Royal T (CLOSED)
By Michael Hepworth
What exactly is the Royal T? Initially I thought that it was a lunchtime JapaneseStyle café for the trendy Culver City lunch crowd, but it turns out that it is a lot more than that. It is now open selected evenings for visits from pop up chefs such as Kenny Yamada, but it is also an art gallery, retail store, sake bar and probably a few other things that I couldn’t fathom out on my very first visit there last week, but certainly not my last.
Open since 2007, The Royal T already has art work and exhibits from well known pop artproponents such as Kenny Scharf, but really hits the big time with the upcoming Andy Warhol exhibition opening this September. Talking of Scharf, make sure you check out his pop art Golf Cart with the 12 year old doughnuts, a real collector’s item if you could afford it. The retail has a host of unusual items including the rare and last of a kind Little Kitty dolls that are highly prized collectors items in Japan and go for about $250.
The lunch menu in fact is a lot more varied and quite comprehensive that attracts the creative crowd in Culver City, and such luminaries as Tim Burton and Jamie Lee Curtis. They and many others have been spotted recently noshing down on such items as the Kobe Beef Sliders and Braised Kurobuta Pork Belly. All served by charming young Japanese waitresses in schoolgirl outfits make this place totally unique.
Other lunchtime menu items include such staples as four types of burgers, grilled ribeye sandwich, tasty sounding salads such as grilled miso chicken, pasta, green tea soba noodles and a plethora of daily specials.
When you think of high tea in Los Angeles you think of a British tea room in Santa Monica or some overpriced extravaganza at a hotel in Beverly Hills or West Hollywood, not a Japanese themed café in Culver City. However afternoon tea ($19.50) here is a lot more reasonable and includes amongst others Chocolate tea, Ruby Red Rooibos and Rooibos Lemonade. There are of course breakfast specialties like Tokyo Breakfast Tea and Megami Sancha, which is made up of green tea leaves from the Kagoshima region of Japan. With your choice of tea you get assorted canapés and desserts on a three tired tray.
Getting back to the pop art sushi nine course tasting dinner I tried by Kenny Yamada, I tried such items as Creamy Miso Soup, a fantastic fried crispy cabbage sprout salad and a superb house made spicy tuna on top of crispy rice. All these delights were accompanied with sparkling sake, another revelation for me and a sake margarita.
The whole evening was rather surreal for me, like something out of a Woody Allen movie, not an experience you get that often in Los Angeles. Best check their web site to see what is going happening on a daily or weekly basis, or just pop by for lunch to get an initial feel about this highly unusual place.
Plenty of street parking available at least earlier in the evening, so impress your friends from out of town with this experience.
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
Neighborhood: Culver City
(310) 559-6300
royal-t.org
What exactly is the Royal T? Initially I thought that it was a lunchtime JapaneseStyle café for the trendy Culver City lunch crowd, but it turns out that it is a lot more than that. It is now open selected evenings for visits from pop up chefs such as Kenny Yamada, but it is also an art gallery, retail store, sake bar and probably a few other things that I couldn’t fathom out on my very first visit there last week, but certainly not my last.
Open since 2007, The Royal T already has art work and exhibits from well known pop artproponents such as Kenny Scharf, but really hits the big time with the upcoming Andy Warhol exhibition opening this September. Talking of Scharf, make sure you check out his pop art Golf Cart with the 12 year old doughnuts, a real collector’s item if you could afford it. The retail has a host of unusual items including the rare and last of a kind Little Kitty dolls that are highly prized collectors items in Japan and go for about $250.
The lunch menu in fact is a lot more varied and quite comprehensive that attracts the creative crowd in Culver City, and such luminaries as Tim Burton and Jamie Lee Curtis. They and many others have been spotted recently noshing down on such items as the Kobe Beef Sliders and Braised Kurobuta Pork Belly. All served by charming young Japanese waitresses in schoolgirl outfits make this place totally unique.
Other lunchtime menu items include such staples as four types of burgers, grilled ribeye sandwich, tasty sounding salads such as grilled miso chicken, pasta, green tea soba noodles and a plethora of daily specials.
When you think of high tea in Los Angeles you think of a British tea room in Santa Monica or some overpriced extravaganza at a hotel in Beverly Hills or West Hollywood, not a Japanese themed café in Culver City. However afternoon tea ($19.50) here is a lot more reasonable and includes amongst others Chocolate tea, Ruby Red Rooibos and Rooibos Lemonade. There are of course breakfast specialties like Tokyo Breakfast Tea and Megami Sancha, which is made up of green tea leaves from the Kagoshima region of Japan. With your choice of tea you get assorted canapés and desserts on a three tired tray.
Getting back to the pop art sushi nine course tasting dinner I tried by Kenny Yamada, I tried such items as Creamy Miso Soup, a fantastic fried crispy cabbage sprout salad and a superb house made spicy tuna on top of crispy rice. All these delights were accompanied with sparkling sake, another revelation for me and a sake margarita.
The whole evening was rather surreal for me, like something out of a Woody Allen movie, not an experience you get that often in Los Angeles. Best check their web site to see what is going happening on a daily or weekly basis, or just pop by for lunch to get an initial feel about this highly unusual place.
Plenty of street parking available at least earlier in the evening, so impress your friends from out of town with this experience.
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
Neighborhood: Culver City
(310) 559-6300
royal-t.org
