Taking place now thru Sunday, June 9, Mitsuwa Marketplace in Torrance is featuring a selection of Japanese gourmet foods especially imported for this event. Mitsuwa worked with well known Japanese suppliers to provide bento boxes for foodies, delicious seasoned seafood salads, Japanese confections, and goods not found elsewhere.
My eyes immediately spotted Sapporo Kanikosen’s display. Their representative explained that the bento boxes were made fresh a few minutes ago. They included kani (crab), ikura (salmon roe), uni (sea urchin) and gourmet seafood bento boxes. The uni was buttery and almost melted in my mouth!
Yamacho is renowned for its vast selection of seasoned, gourmet seafood items. Their products are made with premium ingredients from Hokkaido, Japan. The surf clam salad was combined with salmon roe. The wood ear mushrooms gave this an unexpected and welcome earthy flavor.
Tsukiagean’s fried fish cake balls are rich and filling and you can choose from 3 types of cake balls as well as skewer which come in sets. Their set up is adjacent to the temporary island display they set up behind the registers.
Black vinegar is believed to have originated in China and spread throughout East Asia. It is also known as kurozu, a very popular weight loss product among the Japanese. Black vinegar sports health benefits such as lowering blood pressure and aiding disorders such as high cholesterol and cancer.
Other exhibitors include Baked Sweets Shop Ranunculus (cookies, sable), Kawabata (sun-dried fish), Onuma-Genshichi (artisan octopus), Nemoto (umeboshi salted plum), and Kameya (grated wasabi and wasabi products).
Because the merchandise was shipped in for this event, some items are extremely limited. For the best selection, drop by on Mitsuwa Marketplace on Saturday.
Mitsuwa Marketplace, 21515 S Western Ave, Torrance, CA 90501; 310.782.0335
mitsuwa.com/tr