Raging Taste Buds

West LA

Ohhhh my! Do I love indulging my ugly face in some raging Japanese dishes. Move over Fu Rai Bo, enter Yabu. I strolled into this fine Westside establishment with my good Japanese friend who swears this place is pretty much as close as you can get to typical Tokyo dining in LA. Traditional…Check. Quality…Check. Raging sweet shrimp still moving on your plate…Check. Bottom line is Yabu does it right. It’s not about the money, the glory, the notoriety…. its about keeping it traditional and making your customers taste buds rage dish after dish after dish. Even Sinosoul gave Yabu high remarks…and while he downed the soba noodles I took a step in the other direction by feasting on sashimi, sushi, tofu, abalone, peppers, and about 25 other dishes as I couldn’t stop myself from wasting away in this heaven. All the employees are Japanese!? Oh that’s weird…no its not. Get Real all you other Los Angeles Japanese restaurants. Mi japanese food es no bueno when its made by the hands of Armando cooking en le back.

The pictures might just tell it all. We started light with freshly cooked Japanese peppers and a homemade  tofu dish (pictured above). We then moved on to some live sweet shrimp breathing their last signs of life on our plates. Next, they took our shrimp heads, steamed them, and brought them out  in our Miso Soup. Um Raging! From there we moved into halibut and abalone sushi which showed off its top notch quality in both it’s presentation and in my mouth. We topped it all off with the dish of the night, the salmon rice with fresh salmon eggs thing. I dont know the Japanese term for the dish so if you go just show them the picture below and say “Dear Godly Japan Man, Please make this enter my mouth very soon. Arigato.” Prices are unreal, atmosphere is small, cozy, japanese style. …Just go there, I’m super serial.