The Dish: Review of Hoshi - Santa Clara Weekly

Hoshi occupies the corner lot at the Pruneridge Shopping Center, a spot whose visibility makes up for its tiny size. In place of the plastic food displays common at many Japanese restaurants, Hoshi puts a real sample plate outside their door, wrapped to keep out flies and hungry passerbys.

This cozy café has been offering authentic Japanese lunch for two years. Hoshi’s clientele are mostly Japanese nationals, a good mark of authenticity. Inside you’ll find a modest sushi bar, plus a handful of tables and chairs, set with flowery cloth napkins. Tea comes as soon as you sit. A glossy menu of sakes from various regions of Japan sits at each table.

The lunch menu is simple, though not everything is translated. If asked, servers try their best to explain, though such explanations are limited by their language abilities.

Donburi is simple, and delicious. There are six to choose from, like Katsu Don (pork cutlet rice bowl), and Tekka Don (tuna rice bowl) ($8.95 each). Each bowl comes with two side dishes of your choosing: either of udon, soba, or tonjiru (pork and vegetable miso soup), and a salad or dessert. If you opt for the salad, you get a small bowl of the freshest mixed greens topped by a tiny cherry tomato and dressed with a radish-y vinaigrette. Soba comes in a sweet broth and is sprinkled with finely minced scallions and flecks of tempura crumbs. The Oyako Don was perfect – cubes of chicken set with a just-barely cooked scrambled egg, over the right amount of sushi rice.

If you’ve been put off by the prickly spine bones in unagi, Hoshi’s Una Jyu (eel over rice) might change your mind ($12.50). Una Jyu comes in a laquered box so pretty you might hear yourself exclaim, “for me?” The sweet barbecued eel sits plump and tender on pearls of perfectly cooked short grain rice. Two dense crunchy pickles provide a nice contrast to the fish. Dessert is included with this selection: a bowl of sweet gelatin cubes mixed with fruit cocktail. You get a doll-sized pitcher of maple syrup to pour over your dessert, and a spoon the size of your pinky to scoop it with. The presentation is so lovely that you forget the fruit cocktail probably came from a can.

Hochi also offers the triumvirate of Japanese noodles (udon, soba, ramen) prepared several ways: in curry, with grated yam, with mochi, with tempura, etc. On one visit, I chose the Udon with Tempura and received a steaming bowl of slippery soft noodles accompanied by a poached egg, a few strips of seaweed, and one shrimp tempura ($8.95). The shrimp had been plucked from the fryer just moments before it arrived at the table and was still holding crisp even in the hot broth. Like everything here, it’s Japanese comfort food at its most genuine.