Chin-ma-ya, Los Angeles (Little Tokyo)

Posted by on Jul 30, 2011 | 0 comments

Chin-ma-ya, Los Angeles (Little Tokyo)

Who would have thought that a meal normally associated with poor college students could have deep tasty roots in Chinese culture?

Welcome to Chin-ma-ya located in Little Tokyo in downtown LA. This place serves ramen how it should be served, in giant bowls topped with the most tasty of toppings.

I started, and well didn’t even Gino’s a bowl called a Tan Tan Men. This ramen bowl has a broth with a little heat to it topped with pork. Add some green onions, bambo chutes, and bean sprouts and it’s one hearty meal! Let me rephrase, several hearty meals! This meal is nothing like you find at the store in the pasta section, but, it’s a simple meal to put together at home.

All in all its rehashed my love for the underrated noodle and given my imagination more food to play with.m a definite win!

And for sides, we paired the ramen with a tasty pork goyoza, pork dumplings with vegetables.

Needless to say, I was eating this meal for a couple days. With all the fixins, the ramen bowl ran about $12. Slightly less,nor the half portion.

I love LA!

Chin-Ma-Ya of Tokyo on Urbanspoon

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Far East Cafe | Chinatown, San Francisco

Posted by on Aug 5, 2010 | 0 comments

Last year when I was here, I went to this great little Dim Sum place somewhere in the heart of China Town.  And now that I am back in the city, I am making it a ritual to have my first meal of the trip there.  Unfortunately, whether from hunger or no luck, I didn’t find that place, but what I did find is the Far East Cafe.   One piece of advice that I have taken with me is that if the locals eat there, it must be good, and I would think there would be a larger chinese clientele, but when I got in, it seemed all flash and bang.  It seemed like they were going a little overboard with he chinese theme, so I knew it was probably a tourist trap.
Anyway, I sat down to a family style table, which in this case sat one, and when I asked the my chinese waiter about recommendations, he mentioned the dim sum combo.  Word of advice, if its a combo, then its probably not as authentic as one would think, but I had it anyway since my stomach was growling.  And it was just as I had expected, a little more geared to the “white man” taste as he put it.  It was nothing special, it came in 2 courses and had a little pork and beef dim sum and a couple shrimp, which was pretty tasty.  All in all, it was a good hearty meal for $10, and got me pretty full, but the walk back up the street kinda killed me afterwards.  And no, I didn’t use the spoon!

Last year when I was here, I went to this great little Dim Sum place somewhere in the heart of China Town.  And now that I am back in the city, I am making it a ritual to have my first meal of the trip there.  Unfortunately, whether from hunger or no luck, I didn’t find that place, but what I did find is the Far East Cafe.   One piece of advice that I have taken with me is that if the locals eat there, it must be good, and I would think there would be a larger chinese clientele, but when I got in, it seemed all flash and bang.  It seemed like they were going a little overboard with he chinese theme, so I knew it was probably a tourist trap.
Anyway, I sat down to a family style table, which in this case sat one, and when I asked the my chinese waiter about recommendations, he mentioned the dim sum combo.  Word of advice, if its a combo, then its probably not as authentic as one would think, but I had it anyway since my stomach was growling.  And it was just as I had expected, a little more geared to the “white man” taste as he put it.  It was nothing special, it came in 2 courses and had a little pork and beef dim sum and a couple shrimp, which was pretty tasty.  All in all, it was a good hearty meal for $10, and got me pretty full, but the walk back up the street kinda killed me afterwards.  And no, I didn’t use the spoon!

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