I heard from a friend that Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles is not as crowded and bustling as it used to be. All of the little restaurants (sushi, ramen, etc) do not have the big crowds waiting outside to eat. I asked my little sister, Truc, if she wanted to go eat Marugame Monzo with me! We both love the udon shop but hardly eat it because there is usually a long wait (and we hate waiting). So let’s go out and dine-in! As long as we practice safe precautions and proper hygiene, we should be okay..

To my right, I can see the chef roll out dough for the udon. They’re known for making fresh udon right then and there!

I was also excited that I also got to re-visit this place with NO WAIT. As much as it was great to dine-in without having to wait over an hour, it was also sad to see how empty the restaurant was. It even felt more empty because they sat us every other table to maintain the social distancing guidelines. There was also multiple hand sanitizers throughout the restaurant for hand hygiene.

Uni Sea Urchin Cream Udon. Hard crushed sea urchin cream sauce udon topped with ikura (salmon egg). This used to be my favorite specialty udon for years and the reason why I always return to Marugame Monzo. However, today’s sauce was not as thick and creamy as I remembered (although the flavor is still there). The udon is soft and chewy. The urchin is slightly charred

Miso Carbonara Udon. Creamy white sauce and egg tossed udon with bacon and hint of Miso flavor. This reminds me of a fusion dish with Italian influence because of the eggy carbonara sauce. It is almost like the Pasta Carbonara dish but with a hint of miso.

Mentai Squid Butter Udon. Seasoned fish egg butter sauce with squid and onions. This became my new favorite and tastes as good as I remembered it! There is plenty of small crunchy eggs in the butter sauce. The squid is cooked perfectly as it is soft and just a tiny bit chewy. The butter sauce is also very flavorful and rich.

Mapo Tofu Udon. Japanese style Mapo tofu sauce on top of udon. Everyone wanted to try this dish! We just made mapo tofu with rice last week and were talking about how to make mapo tofu. We decided that mapo tofu on top of udon sounded interesting and figured, “Why not just give it a try?” While the flavor of the mapo was there, it was definitely not spicy at all! Not having the spicy spices in it that is iconic of mapo tofu dish was disappointing. The only spice came from the black pepper.

Paying for the check was the same routine – They give you the paper check and you sign. Also!! Only credit/debit cards accepted! No more cash..

Afterwards, we wanted to get ice cream and ventured into the Little Tokyo Plaza that had Mikawaya to get some mochi ice cream. However, it was closed early. So we walked 0.4 miles to get ice cream from Salt & Straw. The walk was nice! But again, it was sad to see LA streets so empty.. Salt & Straw only has take-out and set up their table right at the front door entrance. There was hardly a line. The menu is also outside on the door and no samples available.

But the ice cream was still yummy!

It was nice to escape from always eating at someone’s house and dining in at a restaurant. I definitely miss that aspect of my life and hope that the dine-in option will still be available as long as we are safe and cautious about everything! Let’s obey all rules.. to still be able to do what we want to do while staying safe & healthy! <3