It was a dark and rainy day.  What better time for a bowl of hot, soupy noodles?  I love noodles.  Wonton noodles, ho fun noodles, pho, udon, ramen, love them all.  After work, DH and I headed over to Japantown.  In past visits, we had been too full from dinner for dessert.  Sophie’s Crepe’s is located on the 2nd floor of the Kinetsu Mall, a few doors down from the Kinokuniya Bookstore.  They serve yummy sweet and savory crepes.  Tonight we decided it was ok to have dessert before dinner.  We headed over to Sophie’s, only to find the lights out and a sign posted saying that they were open on Presidents’ Day but closed today. =(  Big disappointment.

Thwarted, we strolled the mall checking out the restaurants.  We opted to give Tanpopo a break tonight.  I was on the hunt for ramen and DH wanted katsu.  We found Osakaya Restaurant located in the Kinetsu Mall.

As soon as we were seated in this cozy restaurant, the waitress brought us hot tea.  Such a difference from Tanpopo where they only serve tea from a plastic bottle.  Our order was taken promptly.  We started with a 6-piece hamachi maki roll.  This version had green onions, which I like as a refreshing contrast to the fish.

I ordered the chashu shoyu ramen. The bowl of hot steamy soup came to the table loaded with chashu, fish cake, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and green onions. The lack of hard boiled egg was noted. The chashu was not overly fatty, slightly smoky and sweet in flavor. The noodles were not as chewy or al dente as I normally expected. They seemed a little overdone. I felt that there could be a bit more soup to noodle ratio.

DH ordered a katsu curry shrimp rice plate (no pics).  It came with a green salad and was missing it’s miso soup (not noted until we got home).  He noted that the curry sauce usually had little bits of meat in it and that perhaps it was missing in this version b/c this was shrimp and not pork.

Tea was refilled without incident.  Service was prompt, but not rushed.

As we left the restaurant, we encountered Belly Good Cafe & Crepes, another crepe place in the mall closer to the Buchanan Street entrance.  There was quite a crowd in front, checking out the many selections available.  The price for a sweet or savory crepe ranged from $4-$5+.  Saddly, we were too full to indulge.  As were walking away, I spotted a new storefront.  Couldn’t resist snapping this pic for JT.

Looks like Sanrio opened an outlet inside Japantown.

We also saw that this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival will be held the weekends of April 11-12 and April 18-19.  Check out the special guest: