Obasan

As long as the Experience Music Project has been around since 2000, I've made it a point to visit whenever I was in Seattle.  Fast forward 18 years and the place has already changed names a few times and now is known as the Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP.  With the Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes exhibit there until March 3rd, 2019, we decided this was as good of a time to go.  However, with anything in this blog, food is most important.  So we had to eat prior to going in!  We decided on casual Japanese and conveniently enough, Obasan was in the neighbourhood.

My son went for something simple in the Sake Don.  If I had to directly compare, this was a bit smaller in terms of the amount of salmon than the one found at Fremont Bowl.  However, there was much more rice (although you can refill at Fremont Bowl).  Fish quality was quite good being buttery and fresh-tasting.  Loved the amount of furikake underneath the fish and the small amount of wasabi.  Good flavours and chewy rice.  All around good bowl.  My daughter ordered the Chicken Yakisoba and we were all a bit surprised as to the portion size.  It was humungous!  Not sure why there was a scoop of rice on the side, but she ate some of it.  We found the noodles to be a bit clumpy and dry, but I guess the lack of oil made it healthier.  The dish was rather bland though, in need of both salt and tang.  There was a decent amount of tender chicken and plenty of veggies.  Interestingly, there was sundried tomato too which added some kick.

For myself, I had the Chicken Teriyaki Bento Box which also included tempura, salad, rice, gyoza and California roll.  Without the skin, the thin slices of chicken were a touch dry and lacking aroma, but there was more than enough sweet sauce to help counteract both issues.  I thought the tempura was excellent with a crispy thin coating that wasn't greasy.  Not sure if I really liked the gyoza as they were the steamed variety (without a crunchy sear).  However, the dumpling skin was thin and the filling was tender.  Viv went for the Chicken Katsu Teishoku served with rice and salad.  Also featuring thin slices of chicken, the katsu was really crunchy, but lacking in meat texture.  There was plenty of it, so she was pretty full in the end.  Overall, Obasan did the job for our lunch with decent eats.  Prices are on the higher end though.

The Good:
- Carefully prepared food
- Friendly people
- Decent portions

The Bad:
- Slightly hit and miss