My friend and I stumbled upon Sakura at 1038 Race St. during our last adventure in Chinatown. Sakura is a apparently chain restaurant in Shanghai, so we decided to try it out. We were pleasantly surprised. Sakura serves a blend of Chinese and Japanese cuisine. They're definitely more upscale compared to typical "whole-in-the-wall" establishments. The interior is pretty classy, and the overall ambience is tranquil but lively at the same time. The food was excellent and very fresh. I personally found the Chinese food more authentic than typical takeout places. We ordered an order of spicy wontons and juicy pork buns as appetizers (that could easily pass for a meal). At $4.95, the soup dumplings are definitely pricier than other places, but I have yet to find better soup dumplings elsewhere in Chinatown. The spicy wontons were covered in a sesame sauce, which was different but tasty. My friend went for the mapo tofu, and I went for the bento box, which came with a salad with ginger dressing that had bits of fresh mango it in. I wanted to bottle that dressing and bring it home. Overall, Sakuza was worth the trip. I'll have to go back sometime and get more soup dumplings.
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"Sakura" means "cherry blossom" in Japanese. You can see the word in the first two Chinese characters in the sign. The food sounds delish.
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