DINING OUT -- Mary Furr

Christmas shopping can be an adventure when you do it at MacDonald’s

Plaza at Brookhurst Street and Garfield Avenue.

This corner of Fountain Valley is like a shop-lined street in Tokyo, with

a kimono shop filled with lovely fabrics, a grocery and an Asian market.

But best of all, you can drop into Shimura Japanese Restaurant, with its

cool interior of light wood panels, booths and tables, and a sushi bar at

the rear.

Waitresses bring small salad cups of sliced white cucumbers and tiny crab

bits in mild, sweet vinegar to your table.

A saucer of cabbage and carrots has a surprising bite of ginger. Heavy

ceramic tumblers are filled with hot tea.

A bowl of steaming miso, a fermented soybean soup with cubes of bean curd

tofu and dark green seaweed, comes first.

It’s a “sipping” soup, so pick up the bowl and sip. The fragrant steam

enhances the taste.

For an extra treat, select one of the 16 appetizers ($3.50 to $8.50).

There’s abalone, soft-shell crab, oysters, mussels, California roll or my

favorite, gyoza (six for $3.50), the Japanese version of a “pot sticker.”

A half-moon shaped dumpling is filled with minced pork and cabbage,

sealed, steamed and then served with a pungent, dark soy sauce flavored

with saki and a hint of ginger.

A good introduction to Japanese food, according to our informative server

Ritsuko, is one of the combinations ($5.50 to $7) served in feathered

tempura shrimp and vegetables, with iceberg lettuce salad, a grilled

slice of firm but tender salmon and three delicious fried scallops. It’s

a variety of preparation and texture.

A similar bento ($6.95), has kara-age, a garlicky, lightly dipped (not

battered) fried chicken, with tender strips of dark beef teriyaki glazed

with a sweet sauce of soy and rice wine. A bowl of excellent sticky rice

completes the combo.

These picture-perfect bento trays bear the Japanese stamp of attention to

detail, an eye for beauty and a taste for healthy, well-prepared food in

a minimum of oil.

The 13-year-old Shimura restaurant is owned by Nao Takahashi, who, in a

starched white jacket and pillbox hat, commands the popular sushi bar, a

magnet for diners, especially at lunch when it fills quickly.

So, take a break at Shimura and the finish your Christmas list in the

shops of this unusual plaza.

Shimura Japanese Restaurant

Where: 18906 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley.

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday to Friday.

Dinner: 5 to 10 p.m. daily.

Closed Monday.

Phone: (714) 964-8840.

MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have comments or

suggestions for her, call (562) 493-5062.