I got lunch here yesterday. I never ate here before despite it being so close to me; it was not very vegetarian-friendly pre-COVID. But I guess with the pandemic, they started including more non-meat/fish dishes in their to-go menu to expand their possible customer base, which is good news for me.
tomato tofu donburi - Rice bowl with fruit tomatoes, soft Meiji tofu, ginger, scallions, nori, sansho.
Tomatoes, silken meiji tofu and nori sound kind of plain but these flavors all worked really well together. The rice was subtly seasoned and the tomatoes had tasted pickled-like they were soaked in mirin maybe. The tomatoes were really sweet and savory and I’m normally indifferent to tomatoes. They gave a lot of tomatoes so I was able to have one in almost every bite. Soft tofu mixed very well into the rice. My order was missing scallions but it was still good without them. The portion was also huge, so the QPR was worth it to me ($13).
strawberry daifuku & magical grapes daifuku - Soft mochi stuffed with sweet white bean paste and Chino Farms strawberry/Soft mochi stuffed with sweet white bean paste and super sweet Magical Grapes muscat grape
These were smaller than I thought they would be, but still really good. A thin layer of sweetened white bean paste was enough, because the fruit is the part meant to shine. Mochi outer layer was perfectly chewy and soft. The grape one was good, but I feel like the grape flavor didn’t stand out as much against the white bean paste the way the strawberry did.
matcha cream puff (with a bite taken out of it already, whoops)
Also really good. The whipped cream on top tasted a little tangy, like it had creme fraiche in it instead of only regular whipped cream. Matcha cream on the inside was really subtle, so you really got more of the matcha flavor from the powder sprinkled on top. The craquelin topping was not too sweet or thick. Different style of cream puff from Patisserie Chantilly but still quite good (and a lot closer to me than Lomita).
anmitsu - A classic Japanese summer dessert that dates back to the Meiji period (late 19th century).
A mix of soba tea kanten jellies, pomegranate mochi, orange, fresh pomegranates from K and K Ranch. Vegan and gluten free.
I put this in the fridge for a few hours because it had warmed up a little from the walk from Ototo to my apartment, and when I tried it later it was very refreshing. At $7, it seems pricey but there’s a lot of craft involved in all the pieces in here. It almost reminds me of Vietnamese che desserts, since it basically looks like a dessert soup. The little pomegranate mochi balls were still soft even after a few hours in the fridge. The tea kanten jellies had a slight toasted/smokey flavor that helped offset the sweetness of the red bean paste and the fruits. Loved all the different textures together. I would love to see more variations on anmitsu from Ototo. Was really tempted to put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and mix it all together (maybe next time).