Friday 22 January 2010
So I’ve finally caught up on blogging about my trip back home. Now it’s time for me to talk about what I’ve been doing in the City of Angels (Los Angeles for any snails out there).
My friend H is leaving for Italy this Sunday. She’s studying abroad in Rome for a whole semester which means I’m not going to get to see her for another 4 months at best…12 months at worst.
We decided to go grab some ramen in Little Tokyo.
Bit of an ugly view of Little Tokyo. It's much nicer when the weather is sunny.
It’s the perfect foil to a wet and stormy day in Los Angeles. For whatever reason, this week has welcomed torrential rain. I’m not gonna lie, getting wet really isn’t my thing. I moved to LA for a reason. So the next best thing to not having right I suppose, is a nice bowl of steaming hot Japanese noodles. Plus I love Little Tokyo. It’s not very authentic Japanese. In fact, you’re much more likely to see a bunch of corporate folks in suits, Latinos, Caucasians etc than you are Japanese. But I love coming here because it’s a sweet little haven away from USC, and only a 10 minute ride on the freeway (motorway for my kiwi readers). It’s so nice getting a break from USC which can be a stuff hole sometimes. And this reminds me a bit of my Asian heritage even though Japanese does not equal Chinese (yes this is a big deal to me).
H & I make it through the 110N (yes there’s traffic even at 11am) and arrive at Daikokuya. I planned it out so we’d be there super early to get a table instead of waiting for an hour and a half (yes, it’s true that was the longest I’ve ever waited…and no it wasn’t during meal time, it was 11pm; so yes this place is CRAZY). Or sitting at the bar (not a fan either).
Daikokuya. Relatively calm before the storm of people plow in
We order. They serve us in 5 minutes (gotta love the service). We chow down. And the ramen is sooooooooo good. It hits my stomach and makes me feel all warm and cozy inside. The restaurant isn’t packed either which makes eating and chatting so much easier. I love the taste of the fragrant broth coupled with the just-chewy-without-being-a-paste noodles. My perfect texture.
Steaming bowl of goodness
By the time we’re done it’s 12pm and there’s a line blocking the door and a few folks lingering around. Sucks to be them standing in the rain. We walk over a few stores to Fugetsu-Do Sweet Shop which has been sitting in Little Tokyo for over 100 years. They handmake and sell the most sweetly delicious mochi in LA. Their offerings are so beautiful and delicate it’s almost hard to resist eating them…almost. 
Later we head off to Yogurtland. But I’ll leave the post for frozen yoghurt for a nice warm day.
Anna in Wanderland 