Flawless Fun at Kiyosuzu

It's always a good time going to Kiyosuzu in Arcadia for some solid and authentic Japanese food. Although a humble little restaurant, the service and quality is impeccable. What really makes this restaurant one of my all-time favorites is that for the premium quality of the food served, the prices are actually very good and affordable. Here's a run down of what my sister and I usually order when we come here.

We like to start off with an order of salmon sashimi, because we can never go wrong with that.

Salmon Sashimi from Kiyosuzu.

Look at that generous portion size! Our other regulars include their super fresh uni sushi, sweet shrimp, and yellow tail hand roll. Compared with other generic sushi restaurants, Kiyosuzu puts their best foot forward not being stingy with their portions.

Sweet shrimp sushi, Uni, and Yellow tail hand roll from Kiyosuzu.

Huge shrimp head that comes with the sweet shrimp sushi from Kiyosuzu.

We also tried their albacore sashimi for the first time. I love that even though we usually stick to salmon or yellowtail when we go to sushi restaurants to ensure that we get super tender and melt-in-your-mouth fish, we can be more adventurous at Kiyosuzu.

Albacore sashimi from Kiyosuzu.

Lastly, we like to end all our meals here with their amazing tempura ice cream (as expected!). I love that their layer of tempura has bits of pound cake in it. Yummy! Not to mention, as with their other dishes, their scoop of ice cream is HUGE.

Green Tea Tempura Ice Cream from Kiyosuzu.

BONUS: Also, if you have not tried it before, be SURE to try out their one dish that is a soup with rice and uni. I'm not really sure what it's called, but we just ask the waiters for their uni soup rice every time and they know exactly what we're referring to. Their soup is incredibly tasty without tasting like it's infused with MSG. Also, the chunks of uni everywhere make the soup even more delectable.

So what I'm basically saying is that, you're missing out if you're not frequenting Kiyosuzu, especially after this post! My only warning is to maybe avoid this restaurant if it's during conventional dinner hours on weekends, because it does pretty packed.

Kiyosuzu Restaurant

921 S Baldwin Ave, Ste B

Arcadia, CA 91007

(626) 445-4756

Gatten Sushi Revisited

This weekend, my sister and I decided to go to Gatten Sushi in Monterey Park. While the first time I left quite unimpressed, I decided to give it another chance since my sister was craving their oyster shooters (more on that later). To start, Gatten Sushi is actually a sushi train restaurant. But contrary to the popularity with sushi trains, I actually don't particularly prefer it over regular sushi restaurants because the fish is almost always warm and not chilled, and also constant attention is centered on getting food. I feel like that just distracts from keeping up a conversation.

For those of you unfamiliar, a sushi train is where a conveyor belt circulates around the sushi bar carrying small plates of sushi. Usually the plates carry two to four pieces of sushi and are priced about $1 to $5 depending on where and what you get.

Anyway, the atmosphere of Gatten Sushi was nice. When we went, there was an abundant amount of waiters and everything seemed very lively with the waiters greeting every customer when they walked in and out. Because my sister and I ordered a lot, I will not attempt to cover everything we ate, but I'll run down a few special ones that we don't usually order.

One of my favorites of the night was the Bonito Katsuo sushi. I liked that the fish was nicely coupled with the onions on top. However, my sister said she actually liked it better without the onions. But regardless, the sushi chefs seemed pretty generous with the fish, and we got thick, fresh, smooth slices.

Bonito Katsuo from Gatten Sushi.

I also really enjoyed the Kobe Beef sushi. As you may recall, I had a pretty bad experience with the beef sushi from Hanabi Restarant, but the one served here in comparison kicked butt! If you get past the fact that it looks raw, it is quite tender, and the extra bit of gooey-ness is a plus.

Kobe Beef sushi from Gatten Sushi.

We also got a plate of the Sea Bass sushi which was the special of the night. It is seasoned with bell peppers and fruit on top. Both my sister and I cringed at the taste of bell peppers on top, and in my opinion, it ruined the taste of the sushi. I would much rather prefer the fish on its own. The taste of the bell peppers on top completely took away and distracted me from how the fish tasted (maybe that was their intention??).

Sea Bass sushi from Gatten Sushi.

We also got a plate of the Tako Sansai, because we were instantly drawn by the mixture of colors on the top of the sushi. I've never had it before ,but I think it consists of octopus, ginger, and some greens in there. It wasn't my favorite because of the blend of textures, and I was a little disappointed that the taste of it didn't live up to the beauty of it.

Tako Sansai from Gatten Sushi.

But enough of these comments on mediocre food. The highlight of my night was definitely the oyster shooter. And I'm not even that big of a fan of oysters. The drink was a little sour which was perfect to balance out the fishy taste of the oyster, and I liked that there was a raw quail egg in there as well. But oh my gosh, it was SO GOOD. Please don't go to Gatten Sushi without trying it :)

Oyster shooter (left) and oyster (right) from Gatten Sushi.

After we had stacked a tall tower of empty plates, we decided to order some desserts. The first time I came here I tried their tempura ice cream and was severely disappointed. It tasted like they just dumped some iced mochi (like the kind from the supermarkets) into batter and oil and put it out for customers. It was overly sweet and the stickiness from the mochi skin made it frustrating to cut apart. The dish was also incredibly small, but maybe that was a good thing considering it was a disappointing dessert.

But this time we were more optimistic. My sister ordered the almond tofu. It was a good thing that we were optimistic, because the dish was worthy to be placed in my list of top ten desserts of all time. No joke. The texture although seems firm at first, is melt-in-your-mouth goodness. The almond flavor is subtle yet noticeable. I'm so ordering this again.

Almond Tofu from Gatten Sushi.

I myself ordered the green tea cheesecake, because I know you can't go wrong with that, and I ended up correct--very good. However, my sister actually didn't like it too much; she thought it tasted too much like regular cheesecake and too little like green tea.

Green Tea Cheesecake from Gatten Sushi

Gatten Sushi as a whole is kind of a hit or miss type of restaurant. On the one hand, they churn out amazing things like their Almond Tofu and Oyster Shooters, but on the other hand they also serve things that should not be served (Sea Bass sushi, Tempura ice cream...). I don't think I'd ever recommend it to anyone if I were to show them a good time in LA County, but I'll probably come again when I can't think of any places to go for food.

Gatten Sushi

500 N Atlantic Blvd., Ste A-125

Monterey Park, CA 91754

(626) 457-5943

Sushi with the girls at Hanabi Sushi Bar

I reunited with my high school friends Holly and Sarah tonight for dinner at Hanabi Sushi Bar in Pasadena. It was my first time there, and I was already pretty impressed when I walked into the restaurant. It's situated on a very lively street (Lake Ave.) and in the nook of one of the plazas. The interior was set with dark, warm lighting, and had nice seats and gave comfortable vibes. Also a plus was that although there were quite a lot of tables, the noise level was never bad. It was perfect for my friends and I who had much to catch  up on!

Upon getting seated and deciding what to order, the waitress came to take our order in a timely fashion. Although seemingly attentive, I had to remind her a couple of times for a glass of water. In addition, after waiting for a good 10 to 15 minutes without the complimentary edamame dish that Sarah said they always gave, we asked for an order of it. We found out later that they charged us for it. Upon asking the waitress why we were charged for it, she told us that while they gave out complimentary edamame, we ordered it, and therefore she assumed that we wanted an actual (non-complimentary) order of it. While she was explaining that to us, I was a little surprised at how assertive and borderline rude she was about the whole ordeal, when she did not even bother clarifying the confusion in the beginning. But we shrugged it off, as it was a deliciously seasoned plate of edamame.

Now on to the food!

One of my personal favorites of the night was the Baby Lobster roll. I love that it was a heated dish, and that the creamy sauce with baby lobsters was topped with a sprinkling of fried carrots (Well, I think they were carrots anyway...). It was a perfect combination of flavors and textures.

Baby Lobster roll at Hanabi Sushi Bar.

Another dish I ordered was the beef sushi. I read about it on Yelp before, and was instantly intrigued! Much to my disappointment, it was actually not that good. Although they were generous with the meat, it was not tender at all. Instead, each slice of meat was impossible to bite apart, and I had to end up swallowing it whole (super gross!). In the words of Sarah, "Definitely not date-night food!" The way the dish was seasoned was also mediocre at best, and not very memorable. Maybe I just had it on the wrong day with the wrong slice of beef, but to anyone interested in ordering it: please proceed with caution!

Beef sushi at Hanabi Sushi Bar.

Another dish that I tried was the Heart Attack roll. I don't quite remember what it consisted of, but I know it contained avocado and possibly spicy tuna. On top of the rice was also a layer of crispy tempura flakes I think? That was probably the tying ingredient of the dish. Without the outer layer of crispy bits, the roll would not be as memorable. But all in all, it was a solid dish.

Heart Attack roll at Hanabi Sushi Bar.

And of course, the perfect conclusion to any meal is the dessert. As you may probably be able to guess, at a Japanese restaurant, I ordered my favorite: tempura ice cream.

Tempura ice cream DONE RIGHT at Hanabi Sushi Bar.

The tempura ice cream was definitely the redeeming dish. The tempura layer was fried to perfection, and they were extremely generous with the portion size as you can see.

Looking back, tonight was a very good meal reconnecting with friends in that the restaurant gave us a good area where we can kick back and bask in the welcoming environment. However, I doubt I will be returning to this restaurant anytime soon as I think there are far more other places with better service and better prices.

Hanabi Sushi Bar
345 S Lake Ave., Ste. 115
Pasadena, CA 91101

Currently Craving: Blue Marlin

What I am having for dinner tonight:

As a poor student, I can't afford to eat out every single meal, so here's a nice pack of leftovers from a few nights ago to mend my starving stomach!

What I wish I was having for dinner tonight:

Sea Urchin Omurice from Blue Marlin.

My sister and I have been frequenting the Blue Marlin restaurant in West Los Angeles recently. I was first introduced to it from my sister, who told me that I had to try it being a lover of sea urchin (or uni). She recommended the sea urchin omurice, which is flavored rice, topped with fluffy omelette and a creamy sauce of sea urchin and mushrooms.

Disregarding my sister's recommendation, the first time that I followed her to Blue Marlin, I actually tried their sea urchin and spinach spaghetti. This dish was very delicious as well (but of course, that is true with most things coupled with sea urchin...). However, if I had to compare the two uni dishes, the spaghetti would rank second, as it lacks that extra melt-in-your-mouth creaminess from the rice dish.

So afterwards, I've returned to ordering the sea urchin omurice since then. It is honestly so delicious, it is worth driving out miles just to taste it! I can say this with confidence, as I am in Orange County most of the week, and driving up to Los Angeles for dinner is no small deal...

And if you go to Blue Marlin for dinner, don't forget to order their dessert! The chocolate souffle is amazing. Even when my sister and I find ourselves very full, we can't help but order the souffle to top it all off. Simply irresistable :)

Well, that's me and my fantasizing. Back to finishing my leftovers I go...

Blue Marlin
2121 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025