Japanese Food Adventures in Torrance

Living only 20 measly minutes from Little Tokyo in Downtown LA, I only occasionally get my lazy bum up to drive to Torrance for Japanese grocery shopping. 

I was running low on my Japanese food stock at home, so this was the perfect reason to go shopping in one of the largest Japanese communities in Southern Cali. 

My first stop was Marukai Market on Artesia Blvd. where I was overwhelmed by the large space that the market occupied and their loads of goodies that all tempted me. 

Presenting to you my haul….

You must try the Country Mama's vanilla chocolate chip cookies because they're my favorite packaged cookies. 

Hokkaido milk bread with honey makes the best and simplest Honey Toast.

I don't care for American chicken nuggets, but karage is just something else.

It was then nearing lunch time, and I was feeling the Japanese cravings keep up with my Japanese vibes today, so I thought: what better place to eat than the Mitsuwa in Torrance? 

This Mistuwa Market has many places to eat inside their food court, and all of them have pretty darn good food. 

I hit the jackpot with my decision because Mitsuwa was having their annual Unaju (teriyaki eel rice bowl) sale for a limited for this month, and me…I'm the biggest fan of unagi <3 Scoreeee

Pretty good for a store-packaged unaju. I have yet to try the real deal in Japan though :(

We were still hungry, so we completed our Japanese lunch with a tonkotsu ramen, of course, from Santouka Ramen. Their pork broth is always perfect, and the chashu-don was just how I like it: light, not too oily or fatty, but flavorful.

Being the sweet tooth that I am, I read about this popular mochi place inside the Mitsuwa Market known as Mochi Cream. I was ecstatic to finally try it!

I picked out 4 different flavors to carry out my taste test…

The Review on These Little Gems

(starting from favorite to least)

#1

#2

#3

#4

I walked out of Mitsuwa feeling up in the clouds from eating such divine mochi desserts.

It didn't stop there…

I shopped at Daiso as well because it was in the same complex as Mitsuwa. This Daiso is, once again, a lot bigger and carries more products than the one in Koreatown that I usually go to. 

Also in the same complex, 85C Bakery & Cafe was the last stop; I unintentionally saved the best for last. 

I tried their most popular goods--as the yelp reviews say--such as the egg tart and sea salt iced coffee. 

Okay so I am a 85C egg tart-addict and proud.

This pastry is everything I dream about in one bite: the crust was flakey, buttery, warm, and fresh straight out of the oven. The custard filling was lightly sweet, creamy, light, and just delicious.

Strawberry Tiramisu
nothing fancy...

Sea Salt iced coffee was amazing!
I'm surprised why other coffee shops don't sell salted coffee!! 

Bathroom selfie HAHAHAHA, sorry!

I couldn't return home without buying more of these babies. I'll dream about these little egg tartlets. 

And the Rum Raisin Buttermilk bread pictured above was wonderful. I recommend getting it too! 

I love my eating adventures.