Santouka and Cafe Brasil
This weekend I tried 2 new places to eat with Jessica.
The first was Santouka in Mitsuwa Market in Torrance. First of all the Mitsuwa Market's food court is pretty big and the pricing looked affordable, considering it was Japanese food. The market place also includes the grocery store, a bookstore, a video rental store, and several other smaller shops including a tea shop. I was also able to obtain a copy of Famitsu, the Japanese gaming magazine for $1.70 at one of the magazine stands. Pretty great place.
Anyway, the ramen. I can't say that I've had real ramen in so long so I was excited. Apparently, Santouka is the largest ramen chain in Japan although I've never heard of it. The ramen was pretty darn good. Jessica got the Shio (Salt) Ramen which I tried and I got the Miso Ramen. I liked the Miso broth a little more but they were both pretty good. The charsiu was also decently sized and pretty much melted in my mouth. The one thing that disappointed me was the fact that they did not have Gyouza. :( For those of you who don't know, ramen and gyouza are almost like peanut butter and jelly.
I give Santouka an absolutely amateur Xegyn rating of 4/5.
The second place, Cafe Brasil, winner of 4 or more Zagat Awards was in Culver City. We went for brunch, so we had the Carioca (Chicken Breast) and Havana (Steak) sandwiches. The sandwiches were okay. Not anything special. The appetizers we ordered were quite interesting. We got the Risoli and the Pastéis. Now, I'm not sure which one was which, but one was a fluffy burrito-sized shell with beef inside, and the other was smaller and denser like a samosa also with beef. Most other people around us ordered plates instead of sandwiches and those looked really good. I'd probably go back and order one of those next time.
For now I give Cafe Brasil another amateur Xegyn rating of 3.5/5.
The first was Santouka in Mitsuwa Market in Torrance. First of all the Mitsuwa Market's food court is pretty big and the pricing looked affordable, considering it was Japanese food. The market place also includes the grocery store, a bookstore, a video rental store, and several other smaller shops including a tea shop. I was also able to obtain a copy of Famitsu, the Japanese gaming magazine for $1.70 at one of the magazine stands. Pretty great place.
Anyway, the ramen. I can't say that I've had real ramen in so long so I was excited. Apparently, Santouka is the largest ramen chain in Japan although I've never heard of it. The ramen was pretty darn good. Jessica got the Shio (Salt) Ramen which I tried and I got the Miso Ramen. I liked the Miso broth a little more but they were both pretty good. The charsiu was also decently sized and pretty much melted in my mouth. The one thing that disappointed me was the fact that they did not have Gyouza. :( For those of you who don't know, ramen and gyouza are almost like peanut butter and jelly.
I give Santouka an absolutely amateur Xegyn rating of 4/5.
The second place, Cafe Brasil, winner of 4 or more Zagat Awards was in Culver City. We went for brunch, so we had the Carioca (Chicken Breast) and Havana (Steak) sandwiches. The sandwiches were okay. Not anything special. The appetizers we ordered were quite interesting. We got the Risoli and the Pastéis. Now, I'm not sure which one was which, but one was a fluffy burrito-sized shell with beef inside, and the other was smaller and denser like a samosa also with beef. Most other people around us ordered plates instead of sandwiches and those looked really good. I'd probably go back and order one of those next time.
For now I give Cafe Brasil another amateur Xegyn rating of 3.5/5.
Labels: Cafe Brasil, Los Angeles, Restaurants, Santouka
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