The cool thing about starting a new job in a new neighborhood is that you get to explore and learn where all the good places to eat are. Whether you’re eating by yourself, with friends or with coworkers, there are always new places to discover. I recently discovered Hanamizuki, which sells Japanese rice balls. It’s right smack in the middle of wholesale clothing and jewelry stores so it’s easy to miss if you’re not looking!

They do an Omusbi Plate combo for $9.50 and you get your choice of 2 rice balls and miso soup combined with their appetizer of the day and Japanese pickles. There are 8 rice ball choices and 4 miso soup choices – all of them sound super delicious!

I went with the Hawaiian, which had spam, dried tomato, chili and nori – seaweed, and the Sweet Potato, which had Japanese sweet potato, hijiki-seaweed, deep fried tofu and black sesame. For my miso soup, I went with the Gnocchi, which had tofu-gnocchi, arugula, black peppers and extra-virgin olive oil.

I really liked the miso soup – the gnocchi was very moist and chewy. The arugula was also made the soup very fresh and light. The rice balls were a bit on the small side but they’re pretty filling once you get through eating both of them! I thought the Hawaiian wasn’t as good as some other spam musubis I’ve had but it was pretty tasty. I really liked the Sweet Potato rice ball because it was sweet and salty at the same time.

The workers were very friendly and I hear the desserts are coming in soon so that’s definitely something to look forward to. They also serve Columbe coffee!