Yokohama Chinatown

A couple weeks ago Raku and I went to Yokohama for the afternoon, the plan was to eat some Chinese food, spend the afternoon writing, and do a little shopping (the real reason for the trip). Well, we never got around to the writing, but we were very successful at the eating and shopping.

Yokohama is famous for its huge Chinatown, the perfect destination for a delicious lunch. I'm not that familiar with different types of Chinese food, but we picked a Shanghai style restaurant and had a very satisfying meal. We started with stir fried noodles with shrimp and vegetables. It was perfectly salty and noodles had a satisfying chewiness.  

Next we ordered a surprising pork and tofu dish. We picked it based on a picture, and were surprised that it came with little steamed buns to put the mixture inside. Honestly, it didn't really need the buns, but I'm not a steamed bun fan in general. The meat and tofu mixture was curry flavored, which was also unexpected, but not unpleasant.

We finished with an order of enormous shumai. Yokohama is famous for shumai - you can often get them as a souvenir to bring back. They're a type of steamed pork dumpling partially covered in a paper thin wrapper.  The filling is tender, juicy and delicious!

We had our meal with unlimited hot jasmine tea. I don't think I've had any since we were in Hong Kong, and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. The hot floral tea is perfect with greasy salty Chinese food.

After all that eating I got some shopping in. I bought these beautiful plates from a local ceramics company called Yokohama Masuda. 

I love them!

And just for fun, Raku and I took funny photos at a display painted on the windows at Yokohama Station.