leaf and topped with a sakura blossom. The sakura leaf adds a nice firm textural element and also some salt to the sweet mochi. The sakura blossom is soo fragrant and floral.

Sakura mochi is typically eaten during the spring in Japan when the cherry blossom trees are in bloom. It's seasonal and I've had such a hard time trying to get some in my area! I got this at Mochi cream inside Mitsuwa Marketplace in Costa Mesa for $3, such a rip off! I had some from LA just a few weeks ago for only $1.75 a piece >:( I'm very tempted to try and make some sakura mochi myself. We'll see..