mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog written by friends who enjoy sharing meals and adventures with you. Today, Cathy is sharing some meals while Kirk is doing the adventure part.
I first wrote about Kumi Cafe 14 months ago. The menu changed a few times since, but now seems stable with everything in one handout.
or you can scan it from your table.
The spicy calamari appetizer ($7.95) was light and crisp and quite a good size for sharing (or it could be a meal with a salad) the spicy garlic sauce was not necessary.
Agedashi tofu ($6.95) is also lightly fried. The tofu itself has a nice soybean flavor and the 'cubes' are very large. Again, good for sharing.
This vegetable tempura roll ($9.95) is simply wonderful. Tempura battered asparagus, green beans, kobucha and sweet potato. There's also avocado inside. Since I don't eat meat on Fridays, this is a wonderful way to satisfy a bunch of cravings as part of a meal.
Most of the meal sets here include miso and salad. Here's a generic photo.
This is the Sesame Chicken plate ($13.95) Large pieces of dark meat chicken, coated in sesame seeds then bread crumbs and fried, properly. This was a very large meal and at some point turned into a salad with chicken topping.
The Beef Teriyaki Lunch Bento with shrimp and veggie tempura ($16). The teriyaki sauce is not very sweet nor is it sticky. The tentsuyu (sauce for dipping the tempura) was lightly salty and complimentary to the light, crispy fry.
The Seafood Yakisoba ($16.95) was nicely done- noodles still chewy, a light sauce, carrots. broccoli. bell pepper, zucchini and cabbage along with shrimp, green mussels, fishcake, calamari and scallops. Again, a good size meal.
`The vegetable teriyaki ($12.95) was a great tasty surprise. Lightly sautéed vegetables topped with the pleasant house made teriyaki topped with green onion and crunchy sesame seeds. An excellent bite of everything I was craving that day. 
Tonkatsu Curry ($14.95). A large piece of thin cut, breaded pork, deep fried and still moist. Served on top of rice with a delightful potato-carrot-onion curry sauce. Comfort food on a chilly day.
This. This is what I absolutely enjoy the most here. It's the Vegan Ramen ($13.50). Mushroom broth, spinach noodles, vegetables and tofu. It's been absolutely perfect each time I've ordered it. The broth is so good, the noodles have a nice spinach flavor. All of the vegetables. To me, it is a perfect bowl of goodness and warmth.
It's good to see this 'new' business doing well. The other restaurants sharing this parking lot are also great.
Kumi Cafe 4380 Kearny Mesa Road, 300 San Diego 92111 (858) 565-1288 Website Open daily 11:00 a.m.-9:30 p.m.
The diner closes between lunch and dinner; the only way I was able to get a photo of empty tables. 
The handout menu is pretty extensive (this is not all of it). The weekend lunch specials are similar to those at Wa Dining Okan on weekdays.
There are plenty of additional suggestions taped to the wall .
Vegetable tempura ($10) is perfectly made here. Light fry with light breading. Flavors of everything are bright, even the dipping sauce.
Chicken Liver appetizer ($6.50). Broiled chicken liver in a sweet soy sauce. Excellent. I first had chicken livers with a summertime roommate from Indonesia. She sautéed those with broccoli and topped with sesame seeds. To this day, chicken livers prepared that way are a comfort food.
Yakko ($4). Cold tofu with ginger, green onion and topped with bonito flakes. An excellent tofu.
Tsukemono ($6). Assorted pickles. So fresh flavored and crisp! These were an excellent 'side' instead of an appetizer. 
Of course I ordered the Zaru Soba ($10.50) the quick chilled buckwheat noodles were tasty and chewy, the dipping sauce, wasabi and chopped green onions complimentary. Many flavors in each bite. 
This menu page caught our eye. 
White curry udon ($10) Add beef ($4).
Fat, fresh, chewy udon in a white curry soup topped with freshly whipped cream and a poached egg (sorry no photo of the beautiful orange yolk). The added beef was thin and nicely flavored but almost unnecessary. This as a wonderful unexpected meal.
Blue Crab Salad ($12) was a filling meal in itself. Mixed greens, tomato, avocado and blue crab with a mayonnaise based dressing. 
Carbonara Udon ($14.50). Bacon, mixed mushrooms, a four cheese Alfredo sauce…
and there's that poached egg with its colorful orange yolk.
Mushrooms! This was great; everything here was prepared and served in such a beautiful way. 
Ichiban Sando is on H Street just east of Broadway (across from the mall). 
There are menu boards above and menu choices taped below the ordering window as well as a convenient pocket size menu. 
The Shrimp Katsu Sando ($11.50) is served on a choice of toasted homemade milk bread or brioche bun and with cubes of pickled radish. Crispy breaded shrimp on the toasted bread- an excellent, large and filling sandwich. 
The Pork Belly Bowl ($10.50) was another choice this day. Steamed rice, pickled red cabbage and kimchee along with plenty of soft, tender pork belly topped with a Kewpie based sauce (slightly spicy; maybe sriracha, which tastes sweet and hot). Mixing the pickled vegetables with rice with bits of the fatty pork was quite a nice bite of textures and flavors.
The Fruit Sando ($8 on the wall under the cash register but $8.50 on the paper menu) was wonderful- the soft, fresh home made milk bread, fresh and thick whipped cream and fragrantly ripe strawberries and kiwi made a perfect dessert snack.
The Lunch Specials sign sealed the deal this day.
The regular menu is very interesting, warranting a return visit.
We each ordered a lunch special which includes miso and salad. I also ordered a hot green tea ($2)-it was a wonderful genmaicha (green tea with roasted rice) loose tea tightly packed in a filter bag. 
The Mister also wanted to try a California roll ($5.75). Made with imitation crab and cucumber, this was very nice, quite large. (Grated wasabi is $1.25; I neglected to take a photo.)
Chicken yakisoba lunch ($13.50). This had wonderful, thin noodles and was a flavorful stir fry of the chicken and vegetables (cabbage, carrot, onion and carrot). The hand roll also had imitation crab along with cucumber. 
At first blush I found the broth to have mildly porky – savory tones but was on the salty side; though it was fairly fatty – rich and nicely coated my tongue. I really couldn't make out any garlic flavor, probably because the broth was too salty.
As much as I enjoy spiciness, I didn't care for the "Nagi sauce" in this bowl of ramen as it really heightened the saltiness and distracted from the flavor of the tonkotsu style broth.
These pieces were quite large; in fact Calvin and I could only finish one piece each and ended up taking the rest back to JeffP as a "consolation prize" since he couldn't make it. The batter was quite crunchy, almost edging on hard. The meat as on the chewy-dry side. It was covered in an overly sweet sauce. I don't think I'll order these again.
The chashu this time around looked to have an almost "red" tinge to it; but was perfectly fine. I had ordered the broth to be "heavy" in terms of richness which it definitely was. So very rich, but not greasy, in fact the texture reminded me of the 
The boiled egg was every bit as good as on the previous visit….good consistency displayed here.
Having 
Step inside, the sign in sheet is at the door, sushi bar is to your right. There is outdoor seating.
As always, we start with hot tea.
The paper menu is in English and Japanese. If you are early enough (and there are still some of the limited number of bento lunch specials available), you'll be given the daily Special Bento Box menu. You can also read the menus online. 
This Bento Special ($15) included Pot au feu, steamed chicken, fish miso, deep fried Spanish mackerel, deep fried meatloaf, spaghetti and rolled omelet (in addition to miso soup and salad). Pot au feu is steamed beef with vegetables; tender, rich flavored. The steamed chicken was also nicely flavored (no condiments/soy sauce is needed for any of this meal); every bite was well balanced.
Sara Udon ($18) is a crispy noodle based dish. Stir fried seafood (shrimp, fish, scallops) and vegetables with a smooth sauce surrounded by crisp, fried udon. Textures, flavors and comfort-food. 
Homemade gyoza ($7.50) are filled with a juicy pork mix,. The gyoza skins are thin with a light fry.
Chicken Katsu Bowl ($16). Served as a 'Set" (as are all the main dishes), the Katsu chicken on top of rice is light crisp-fried and juicy. 
Ebi Kakiage Udon ($14)- Shrimp with shredded vegetable. This tempura-type dish has the shrimp (ebi) coated with bits of seafood and vegetable fried into a sort of fritter. Pieces can be dipped in the udon, but the crispiness is what was craved this day.
Grouper Hot Pot ($15) (listed as 'Hataki Noko' instead of 'Nabe' on the handwritten receipt).
Arriving like this- with hidden fish and a luxurious topping of mixed vegetables and many types of mushroom in an excellent (not too salty) dashi based broth. Each component of this tray was filled with flavor. The fried grouper did manage to stay crisp for a good part of the meal.
One hot day, I ordered my favorite, Tempura Zaru Soba ($14). Chilled soba noodles with a tasty dipping sauce and tempura shrimp on the side. Soba does not affect my blood sugar levels, making this dish even more satisfying.
One day, we were seated at the back wall and were able to stop to read the display along that adjoining corner wall. Professional golfer, Xander Schauffele has a signed poster and other news items on this portion of the wall. 
Here’s another fairly quick name change! The place just opened in January. Based on my 
The broth was a bit richer than what we had on our previous visit here which was nice. The tamago a bit over-cooked but nicely flavored. For some reason, I like the savory-sweet flavor that the black garlic oil adds to this bowl. The noodles were perfectly cooked on this visit as well.
Man, this location of Boston Market had been here forever! I decided to walk on over to see what was up….hoping that perhaps an interesting eating establishment was coming to this location. I should have known better. It's a chain swap out. At least it's California Fish Grill which claims serve only "Responsibly Sourced Seafood". You can read about 
