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View Hanabi Japanese House Menu
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Restaurant:
Hanabi Japanese House
Where: 9679 Las Tunas, Temple City
Phone: (626) 309-4301
Reservations: Not required
Cocktails: Beer and Wine
Service: Full wait service
Atmosphere: Casual
Outdoor Dining: No
Credit Cards: MC, Visa, Discover, American Express,
Debit w/logo
Kid’s Menu: Yes
Senior Discount: No
Food to Go: Yes
Catering Menu: Yes
Price Range: $2.50 - $11.95 |
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Hanabi Japanese House is located at Las Tunas and Kauffman in Temple City |
California Roll |
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Shrimp Tempura appetizer |
Gyoza
appetizer |
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Salad
served w/entree |
Inside Hanabi is bright, spacious, and comfortable |
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Sizzling Fillet Steak Platter |
Spring Chicken Sizzling Platter, before sauce |
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Spring Chicken Sizzling Platter with Black Pepper Sauce |
Beef
and Chicken Teriyaki Dinner |
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Fried
Ice Cream |
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A Look At San
Gabriel Valley Restaurants by SanGabrielValleyMenus.com
Hanabi in Temple City Serves Up Delicious Japanese Cuisine
By Bill Coburn
So this week, Katie and Keelan were out of town for
a couple days, but I lucked out and found some dinner companions for this week’s
spotlight. SGV Weekly publisher Dana Baskin and SGV writer and Marketing
Director Jaimi Harrison joined me and we went to a Japanese place in Temple City
called Hanabi Japanese House. Jaimi had raved about Hanabi when we last spoke,
so I was anxious to see if it would be able to live up to her enthusiastic
descriptions. It did, this is a really great place to dine, with good sized
portions of delicious food, all at prices that are beyond reasonable.
Cathy Lee and her husband Kim opened Hanabi in
December of last year, after having run a restaurant of the same name for five
years in Lakewood. Cathy works a day-time job in Temple City, and the commute
was getting to be a strain. That along with a couple other factors combined to
lead them to look for a new location closer to home.
When you walk into Hanabi, you notice that it is
bright and spacious, and comfortable. That’s definitely one of the things I
enjoyed at Hanabi, I was made to feel very comfortable there, both by the
atmosphere and the service..
We started out with some
appetizers, ordering the Shrimp Tempura, California Roll, and an order of Gyoza,
a house specialty, homemade potstickers of pork and vegetables. The shrimp
tempura was a very light tempura batter, and we got a half a dozen shrimp, at a
menu price that I can’t believe. Gyoza, which I was hesitant to order, as I
don’t much like trying new foods, (how did I get this job?) was really tasty,
and I would order it again, in a heartbeat. Again, a very good sized portion at
a very low price. I even ate the California Roll, seaweed and all, and which
had more avocado than I’ve seen at most places. I put some wasabi on it to give
it the heat that I like, and was surprised, because I really enjoyed it, when I
expected my picky eater mind to shut it down on me.
Dana ordered a Teriyaki
Chicken and Beef Combination dinner, Jaimi ordered a Sizzling Fillet Platter,
and I ordered the Spring Chicken off the Sizzling Platters menu. We all got
salad with our dinners, and the salads had mixed greens, cucumbers, tangerine
slices and a very nice dressing with a sesame seed base. One thing I should
mention was the presentation, each of the salads looked like a work of art. The
dishware that they’ve chosen are somewhat unique, with the sizzling platters in
the shape of animals served on wood dishes.
The sizzling platters are
served with your choice of garlic or a black pepper sauce. Jaime chose the
garlic for her fillet steak, and I chose the black pepper sauce. I thoroughly
enjoyed the black pepper sauce on my whole chicken, which had a nice crispy but
not overcooked skin. It was served with vegetables on the side as well. The
chicken was juicy and cooked very nicely, and tasted good even without the
pepper sauce, but the sauce made it for me, bringing it up to the next level.
Jaimi said that her fillet was also very good, and she loves garlic, so it
disappeared in short order. Dana enjoyed his meal as well, and mentioned that
the teriyaki was more like a glaze than a sauce, not runny at all, and said he’d
order it again. It was served with Hanabi’s own homemade potato salad, which he
noted was not chunks, like traditional American salad, and somewhat denser in a
way, with the serving portion just right.
We ordered some fried ice
cream for dessert, and even though Dana is trying to avoid sweets these days,
even he couldn’t resist the tantalizing dessert that was placed before us. The
deep fried ice cream I’ve had in the past has been at Mexican restaurants, and
this was quite different, with what appeared to be possibly a tempura batter on
the exterior. It was a great way to end our meal.
Hanabi does have a beer and
wine menu, and a kid’s menu as well. There are more than a dozen appetizers,
and their sushi is available cutroll or hand roll. Monday through Friday they
have lunch specials for $5.75, and they also offer 9 Chef’s Specials, half a
dozen Curry Rice Entrees, and a dozen Japanese Noodle dishes. And there are
also a dzen items under $2.00 that you can add to your entrée to make it a
combo, such as Tuna and Salmon Sushi, Elle and Shrimp Sushi, Veggie Roll, Smoked
Salmon Roll, and more. You can find the menu for Hanabi at
SanGabrielValleyMenus.com by clicking on Japanese food, Temple City, or several
other categories. Or you can go directly to their web page at
www.sangabrielvalleymenus.com/hanabi.
I highly recommend Hanabi.
Everything was first rate, and I am really looking forward to our next visit,
which quite possibly will be this weekend. It was that good.
Bill Coburn is owner of
SanGabrielValleyMenus.com, a restaurant website featuring dozens of
restaurant’s menus, as well as downloadable coupons. He has nearly 20 years
experience in the restaurant business, and has been eating for much longer than
that. |
