Eat at the food court? What?

Food court at a mall could be good... well, a food court in Japan that is! Our last few hours in Yokohama before making a long trek to the airport over in the Chiba/Tokyo area. Food courts in Japan (most eateries in general) really kick it up a notch in terms of freshness and quality.




As usual I didn't eat at McDonald's but they did have an interesting item on their "dollar" menu that day. Shaka Shaka Chicken! Shaka Shaka What? Are they making fun of me?
I'm sure they weren't making fun. So anyway, let's get down to it. We were starved, it was about 11am, but we chose carefully. This ramen guy had his booth filled up quick with patrons right when he opened, so it was a good sign.
I had his special ramen and gyoza (potsticker) combo and as I had guessed, it was good. The soup was real tasty and the noodles weren't too soft. This isn't Top Ramen. This was the good shit, holmes:


Next door was this noodle and tempura joint. You start with choosing from two types of noodles. Thick udon noodles or regular soba (buckwheat) noodles. You could also get the noodles with hot or cold broth. I went with cold. Next, you pick out what type of freshly flash-fried tempura'd items you want:

This kid below was real cool, helping me out with the process of ordering. I may speak the Japanese language pretty well but I nearly fail at reading/writing, so I had a hard time with the signage.




The musubis looked good but I rarely get rice balls made elsewhere, since I've been told I'm the Musubi King and all.
So my ol'lady (you know that's biker talk, BRO!) had the udon noodles with cold dipping broth. Tempura items chosen were the fried veggies, sweet potato, shrimp and those skewered chicken pieces. Sesame seeds, wasabi and green onions go into the dippin' cup.
Oh, you think we were done? HA. We weren't done! This was our last meal in Yokohama! We had to go for broke! The Convetor belt sushi place was next door and the ol'lady HAD to get a few pieces of fish before we bailed the country. The sushi chefs were courteous and very helpful to us hungry Americans:



It was mopped up quick:

They were busy. Crazy lunch crowd. They all wanted sushi and sashimi. Even for conveyor belt sushi, she said it wasn't bad at all.
It ain't a big lunch until you have dessert for lunch. I couldn't believe my fucking eyes at this point - Leonard's Malasadas!!! Malasadas, a hole-less doughnut -like pastry from Portugal, is very popular in Hawaii. Leonard's is a small Hawaii chain that usually operates out of truck, rotating to various supermarket parking lots all over the island of Oahu.
I shit you not the malasadas were almost too good. It had to be since we were in Japan! Every single one was puffed up perfect. Thinly cripsy on the outside, light and fluffy inside like fresh brioche or a croissant (but not nearly as buttery). The entire pastry is then covered in sugar. Malasadas can only be eaten fresh, so it's ALWAYS made to order. There's always a line for it wherever you go. The only place I can get malasadas here in Southern CA is Hawaii Expos and Aloha Fairs, about twice a year.
They came hot and fresh in a box. In Hawaii they just usually throw them into a plastic bag. Good times, good food. See you again, Yokohama.