May's Coffee Shop

6/19/13 SOUP AND SALAD FOR BREAKFAST, THAT'S ME After a wonderful night of bachelorette party festivities with the girls, we woke up with our first thought being food. That's pretty much my first thought every day when I wake up. What's for breakfast?! We didn't walk far before finding May's inside the Japantown Mall. It was pretty much the first place we saw, after declining a neighboring crepe store option for lack of savory crepes. Tables are in a common dining area (long bench style dining which was convenient for our large group). You order at a window and they call you to return when it's ready. One friend (at the front of our group) ordered a breakfast meal that looked killer! However, I thought about our next stop (the kabuki springs/spa) and wanted something lighter so I ordered a bowl of noodle soup and a green salad. And a coffee (no free refills) which I filled mostly with the giant Bailey's bottle in my purse. Hair of the breakfast. The salad dressing was awful so I used srriracha hot sauce. The salad itself was very fresh. The soup was great. Just what I needed. I drank the broth, ate a couple fish cakes, and left the noodles behind. Before leaving, the girl who had taken my order happily gave me some ice for my reusable water bottle when I asked, even though she looked a little busy. My total was $12.86 - cash only

You have try their Taiyaki which is a fish shaped pancake with three types of fillings, sweet black bean, chocolate and also banana. They have many types of Japanese street food (no sushi - but you have that anywhere). They also serve continental breakfast and if you really want to have meal then try their chicken teriyaki. This restaurant is inside the JapanTown mall and it is really one the hidden gems of San Francisco JapanTown.

I was lured to this little coffee shop when someone mentioned Spam within earshot. As any self respecting Hapa knows...Spamliness is next to Godliness so I caught the scent and bolted to May's Coffee Shop. This mall at Japan town has always been problematic aesthetically for me. On every corner one is pretending to be somewhere you are obviously not....like in Japan. So the pseudo 'outdoor' picnic setting that faces May's counter is more akin to being in an underground sanctuary avoiding nuclear fallout than actually cavorting in an open field. Still, the charmless surroundings are not what drew me here. I approached the counter and was quite excited to see all sorts of meat things. My two friends ordered vegetarian omelettes which I thought was retarded - when so much corn beef and chicken is begging for parole how can you deny them? I ordered the Loco Moco - a mainstay of any unhealthy diet - and I have to say I was quickly disappointed. The plate actually looked anemic. The meat patty was tough, the egg not fried enough and the gravy was distinctly pale and alien. I've had a lotta Loco Moco in my day and this wasn't up to snuff. My veggie friends are big eaters and they left food on their plates. In addition they added so much hot sauce to their meals that the original plates must have been spice free. I will probably try this place again and go for something that has been definitively fried and looks it. I think this is a good place to lap up food when you're sorta drunk. Not that I'm that kind of guy.....

This small coffee show is a great place to relax. It's not as crazy busy since the shop is in the back and people don't always find their way back here. The seat is "outdoors" kind of since it's in an indoor shopping center, but the seating is sectioned off. Usually I'll come here for a cup of coffee in the middle of festival craziness.