On a recent Friday afternoon, about 15 people lined up in front of a green storefront on 20th Street, ready to enjoy the Mission’s latest novelty: Tadaima, a new Japanese spot serving up sandwiches with soft, crustless bread, onigiri hugged by seaweed and matcha and hojicha drinks with salted cheese cream.
Tadaima is just the newest in an array of Japanese-style sandwich shops across San Francisco: There’s Stonemill Matcha a few blocks away, on Valencia Street; Bread N’ Chu in the Richmond District; and Cafe Okawari, near the CalTrain station.
All of them are popular. Stonemill Matcha’s closure last August attracted so many people that it ended up reopening three months later.
Tadaima, which opened in late July at 3515 20th St. between Mission and Valencia, is in its soft opening phase; its grand opening will be Sept. 6.
But it’s already drawing crowds.
The small interior was packed as a line snaked outside the door. One woman in line relayed the menu to a friend on the phone, while a couple also waiting had biked down from Bernal Heights to get a quick work/pre-pilates lunch. One woman had driven from South San Francisco just to try the new spot.
“It’s fancier,” said Kara Yu, who had returned from an East Asia trip, where she and her husband had plenty of sandos — the name of Japanese white-bread sandwiches. “Isn’t this the weird sushi place before? But, yeah, great lunch spot!”
The lunch-hour line moved quickly: Customers waited about 10 to 15 minutes to place an order and another 10 minutes to receive their food.
It was a pleasant surprise for Janet Lee, one of the four co-owners of the cafe, all of whom also run their sister restaurant, Okaeri, next door. In Japanese, “Tadaima” means “I’m home” and “Okaeri” means “Welcome home.”
The lease for Okaeri included both spaces, so at the beginning of this year, the owners decided to do something different with the extra room. Lee originally considered opening a sake bar with small bites, but decided against it because she and the staff did not feel safe working in the Mission late at night.
So, they chose daytime fare: Light, dainty sandwiches with pillowy white bread slices, untoasted and with their crusts cut off. Unlike a torta, banh mi or classic deli-style sandwich, where the crunchiness of the bread is key, those from Tadaima are soft.
The loaves come from a bakery in the Inner Sunset, the name of which the owner preferred to keep a secret.
Their fillings are savory or sweet: Chicken filet karage, at $16 apiece, is the most popular; the cafe sells about 140 of those every day, Lee said. Shrimp tempura is the most expensive item on the menu at $18, but also one that the owners put in the most work. “It’s supposed to be the one,” Lee exclaimed.
Sweet sandwiches come in three flavors: strawberry and cream; red bean, mochi and matcha cream; and banana, nutella and chocolate cream. Tadaima also serves musubis and onigiris, triangular rice balls with fillings like chicken curry or yuzu salmon.
Lee attributed the popularity of Tadaima to the social media attention it receives. Indeed, all the customers Mission Local talked to said they saw the new spot from Instagram or TikTok.
A video, published just a day after Tadaima’s opening by Tony Nguyen, a food influencer with 9,000 followers who dines around San Francisco and advertises his favorite spots, received 166,000 views. “All of these sandos are 10 out of 10 for me,” Nguyen said.
Tadaima is located at 3515 20th St. It opens on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Our neighborhood has become a destination for top Japanese fare. Best Mexican, Central American and Japanese food in the city.
“Lee originally considered opening a sake bar with small bites, but decided against it because she and the staff did not feel safe working in the Mission late at night.”
Sad but probably true. 20th Street there was always the boundary between the turf of two street gangs. And ground zero for the Capp Street working girls.