Cherry Blossom Festival

On Saturday, I went with my friends down to the bay area. If you don't know, around this time of the year is when people in Japan go look at Sakura (also known as Cherry Blossom) and have many festivals. Currently the Japan Town in San Francisco is having a Cherry Blossom Event. The event will be held one more week from April 20 to 21.

I did not take a lot of photos... except for foods. I'll be showing you guys what I ate :3

So there are many food booths, though some of the lines are pretty ridiculous. Also there were not a lot and they were all in this tiny area (right behind the bridge that the building with all the restaurants with the bookstore Kinokuniya).

My friends and I got curry rice, sukiyaki rice bowl ($6.5), and unagi rice bowl ($7.5). Since I was did not eat in the morning, I thought the rice bowl was pretty good and literally scarfed it down. 

We were in line waiting for the takoyaki while eating our lunch. The takoyaki were $3 for 5, $6 for 10, and $9 for 15. To be honest, it wasn't that good. I think the takoyaki store inside the building (or the mall) taste a lot better.

Also the takoyaki inside didn't actually have "tako" (or octopus). It was a piece of meat and the takoyaki itself were under cook. I don't blame them since there were a lot of people there but it was indeed disappointing.

We basically roamed around the mall, going to every shop and fan girling all the anime things we see. I also went to the 'Pika Pika' store to take purikura photos with my friends. The photos sadly were too bright and did not turn out well when I scanned it.

I found some interesting Hello Kitty plushes in the Sanrio store. I believe this is a new series though it is super adorable! I think my most favorite one is probably the onigiri Hello Kitty.

Before leaving Japan Town, I got the 'Happy Face' Crepe from Belly Good Cafe & Crepes. I love the animal designs! It's just so adorable >.< They also make other animals and I have seen ones with owls too!

For dinner, we headed to Berkeley and ate at a ramen place called Cal Ramen. It wasn't bad but at the same time it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I mean it's worth trying out if your place is lacking good ramen place. I got the 'Katsu Ramen' though the photo did not turn out nicely. Here's my friend's 'Spicy Pork Ramen'. I think it's more photo worthy :)

ADDRESS:

Cherry Blossom Festival

Japan Town in San Francisco

Belly Good Cafe & Crepes

1737 Post St #393

San Francisco, CA 94115

*it's inside the mall in Japan Town*

Number: (415) 346-8383

Cal Ramen

2503 Hearst Ave
(between Euclid Ave & Le Roy Ave) 
Berkeley, CA 94709

Number: (510) 842-1221

When Food Meets Heart

During my spring break a couple week ago, I visited the southern part of California, or for short 'SoCal'. If you haven't known, 'SoCal' is known for being 'Asian'. To me, it was a paradise because I was able to feel like I was home again. All the food I was craving for could be found there.

One of the days when I was down there, my really good friend took me around to different restaurants to eat. Indeed it was a fattening day but it was well worth it.

Our first stop was Tea Factory Bar (TFB for short). The place was more like a cafe and it had a really nice atmosphere. People that do not know this store would not have known what's inside. For those of you that are Wong Fu Production fans, Wong Fu filmed there for their series "When It Counted" in the episodes when Tammy was hanging out with her friends.

I ordered their 'Nom Nom Milk Tea' and I have to say, it was really good. The milk tea was like a mixture of smoothie and milk tea, with pudding and boba inside.

(Left: Boba or Pearl Milk Tea; Right: Nom Nom Milk Tea)

Along with that, we ordered the Taiwanese popcorn chicken (盐酥鸡). It tasted almost like the authentic ones that you get in those Taiwan night markets. 

The main purpose that my friend bought me here was to eat their brick toast. We got the caramel flavor and it was a bomb. I love how the caramel flavor was not overpowering and it had a hint of honey flavor to it. I highly recommend their brick toast, though just a warning it may be too sweet for some of you~

Next stop was a small taco place. If you were to drive past it, you will never think to stop and try the food. It looks indeed really ghetto but that taco is actually pretty amazing. The taco was pretty small ($1.50) though it was good. 

Just FYI, those are cheese not pasta. When I was taking the photo, my friend and I both thought it looked like pasta salad or some sort. I got the chicken one, though they also offer beef.

My friend knew I miss eating Taiwanese beef noodle soup (牛肉面), and so she took me pretty far to a really amazing beef noodle soup in Diamond Bar. The store was called Bull Demon King Cafe. The food itself is pretty spicy, around $11 a bowl, though the more spicy you get it the more it will cost. 

Since I have been deprived of beef noodle soup back where my university is, eating this was amazing. In my opinion, it tasted pretty authentic and the meat was really tender. I think this restaurant won some kind of competition so in my opinion, it is definitely worth checking out~

We concluded our food adventure by eating Shaved Ice at Class 302. If you live in SoCal and have NEVER been to this store, then you are missing out a lot~! There are three stores in SoCal, one in Cerritos, one in Rowland Heights, and one in Irvine.  The concept of this shop is super cute. They make the shop like the classrooms you see back in Taiwan. 

My friend and I ordered the Mango and Strawberry Shaved Ice. It was pretty good, though since it wasn't manga and strawberries season, they were not sweet. I heard their boba was pretty good too~ There were a lot of people and I have heard my other friends say that the wait can be up to several hours long. I'm glad I didn't have to wait for that long~

ADDRESS:
Tea Factory Bar
Address:
323 S. Mission Dr.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Number: (626) 872-2969

Bull Demon King Care

Address: 

1155 S. Diamond Bar Blvd.

Ste E.

Diamond Bar, CA 91765

Number: (909)718-9877

Class 302

Cerritos Address:

11446 South SCerritos, CA 90703

(562) 924-1315

Rowland Heights Address:
1015 S Nogales St
Ste 125
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

(626) 965-5809

Irvine Address:18090 Culver DrIrvine, CA 92612

(949) 552-0555