They let regular customers do a lot of things.
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Hi @Bookwich,
Thanks for the report back. 
Yah we love Ichimian as well. Have you been to Inaba yet? (Ichimian’s sister restaurant.)
They get their Handmade Soba from Ichimian daily (they’re pretty close to each other distance-wise), and then you get the added benefit of the amazing Tempura Bar, delivering some of the best Tempura in the city (super light, not oily, fantastic).
How far in advance do you have to make reservations?
Some fish and chips and msuhy peas from Salmon Tail in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Hey, if @wienermobile can post from outside LA, then so can I. 
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Nice Fish and Chips!
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Somni reservations (AKA tickets) are obtained through Tock. Tickets are released round by round. Next release is 8/6.
We went to Lunasia in Pasadena. I had my map app set to Alhambra, but my navigator used his own app, so we ended up taking a Sunday drive along the lovely Arroyo Seco Parkway.
Our favorites:
Chicken Lettuce Wrap
Pan Fried Turnip Cake w/ XO Hot Sauce
We also liked the baked BBQ pork bao and the Hong Kong style roast duck. In addition we had siu mai, Shaghai pork soup dumpling, pan fried potstickers, and chicken fried rice. Good ingredients and nice technique on all the dumplings. Everyone liked the chicken fried rice except me; I didn’t like the small, skinny rice grains.
The only miss was the cruellers, which were very oily.
Nobody ate the spare rib that came with the “rice noodle and spare ribs” dish. The ribs were chopped up and there was lots of chewy bits (tendon?) on the bone, but that’s just us being white peoples, not the kitchen’s fault.
We had four people and ordered 10 dishes, plus tea. The bill was about $100 with a lot of leftovers. The service was great, very efficient! It was a fun morning.
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FYI, the Pasadena location only has a limited variety of dim sum compared to its Alhambra location.
Yes, I did notice the menu was somewhat abbreviated. Oh well, next time.
Lunch and dinner line up today at Golden Leaf and Tokyo Fried Chicken:
Taiwanese lunch:
Popcorn Chicken - meh. Quite oily and not very crispy at all.
Oyster Pancake - yum
Minced Pork Belly Bowl - a-okay
Braised Pork Belly with bamboo shoots - above average
Duck Noodle Soup - a-okay…pretty plain jane flavor wise
Stewed Beef Noodle - yum
Had dinner at my favorite chicken joint:
Unfortunately, we hit the dinner rush…
Tale of the two dirty ponzu bears
Winner winner chicken dinner! Flavorful, crispy, and light batter with incredibly juicy chicken that were brined.
Sides: baked beans with chicken, curry corn, dashi braised collar greens, and potato salad
Finished off with Big Softee’s taro coconut ice cream. BIG and super intense flavor. Got too heavy after a few bites…
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Weekend of eating started with a wine tasting party and ended up at the local Jose’s Taco truck (Whittier) not far from my house…the cabeza tacos and the shrimp tacos are easily my favorites…followed up by the asada mulita made with fresh masa.
Lunch with my cousins today in Little Saigon at Banh Cuon Tay Ho 4 next to the Zero Degrees on Bolsa and Brookhurst. I always forget how good it is fresh made.
Ran errands this evening and found dinner at Bruno’s in Brea. Can’t beat a couple of Happy Hour specials and their housemade spaghetti and meatballs.
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@JeetKuneBao put it this way, Boba Guys are Asian Americans, and so are the majority of their customer base so they can do and call it what they want and people will still come. Same thing goes for Melissa King (Top Chef) doing “Hong Kong Milk Tea Ice Cream with almond cookie crumbles” for Humphrey Slocombe. I’ve tried the ice cream, not a fan. And now King has a yuzu cream ice cream flavor for HS…traditionally yuzu as cold dessert is mostly sorbet even in Japan. I have yet to try BG’s HK milk tea…but should I? No disrepect to Boba Guys, more power to them for sustaining a brand that expanded to LA…but my preference would be something that’s closer to the experience in Asia rather than going to a place that has flavors all over the place (e.g. Thai, Horchata, HK, etc).
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