Sushi Ken

A great little place in Torrance is Sushi Ken.

The food style is from Toyama, which is on the Japan Sea side of Japan

Ken, pictured above is a very friendly man and makes very wonderful sushi

Ask for the sashimi sample plate (above)

This makes a great starter and will wet your appetite for  more.

This dish is anago (eel) in a sandwich of tofu.

This is a nice light summer dish.

Here is a nice fresh plate (board?) of hamachi and tai. Ken cuts the pieces into generous sizes.

Lots of happy customers!

Nice fresh saba. Oiishi desu!!

Scallops with rock salt from South America freshly ground on.

The large hunk o' rock salt

The address is 22833 Hawthorne Blvd in Torrance. 310 378-9595

It's behind the Chinese buffet and hard to see from the street. They also have a place in Toyama, Japan.

If you want some very fresh and delicious sushi, give this place a go. You won't see many gaijin here, as most of the customers are Japanese.

New ramen noodle house

Went to a great new ramen shop not to far from here. It's called Mottai Nai Ramen. When you walk in, you are greeted by much yelling of "welcome" in Japanese. It reminds me on Shin Sen Gumi noodle house, were you are greeted in the same fashion. The service is very quick and the food is outstanding! Totemo oiishi desu!

They only have a few choices of ramen. The Tokyo noodles are thin, like most ramen noodles, the Yokohama noodles are much thicker, as is the soup base.

The Sapporo Lover set looks interesting and I'll have to try it the next time I go. The above shows the entire menu. The back side is the drink menu, the usual soft drinks and Japanese beer.

As you can see it is a bright and clean place. There are more tables to the left. If you sit at the counter at the back, you can watch the chef making soup. Below is the Yokohama set, you will notice the noodles are thicker the usual. Ok, maybe not from this picture, but they are. A cold Sapporo beer helped wash it all down.

They also serve Japanese style fried chicken and gyoza of course.

"The chicken is ready now !" another benefit from sitting at the counter is you can watch the chef catch your lunch on fire !!

I highly recommend this place. It is in Pacific Square in Gardena, in the West corner

Baked donuts

There is a great place in Redondo Beach for baked donuts, Beach Cities Baked donuts. It's owned by a very nice Japanese couple. I love going there on the weekends for a cup of coffee and one (or two) of their oiishi donuts. my favorites are the lemon and the one with green tea powder. These are made right on the spot

They have a nice selection on donuts on display They are served on a nice wooden tray (just like in Japan!) They open at 8:30 am and are closed on Tuesday. Drop by for a healthy,guilt free treat!

They are located on PCH and the corner of Beryl in Redondo Beach. Enjoy!!

Welcome to my page

After many trips to Japan I've decided to document my various adventures tramping around the countryside. I'll be posting pictures and writing about the onsen's and my adventures travaling in Japan. I will also ramble on about different Japanese resturants I've been to, here in Southern California and in Japan

Enjoy !
      Onsen John