Porter Square Food Court

(Originally posted 4/8/06)

This afternoon I had lunch at Tampopo, a tiny Japanese restaurant in Porter Square, Cambridge. Located in the old Sears building, this tiny shopping area has an Asian food court, a few Japanese related stores and a few other businesses. In the food court, there are 7 restaurants. The largest, the Blue Fin, is a decent sized place. The others are small holes in the wall.

Tampopo sells a diverse selection of Japanese dishes, from katsu to tempura. I had a Soboro egg bowl, which is minced beef, with egg over rice. It usually includes veggies too but I had it without them. It is a good sized bowl, very tasty and filling. In addition, we had fried shrimp shumai and a side of chicken kara age, basically a Japanese version of chicken nuggets but very delicious. This is my favorite restaurant within the food court. It is tiny, with only 4 tables and about 5 chairs set at a bar. It is also very cheap. For $25 two people can eat a ton of food.

This shopping area also has a Japanese/French bakery that sells a superb shoku pan, sliced white bread that is thick, fresh and delicious. It makes great French toast. The bakery serves many other delicious pastries as well.

Porter Square Food Court
Intersection of Somerville Ave and Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA