ARE WE IN JAPAN? NO, JUST HAVING DINNER AT THE PORTER EXCHANGE

So last night, Arti and I decided to get dinner. She requested something cheap, and since she's rather new to Boston, I decided to take her to the Porter Exchange. Now, for those who have never been, the Porter Exchange is like Boston's version of little Tokyo all in one building. there are all these little stalls of various Japanese resturants (i think like 6-8) and they're all super casual and super cheap. Plus there's a cool japanese market where i like to pick up fresh fish and rice balls.

A perennial favorite of everyone is Cafe Mami. And that's where Arti and I chose to go. But i'll get back to that in a second. Now, the cool thing about the porter exchange is that you have other choices too. so if you're in the mood for ramen, you have 2 ramen houses to choose from. and if you want eat sushi, there's a sushi bar. you get the idea. the only thing that's missing is a yakitori bar, boston could use one of those, btw.

ok. so at Cafe Mami, we're talking about super casual. there are just 2 folding tables with some seats scattered about and a couple of stools at a small bar. the kitchen is tiny and there's only one waitress. but it works. be prepared to share a table. perhaps with students (cause lesley university is housed in the same building, so you'll see lots of them) or with lots of japanese ppl. the porter exchange is where you'll see the greatest gathering of japanese ppl anywhere in boston. honestly. i took a good friend there once (who happened to be japanese) and she was like, i never knew there were so many japanese ppl in boston. but hey, that's one of the best signs of a good restaurant.

onto the food. the funny thing with all the restaurants in the porter exchange is that they all like to put little pictures of all the food on the menu. or on boards in front. so if you don't know what something will look like, that can help you pick. Cafe mami is really good at having set courses. so i ordered the chicken tasuta set (which is basically japanese fried chicken) and that came with rice, a salad, a little potato and a miso soup. arti got the chicken tatsuta curry. basically the same thing as mine, but with curry and she got a fried egg on top.

here's the miso soup. i found it kinda salty.


here's my dinner

and here's arti's dinner

my food was great and i think arti really enjoyed hers too. mine had 4 big pieces of fried chicken. i found the dressing on the salad kinda oily, but i was eating fried chicken so whatever. also, the fried chicken came with a little side of mayo and hot sauce. i don't normally eat mayo, but for some reason, it worked really well with the fried chicken. much better than the chicken tatsuta that i had at blue fin the previous week (also in the same complex) and all this food cost me a whole $8! with tax and tip, my dinner was $10. and i couldn't even finish it all. i had to end up taking half of it home, as did arti. arti also really liked the red pickles that came with her curry, but it sucked that they charged her an extra $1 when she asked for more. that was kinda lame. in conclusion, definetly check out the porter exchange for good, cheap japanese food that won't leave you diappointed or broke (as many of the ones in boston tend to do). and if you like it, you can make your way through the entire food court, trying out each place and picking your own favorite.