Friday, June 06, 2008

Gonpachi 1st Year Anniversary Party

I got a last-minute invite to Gonpachi's 1st anniversary party. Food poured out buffet-style with sushi, sashimi, soba, and grilled skewers of shrimp, beef and tsukune (ground chicken). They earned bonus points with the hijiki (the black mass) stir-fried with edamame and atsuage (fried tofu), and the soy sauce-sweetened gobo and renkon (burdock and lotus root). If we only had hot rice:

The sushi was replenished as quickly as it vanished.

I got there really early (i.e., on time). See those girls in short skirts? I later realized they weren't party crashers; they were hired eye-candy.

The desserts were hit-or-miss. The matcha pudding was yummy. The brownish pudding was, uh, brown. The crepe rolls were interesting -- filled with anko (red bean) strawberries and shiso(!) Didn't work for me. Of course you can't go wrong with Japanese cookies.

I'm glad I arrived early. No sake cocktail would've been strong enough to tolerate the line out the wooden gate.

Another fanciful creation. This one actually worked for me. It was topped with a shiratama (the white mochi thing), anko, sesame paste and a slice of orange. Fun~



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In Other News: Hot red-bean cakes are coming to Beverly Hills! They're called ima-gawa-yaki, and they're round and tasty. Not sure when they're opening, but I can't wait.

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7 comments:

pleasurepalate said...

Hey I was there, too, but in that crush, I can see why we didn't run into each other. :)

Pirikara said...

oh hey there~! haha. Yeah, it was hectic. Hope you got enough skewers!

glutster said...

aww man...I've always wanted to try this place, someday people will take me serious. Oh well, how was the fresh soba?

Pirikara said...

hey glut, oh believe me it was a total fluke that I got to go. Had nothing to do with me being a blogger. believe me, people don't take me seriously either, and I'm well past my teens. =P

Pirikara said...

oh and the soba was semi-decent this time around. A lil on the soft side if anything.

margot said...

hey i'm not sure if you're already a member but just in case i thought i'd extend an invitation for a network of LA bloggers: http://labloggers.ning.com/?xgi=5mcqS7g

Drain Cleaning Oxnard Shores said...

Great reaad thankyou