1) Kings Hawaiian - The Local Place
We began our journey at Kings Hawaiian - The Local Place, the smaller outpost adjacent to the ginormous bakery and restaurant. This is the same maker of the delicious Hawaiian rolls you see in the markets and their cafe (and restaurant) are filled with delicious baked goods and island inspired dishes. As this was only the first stop of our multi-multi establishment tour, we decided to share a few items.
French Toast (make from Hawaiian bread)
Breakfast Sandwich - Spam, Egg and Cheese
Breakfast Sandwich - Portuguese Sausage, Egg and Cheese - my fave, the sausage reminds me of those polish sausages, in which I think I could consume in less than recommended servings. Perfectly complimented with sweet Hawaiian bread.
Kings Hawaiian - the Local Place
Torrance, CA 90504
The delicious variety of old school Asian bakeries, where you grab baked foods with tongs to your cafeteria tray, keeping up with the times by adding boba and their famous sea salt coffee.
Can't grab them all, can I?
Sea Salt Tea and Sea Salt Coffee, served cold. Got the coffee myself, which was yummy, but tasted the tea and may have to venture that direction next time. 
85°C Bakery Cafe
Torrance, CA 90501
Not originally on our food tour itinerary, we walked past this little hole in the wall between Mitsuwa and 85C. We were entrapped by the menu offerings and picked up an order of Island Fried Chicken (unavailable earlier from Kings). The chicken is super juicy and the skin is crispy with more than a hint of sweetness, but not cloyingly so. Great as a sharing snack.
Back Home
Torrance, CA 90501
Sometimes the best gems are hole in the wall ethnic restaurants hidden in non-descript strip malls in your neighborhood. These places are only discovered by word of mouth, which makes eating in the age of Yelp! so great. 4.5 Stars and earning every bit of those accolades, they are known for a mouth-watering weekend brunch (only $13.99), but as we were in mid-food tour, we decided to share a couple of plates.
Papas Rellenas - Stuffed potato ball with ground beef and onion stuffing
Lechon Asado - marinated slow roasted pork and hand-pulled pork with mojo sauce. The pork was marinated in the most delicious onion, lemony, garlic sauce, which, when combined with the black beans, rice and plantains, made for the perfect cuban bite. If I were having a full meal at Habana, this would definitely be my pick.
Habana Vieja Cuban Cuisine & Cafe
1648 W Carson St Ste B
Torrance, CA 90501
1648 W Carson St Ste B
Torrance, CA 90501
Another hole in the wall gem in old Torrance, we stopped by for our requisite noodle tasting. We opted for soba, as ramen runs rampant back in our hoods. The restaurant offers about a couple dozen options which you can order with either soba or udon. We shared on bowl of the most popular Tanuki Ramen, a simple bowl of soba with Tempura flakes.
Savory broth with delicious soba and tempura flakes.
Ichimi Ann Bamboo Garden
618 Cravens Ave
Torrance, CA 90501
Torrance, CA 90501
There's a smattering of these Mitsuwa markets, the mecca for produce, condiments, and prepared foods, with an enclosed food court, but the Torrance location was the best one I've visited so far. The food court included a mass of delicious permanent stalls, along with pop up stalls from their "Hawaiian Fair" (poke, masubi, saimen, etc), topped off by what appeared like a luxury baked goods boutique, with cookies, mochi and cakes that seemed more like works of edible art than present for sustenance. This is a great place to stock up on gifts for your snooty foodie friends.
We didn't have enough stomach space to eat through the food court, but window shopped and bought a few takeaways from the enclosed Mochi Cream.
Mitsuwa Marketplace
21515 S. Western Avenue
Torrance, CA 90501
Torrance, CA 90501
The enclosed Mochi boutique inside the Torrance Mitsuwa location offers seemingly the Japanese version of the french macaron. For those unfamiliar, mochi is a rice cake made from glutinous rice flour, formed into a variety of shapes and flavors. Pricy, but subtly sweet delicacies, they make a sweet little souvenir.
Mochido - the donut shaped mochi, hence the name. Got the banana chocolate, which was a perfect little treat.
The traditional round mochi, with so many delicious options. Tough to choose! Settled on Double Mango, Honey Cranberry, Caramel Pudding and Blueberry Yogurt.
As seen on Food TV reads the sign on the window, this small corner Argentine market and deli is known for it's empanadas and imported products. We grabbed some frozen empanadas to go, along with some alfajore confections. These will make a great quick and lazy dinner.
Continental Gourmet Market
25600 Narbonne Ave
Lomita, CA 90717
9) Kotosh
The tagline on this restaurant, another non-descript hole in the wall, is Peruvian Food & Sushi, but you can remove your fears about poorly conceived fusion concepts. This place is pretty legit. The menu covers the standard variety of traditional Peruvian dishes, traditional and specialty sushi items, and some that brilliantly crossover both ethnicities. Recommended by my coworker who had previously visited, I took the Tallarin Verde: Spaghetti with spinach cheese, and basil sauce, served with Chicken Katsu. The crispy texture of the katsu chicken adds a good contrast to the flavorful pesto spaghetti. Delicious in itself, accompanied by request by green crack sauce that took it to another level. I don't know what's in it, but I'm regretting not requesting a bucket of it. Definitely on the return list!
Kotosh
2408 Lomita Blvd
Lomita, CA 90717
MAP OF TORRANCE FOOD TOUR
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