Fukagawa - Gardena

Traditional Japanese breakfast definitely from the western tradition of bacon and eggs, pancakes and waffles and in fact, is more like a meal you have for lunch or even dinner. In research to find out what restaurant serves a Japanese breakfast in the LA area, a place came and past and that was Fukagawa in the city of Gardena. So, one morning, a few members of my dining room group made the trek with me to this South Bay restaurant. Fukagawa is in a large shopping center and was a little difficult to find because it could not be seen from the parking lot. It was literally thrown away in the corner at the end of the walkway that started at the supermarket. As soon as you enter and sit, the entire breakfast menu can be seen in a small plastic holder. Basically, you have a D choice. If you choose A, you will get a bowl of rice, Miso soup, Japanese pimples, a seaweed leaf and a raw egg. What was not mentioned was a small bowl of cold tofu and Tamagoyaki, a sweetened rolled omelet that was also included. Choice B was all you had with choice A, but with Natto. Choice C was a chilled fish or beef steak. Choice D was A B C. I chose Choice D with the grilled fish that proved to be salmon. One thing I wished before was to get some more information, like some of the different components found on my tablet, as I found here and here. Let me first mention something about Japanese labels. Apparently it is custom to have the bowl of fog your right and the rice left. I don't know why if any of you have the reason, please leave a comment. When it came to the dried seaweed, I knew it should be eaten with rice. What I didn't know was that if you swirled the seaweeds in your soup or dipped in soya sauce, it will soften; Therefore it becomes easier to wrap the rice and to eat it in this way. That makes sense now. When it came to Natto, I actually feared it. I tried it 3 different times in 3 other restaurants, but just don’t get over the “Slimy” texture, but I thought I would try it again. A spoon and it turned me off; but one of my dining room partners tried to eat it with rice and she said it was better. I gave it a bit and while it was a bit better, I can still say without a doubt that Natto is just not for me. But my food was on the right path. Later I read that a way to enjoy the Natto is to season it with soy sauce and Karashi mustard and yes, place some on your steamed rice and eat them both together. One thing I knew before was what to do with the raw egg, and I have actually read that as part of a Yelp review. Someone else in our group decided to go the raw egg route and here is how it works. Simply break the egg in a bowl, add soy sauce, mix and then pour over the rice. Make sure your rice is really hot because it is the heat that helps to cook this egg so it is not completely raw and then enjoy. If you randomly order the fish, it can be eaten on your own or it can be cut into pieces and added to your rice bowl or even mixed in the rice before you wrap it with the sea tang. Finally, Tamagoyaki can be eaten with or without soy sauce or grated daikon. Of course these are all just suggestions, but if you are traditionally eating a meal to a particular country, you could also go all. Breakfast in Fukagawa was a clear departure from what I usually do in AM, but besides Natto, I could see that I enjoy this type of meal on a more regular basis. Although there are a lot of components, food seems lighter and not as heavy as standard eggs and bacon tarife, still it is as cannabis like grain and milk. Given that Fukagawa is far beyond the city of me, it is doubtful that I want a traditional Japanese breakfast as much as I want. But armed with the knowledge I have now, I think the meal will be even better if I ever make a trip back.