SF Peninsula: Takahashi Market

For AG's birthday, we let him plan a whole day for himself.  In hindsight, we probably should've planned it for him and saved ourselves a lot of frustration, but it was his day, so we had to grin and bear it.  Let's just say AG isn't the best at planning ahead.  (If you're reading this, AG, you know it's true!)

Anyway, AG's grand plan consisted of gathering goodies from a few places and then hanging out at the beach.  We started off at Takahashi Market:
 

Even though we arrived before they opened, there was already a long (socially distanced) line.  Due to COVID-19 restrictions on capacity, we couldn't all go inside.  Abby and UK went in as our representatives and grabbed what they could find.

After another stop at Cafe de Casa and yet another at Starbread Bakery, we headed to the beach to enjoy our spoils...and to celebrate AG of course.

Takahashi might be a little Japanese-Hawaiian grocery store, but they're most well known for their musubi.  Because of the pandemic, the musubi are no longer made to order.  Instead, they come in wrapped 7 inch logs that you have to snatch before they sell out:

Each musubi is cut in half for you:

There were a lot of different musubi to choose from, but we got the unagi ($12.95), the spam ($4.95), and the salmon belly ($10.95):

Abby and UK also picked up some ahi poke ($6 for 4 oz):

I actually wasn't a huge fan of the poke (I was hoping for something a bit brighter tasting), but I loved the musubi.  So when the opportunity to drop by Takahashi Market again arose, I seized it.  This time, I was able to go inside myself along with T.

We made a beeline for the musubi table once we entered through the door:

We went a bit later in the morning, so options were more limited, but we did find salmon and crawfish ($11.95):

We also tried kalua pork and cabbage ($9.95):

Mochiko chicken ($9.95):

And kalbi ($9.95):

Of all the musubi I've tried from Takahashi, my favorites are the salmon belly and the spam.  Sometimes simple is best, you know?

The prices of the musubi may seem a bit steep for the amount of food you're getting, but they're filling and it's a nice treat from time to time.  If you really want to make sure you get the musubi you want, you can pre-order at least two days in advance.  Besides musubi, Takahashi also offers hot food.  Because of the pandemic, the options are a bit more limited than usual and you can only order them walk-in.  

Family-owned and operated since it opened in 1906, Takahashi is exactly the kind of small business that deserves our support.  So show them some love and drop by!  (Just make sure to go early to score the musubi you want.)

Takahashi Market

221 S Claremont St

San Mateo, CA 94401

(650) 343-0394

https://takahashimarket.com/