What’s up, everybody?
Philcaela here :) We hope everyone’s doing well.
These last several months have been really odd and really challenging for all of us,
but we’re really glad to be making another video!
Actually, we started filming this video way back in February and early March before shelter-in-place,
before COVID got all crazy, before - before everything pretty much.
So we’ve decided to finally finish the video.
If you see us dining in, it was safe to do so back in February and nonetheless, all these
businesses are still open for takeout or delivery and they definitely need our support right
now during these challenging times.
So here are our Top 8 Restaurants in Japantown!
Let’s go!!
This is Udon Mugizo, it’s one of our favorite places to come in Japantown because of the
awesome udon noodle soup that they have here.
It’s really, really delicious and it’s some of the best in San Francisco.
All of the udon noodles here are made in-house fresh and they have a wide variety of different
broths and soups that you could have.
So my favorite udon here is actually the sukiyaki, which is a sweet soy sauce and it comes in
a pot with everything boiled in and it’s just so good.
The broth is amazing!
So there’s beef in here, of course, veggies, mushrooms, fish cakes, lots of green onion
and there you go you have the egg in here.
I got a creamy dish, this is a salmon spinach creamy udon and I especially love this dish
because it’s creamy, but you still have that kinda light flavor because you have really
fresh salmon and some really good spinach cream on it, too.
It’s basically like Asian pasta because you have noodles and cream so it’s like
an Alfredo kind of texture, but it feels much lighter and it’s much more fresh to eat.
Trying some of Phil’s salmon here - super good!
I’ve never had salmon udon before.
This is amazing!
Honestly it’s always soup weather in San Francisco since it’s always cold.
This is why we come here so much.
One thing to know about Udon Mugizo is that it’s slowly becoming really, really popular,
so use the Yelp waitlist, it’s pretty reliable as long as you go on the app before you show
up and you don’t have to wait before you get a table.
Next on our list are mochi donuts from Mochill.
Although the donut’s fried, the middle is a little bit of chewy, so it gives you that
mochi texture.
It’s really nice and crispy on the outside, but once you get to the center it’s very
soft and chewy so it’s really, really pleasant to eat.
Flavor-wise, I got a hojicha, which is their special and then we got a matcha, they also
have other variety of flavors like chocolate, fruity pebbles, and also cinnamon sugar, but
we like the matcha and hojicha because I mean c’mon Japanese food, you’ve gotta have
the tea flavors.
One thing I love about this donut is the shape, I love how there’s little circles that form
a bigger circle in the form of a donut.
Our favorite savory snack to get in Japantown is takoyaki and we get them at Yama-chan here.
The takoyaki are these little balls here, they’re battered balls with tako, which
is octopus, green onion, ginger, and tempura.
These are made super fresh, they actually make it fresh in the window in front of you.
Oh hot!
Hot!
It’s so hot!
Before they serve it, they dress it in takoyaki sauce and also Japanese mayo, which gives
it that unique flavor.
These are really good, but they’re also really fun to walk around and eat.
This a classic Japanese street food!
And even though Japantown is known for great Japanese food, our favorite place for Korean
food in all of San Francisco is in Japantown.
This is Daeho Kalbijjim.
It’s right across the street from all the Japan Center stuff, so it’s a really, really
easy visit if you’re in Japantown.
This place gets super packed so make sure to come right when they open or right after
they open or else you’re gonna be looking at a super long wait or you might not even
get seated at all.
What they’re most known for here is the braised short rib that comes out on this huge
pot right here, bubbling, really hot, really delicious and then you can add cheese on it.
They’ll come with a torch and it’s a huge show.
Our order is the braised short rib with oxtail meat, we also added the cheese on and also
some glass noodles and we also got extra meat because we love it so much.
This meat is so tender, super juicy!
The meat here is so soft and so tender it falls off the bone, so you can see the bone
right here with no meat on it because it melted right off.
There’s white and purple rice, but I always get purple because purple is much better!
In summary, you can get some great Korean food in Japantown here at Daeho.
The quality is really good, it’s up there with K-Town in LA.
And it’s super delicious and we’d highly recommend it!
And our next stop is for sweets at Benkyodo for some Japanese mochi.
I feel like most people have seen that really popular, viral video of this Japanese man
making mochi and another guy just like — HA!
— It’s incredible!
Benkyodo is a bakery that specializes in mochi - they have such a large variety.
They sell out actually pretty quickly because of how popular they are they actually have
been around for a very long time.
So, in America, mochi is really popular as an ice cream dessert and that’s really delicious,
but traditional Japanese mochi, as I’m sure many of you know, is actually just a rice
cake dessert, with something filled in the middle most of the time.
Usually like a red bean paste or just some kind of sweet filling.
I got the peanut butter mochi, which has peanut butter in it and I love peanut butter, so
this the one for me.
And I got a few different ones over here in my colorful box.
I got this fried one, this is age, it’s basically a donut, it’s fried and it’s
wheat or flour-based and this pink one here has white bean filling and this green one
is actually a red bean filling.
These are so fresh, you’re not supposed to refrigerate them, you have to have them
the day of, because otherwise you lose that special texture.
Also I had my first bite, and didn’t even get into the filling yet and the mochi already
tastes really good.
It has a really, really great flavor!
So good…
That is really freaking good…
It’s really soft!
The paste and the filling is usually the highlight of the mochi, but in this case the mochi itself,
just the mochi, the rice cake is delicious.
Mmm!
MMmm!
MMMmm!
MMMMMM!
In summary, Benkyodo in Japantown is some delicious mochi, really recommend it for anyone
looking for dessert or sweet treats, but they’re really popular so either go when they open
or call a day before.
We’re at Marufuku Ramen, this is my favorite ramen place in San Francisco, it’s so good.
Only caveat is that: expect long waits.
Either have to come around 30 minutes before it opens, or what we do usually is go on the
Yelp app and waitlist and just wait it out.
We actually waitlisted around 5:30-5:45PM, and it’s been 3 hours and we just got seated,
so you’re waiting a long time in line, but once you order, they make the food really
quickly.
So Hakata-style ramen is a little different, so the noodles are usually thinner, the broth
is rich, but it’s not as heavy.
They’re also known for their chicken paitan, which is, you actually get your chicken on
the side and then you get your ramen, but we’ve actually had it before and it’s
just OK, there’s nothing special about it.
The best thing on the menu is their regular Hakata-style DX ramen.
So good!
We got on the side here some takoyaki and also some fried shishito, but the star is
absolutely gonna be the ramen.
Just because of how always packed and popular Marufuku is, if you really wanna avoid lines,
we’d recommend trying to come on a weekday or coming before they open on a weekend, but
even on weekends, you need to be here at least probably a half-hour before lunch.
So as long as you plan for your trip to Marufuku, and you don’t just show up, as long as you
get here really early or you use the Yelp waitlist, it’s definitely worth it and it’s
honestly the best ramen in San Francisco.
We are at Izakaya Kou.
Izakaya pretty much is like a Japanese tapas-style restaurant.
This place is definitely good for those who are actually coming here with people who don’t
love sushi because instead of sushi they can eat meats, they can eat skewers, so there’ll
be something for everyone here.
So we’re starting off with appetizers we got the Brussels sprouts and then we also
got the hamachi crudo, which is yellowtail and with the yellowtail there’s some agave
bell pepper sauce and on top there’s celery and lots of dried miso on top.
The portions are very generous, they give you six pieces and this fish is really fresh
and it’s cut really thin so you get all the flavor packed in the sauce.
So one of the main courses that we ordered is Chilean sea bass and this is actually my
favorite fish in the entire world - it’s so good.
It’s marinated with yuzu on its own but with the miso sauce it comes with, it’s
so good!
Mmm!
We got the wagyu ishiyaki, this pretty much is wagyu beef on the side and then you have
a hot stone kind of pot and you just cook the meat on top of it and it came with a side
of truffle salt to dip it in and also this egg yolk with a little bit of ponzu soy sauce
with it as well and it’s so good the beef is really tender it’s like a perfect balance
of, you know, fatty and lean which is why this wagyu is amazing.
That American Wagyu was super delicious and it’s also fun to kinda grill yourself here.
Anyway, Izakaya Kou is a great option for date nights or if just in general you want
to get out and have some great Japanese food and also it’s a great balance of quality
and value.
And our absolute most favorite dessert place in Japantown is Matcha Cafe Maiko.
They have the best matcha ice cream, best hojicha lattes, anything matcha, anything
hojicha, anything black sesame is literally the best here.
So delicious, I usually get the hojicha latte, there’s so much flavor in here, it’s just
incredible and Phil loves getting the float with a matcha soft serve.
Most of the people here order a matcha soft serve in a cone, but we like to get different
things and either get the float with the matcha soft serve or just get a drink because there’re
so many combinations of different things you can order here.
The menu is actually really extensive, you can just mix and match whatever things you
like to get.
So no matter what you order here and whatever combination, it’s just gonna be super super
delicious.
And it’s great for desserts or even afternoon snack or if you just want something to drink.
There are tons of other great restaurants and vendors out there, so it’s definitely
a great place to walk around and try new things and, again, a lot of these places are doing
takeout and delivery so definitely support them!
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We’ll catch you in the next one!
Bye :)