The Matsuri festival is an annual festival held at the Japanese Cultural Institute in Gardena, California. It’s a festival that celebrates Japanese culture and heritage and brings the community together for fellowship, friendship and good food.

The year’s festival was a lot of fun and offered some of the tastiest cuisine ever.

The Yakisoba booth was right up front and made for quite a welcoming booth for those entering the festival. Not only did the delicious aroma of the Japanese noodles attract visitors; so did the loud chants and songs of the vendors at the booth.

The Chicken teriyaki booth was one of the most sought after booths of the festival. Their chicken baos were fabulous and a tasty and true hit!

Spam musubi is always a favorite dish in Japanese and Hawaiian culture. I saw a lot of folks buying the snack and I too could not resist purchasing some of the authentic Hawaiian treat that they offered.

There were also lots of sweet desserts for folks. Aside from shaved ice, they also had taiyaki, imagawayaki and Okinawan andagi! Imagawayaki flavors included an and blueberry. I loved how fresh and hot the imagawayaki and andagi were. The sweet deep fried andagi buns were delicious!

I loved coming to the Matsuri festival this weekend. It was an awesome time having a foodie trip around Japan right here in Gardena, California.