Midoh (Sawtelle Japantown): A Pictorial Essay

the sweet shoyu vinegar is important because it cuts the fat of the fried chicken and tartar and balances the flavor

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Yeah chicken nanban if you are very lucky can be found at some yakitori izakaya as it makes perfect business sense also. It never struck me as much of a yoshoku offering, but that wicked tartare sauce is indeed a signature that makes it fit (ditto for Tsukiji > Toyosu’s Yachiyo which is a must if you order kaki fry, humongous kuruma ebi fry, hotate fry, their tartare sauce is insane too).

Hina Yakitori 1.0 (Oakland) and 2.0 (San Francisco) had a fantastic rendition of chicken nanban for their first location and 2.0 incorporated a variation of it in their higher end omakase (although they added either caviar or ikura which made no sense… but perhaps it helps sell more wine :man_shrugging:t2:). They also had a vinegared chilled tomato with skin removed that was insane… it helps calm that insane “yeet hay” from the deep fry, although the counter effect is that you’ll need an ice cold nama :beer:, sake, or I’m guessing in your case, shochu to put things back into perspective! In terms of that tomato, Shunji’s agedashi tomato comes close in terms of sensation.

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Yeah! Chicken Nanban hails from Nichinan, Miyazaki. That is deep in shochu country! Of course, anything fried is a natural fit for beer, but I would challenge one to pair their chicken nanban with a potato shochu w/ water or soda.

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Also to note, they have a nice and powerful ice coffee and the ice cubes are made of coffee so it doesn’t lose its potency.

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:exploding_head: best idea I’ve heard all year!!

Now for spirits, do I burn off the alcohol before freezing…?

Thanks for the menu! I was not feeling like cooking this evening so grabbed some takeout.

Chicken nanban (thanks @Starchtrade, I never heard of this dish) with salad and corn soup. I think this dish was just not suited for takeout. We hit some traffic on the way home so it was 30 minutes from the time they packed it and gave it to me to the time I had it unpacked and on the dining table. Chicken (it was breast) was on the dry side and any crispiness had left the crust 15 min prior. I could see it being really amazing with crispy chicken thighs and piping hot. Sauces seemed good but I’m not the best judge as it’s my first time trying this dish. The potato salad was creamy and mild/delicious.

Salad - saved for tomorrow. We went straight to the meat:

Corn soup - excellent! Perfect amount of sweetness and creaminess

We also ordered the curry with loin and the fillet to do a taste test. Curry sauce was excellent with a generous serving. Katsu stayed quite crispy after the 30 min drive. Both meats were good, fillet a bit juicier and fattier.

Loin:

Fillet:

When I went to pick up - didn’t get my temperature taken, staff was quite courteous. Not busy at all (probably because… Tuesday evening). Would absolutely do takeout again (already planning @A5KOBE’s rec of Hamburg add cheese curry :P)

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Did they really just give you a smidgeon of pickled radish to go with the curry?

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Smidgeonette :rofl:

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Depends, office party maybe, personal use, hell naw!

Their Beef Nabeyaki Udon and Chicken Nanban are my go to at the Rowland Heights location.

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Great to see you back, EvilJ. Hope all is well.

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People come out of the woodworks for Chicken Nanban!

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Cool new addition to Sawtelle. Thanks @J_L for the heads-up.

Might have been the highlight - and everything else was quite good.

We also had great Spicy Cucumber, Tonkatsu, Curry Rice and Yaki Udon.
Beer and Sake to come “next week.”

The spicy cukes come in a cute glass jar with locking lid - and they were HOT!

image

Yes - a really dinky portion on the dine-in plate as well. Adds a nice brightness to the curry rice but more would be welcomed.

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Love the spicy cukes jar! Will have to try these in the future.

They must have cut way back on the pickled radish portion, or I was really lucky with my order last week. They really helped make that curry special.

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Round 2 at the Rowland Heights location. The first visit to Midoh was so good, we had to make a second trip and try more of the menu. Opted for the loin katsu with ebi fry, which seemed like a safe move given how amazing the star item was last time around.

It looks just like I remember it! But the excitement quickly dies down with a bite of the fried shrimp. It is pretty ordinary beyond the picture perfect panko breading. Sadly, the katsu isn’t great today either. It looks and tastes overcooked. I don’t have a picture, but the inside was shockingly white and dry. A far cry from my last visit.

We got a katsu sando like last time, which we enjoyed fresh this time. Amazingly, the katsu here is perfectly juicy and there is plenty of sauce as well. Nice job here, I would recommend this sandwich without hesitation.

Lastly, we brought home a seafood mentai udon. To my complete surprise, this is outstanding. The noodles have the perfect chew, as good if not better than Marugame Udon or Meiji Seimen. The cream sauce has amazing flavor as well, with the texture and salinity from the roe. I enjoyed the squid and clams, although the shrimp is just fine. Still, this was huge hit for me and I would love to order it again.

I’m not sure if this has been discussed, but there is something really special about the black pepper Midoh uses. They use it in their potato salad and we also received a portion for the udon. It was incredibly fragrant even after a few hours in a container. If anyone knows where to buy black pepper like this, I would love to know.

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Penzeys pre ground black pepper is amazing. Fragrant and sharp. I buy a small container to keep on hand for extra pepper punch in certain dishes. I use their whole pepper and grind it with a their own hand grinder (as well as a crank Oxo one)… but I think there is something special with the industrial grinders penzeys uses…

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