Friday, April 24, 2009

South Bay Japanese Food Marathon, Part 1

The South Bay has rapidly turned into a Japanese food mecca, with the likes of yakitori-turned-izakaya Bincho, etc in the area. I haven't been there much. Why? It's really not that far. There should be no reason! So why not go and hit em all, food marathon-style? I was joined by Food Destination + 1, Pepsi Monster, the nascent Kung Food Panda, Mattatouille, Choisauce, Teenage Glutster, and Rumdood.

Our first stop: some okono and monjayaki at Gaja in Lomita.

Which one do we want to order? Do we want to cook 'em ourselves or have them prepare it for us?
Luckily Food Destination(a.k.a Gilded Palate)'s Japanese gf was there so we could order properly.
Look at her skilfully whip out our okonomiyaki on the teppan!

This time we also had something I haven't tried here before, the monjayaki. We ordered the one with mochi and spicy roe.

You also grill this monjayaki on the teppan, but it doesn't quite solidify like the okonomiyaki.

Okay, you got me, I just love eating it with the cute lil spatula they gave us!
The monjayaki might look weirdly gooey and runny, but it's actually a creamy mochi-like concoction that's pretty flavorful with the spicy cod roe.

Gaja Japanese Restaurant
2383 Lomita Blvd Ste 102
Lomita, CA 90717
(310) 534-0153

Next we went right next door to one of my favorite patisserie, Patisserie Chantilly. Communist-style, we each put in $3 and got a bunch of stuff. Except that the ones below are bought separately by Pepsimonster and added into the pot ...

We had almost everything, including their popular cream puffs (popular because Mr J Gold raved about it) - all three flavors: Chantilly cream, chocolate, and sesame.

One of our favorites was the souffle fromage - which is kind of like the love child of a rare cheesecake+souffle.
Light and fluffy, Food Destination claims it's like eating clouds. Agreed. A sweet, cheesy cloud.

Maybe you're thinking that we were sitting nicely around a table, taking a small bite of each cake and passing it around ... well, I wouldn't want to mislead you. When food bloggers share teeny cakes like these, our approach is to ...
ATTACK!


Pâtisserie Chantilly
2383 Lomita Blvd
Lomita, CA 90717
(310) 257-9454
Pâtisserie Chantilly on Urbanspoon

The day had just started. Next stops: a detour from Otafuku and Hakata Ramen to Ichimiann, and a grand finale at Izakaya Bincho :)
In the meantime, you can read about it on Food Destination and Pepsi Monster's blogs.



Bookmark and Share

at

9 comments:

  1. AaronApril 24, 2009 at 12:17 PM

    Have you taken to blacking out faces?

    ReplyDelete
  2. gourmetpigsApril 24, 2009 at 1:36 PM

    Aaron: I've never shown faces to begin with, and I also blacked out faces for the Jungle Food marathon post, just in case, just in case.

    Are you against me blacking out faces for any reason?

    ReplyDelete
  3. sdfafsadfApril 24, 2009 at 3:24 PM

    it was nice meeting you in person! omg those desserts look so freakin delicious! where the heck is la lomita?

    ReplyDelete
  4. gourmetpigsApril 24, 2009 at 3:36 PM

    Thanks Jin, it was very nice meeting you too!
    Lomita is in the South Bay, just about south east of Torrance. And Chantilly is amazing, you absolutely must try :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. juwitaApril 28, 2009 at 2:05 AM

    non, mama telp terus lo

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pink FoodieApril 28, 2009 at 3:42 PM

    MMMM...the pastries look amazing, especially the cream puffs!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Food MarathonApril 29, 2009 at 5:26 PM

    I'd like to formally express my regret in missing this food marathon.

    ReplyDelete
  8. MarieApril 30, 2009 at 11:11 PM

    I haven't ventured to the South Bay either. But, wow, that mochi and spicy roe is very enticing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. NancifulMay 15, 2009 at 1:38 PM

    Holy Smokes...the desserts look DELICIOUS!

    ReplyDelete