OTAFUKU

Otafuka in Gardena is a magnificent little Japanese Soba shop. The specialty here are soba noodles. A while back, I was reading the L.A. Times Food Section and it actually talked about this place. They were talking about soba noodles and named this one of the best places for it because the chef here at Otafuku hand makes the soba noodles they sell here. After I read it, the same week I went to try it out. It has been almost a year now and I have since made it to this place numerous times.

I ordered the soba in hot broth with eel tempura. This was good on a cold night, but the best way to have a sublime soba experience is to have it served in a basket with a bowl of cold dipping sauce. Either way the soba is chewy and definitely satisfying.

The side of eel tempura was huge! The meaty eel was longer than my forearm! It was crunchy and juicy and not at all fishy. It also came with a couple of tempura pieces of vegetables. I enjoyed it best when dipped into the broth of my noodles.

My brother ordered the mochi udon noodles. It cames with two good sized pieces of fried mochi squares. This is really good because it gives the dish a chewy texture. It also comes with a poached egg in the broth. The egg was awesome! I don't know how to explain it, but this egg is not your ordinary egg. The taste and texture is totally different from what you have eaten home.


I will be back here again as soon as my soba urge comes back. If you ever come here, expect this place to be small, even with the new expansion. They speak minimal English here so point to what you want on the menu. The front is really minimal and you could easily pass it up a dozen times without even realizing it. ~Bootsi


OTAFUKU
16525 S. Western Ave.
Gardena, CA 90247