Miku Restaurant

Miku Restaurant
1055 W Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Sometime last year, I received an email from a person (to left unnamed) identifying herself as a person related to Miku Restaurant. According to the email, part of the reason I was sent the email was because I have blogged about a lot of restaurants in the Downtown area and there was an interest for me to write about them. As you know, I seldom accept such invitations and, when I actually go to the restaurant, I don’t identify myself. Of course, carrying a big camera does not help and you can easily be spotted. However, because of the Olympics, half the town might be tourist and, as a result, I was able to sneak past a lot of these checks. Seeing this opportunity, I checked with my friend PR if she would be interested in lunch. And to Miku we went…

Once you past their doors, it is quite obvious this is not your usual Japanese restaurant. Here, you have high ceilings, modern decoration and open kitchen. Because I did not make reservations, I was guided to the bar where one of the itamae was preparing sushi and, during part of the meal, he was taking care of us as well. Japanese hospitality at its best? Of course, with an open kitchen and seated in the bar, that means also we were able to watch the chefs at work… (Though, also, as a side effect, it was quite noisy).

However, we were not there to watch them work so it was time to shuffle what to order. Unlike previous instances, I was busy at work so I did not have time to check their menu on-line. I vaguely remember their lunch box sounded like quite a deal; however, PR called for that one first and that left me scrambling to see what else to order. Since the main intent was to check their aburi sushi, i.e., flame seared sushi, I had to exactly that. But first, an appetizer:

Click on the picture above for a larger version.

Kaisen Natto – Japanese fermented soybeans & assorted seafood. I will admit, I don’t recall ever having natto; however, I was thinking that it couldn’t be any worse than fermented bean curd. Furthermore, unlike many women I know, PR likes “interesting” dishes like this so, hey, why not! I did not have any hesitation in my first bite (c’mon, how bad this can be?) and in the end… Well, unless they really toned it down, it was just some mushy sticky soy bean. In the initial bite, it had some flavour similar to that of roasted coffee but that went away really soon. And, then, there is the seafood. I thought it was quite an odd combination and I don’t believe it worked. It is just that the natto itself would have killed most of the taste of most seafood (not to mention the wasabi dab it was on a side of the bowl). In the end, I won’t say I dislike it but it did not wow me either.

Click on the picture above for a larger version.

Miku zen – a selection of seasonal items chosen by our traditionally trained Chef’s: 4 items from our kitchen, 4 items from our sushi bar & miso shiru. Above the kitchen component of the lunch box, starting from the top left, clockwise: salad, which includes tofu and organic greens; albacore tuna; a vegetable/stew dish (?); and nanban chicken. The tofu salad had an interesting miso-like dressing but, otherwise, it was almost your regular organic greens salad. The albacore tuna tataki was the real winner here: the pieces of cooked onion on top provided an additional layer of sweetness to the tasty fish. I think I could have easily eaten a couple of additional orders of that! The vegetable stew (?) was OK, not much to talk about. And the high expectations but resulted in a flop component here was the nanban chicken. The problem was the creamy sauce on the top which killed any crispiness the chicken had (assuming it had any to begin with). Now, as is, the dish is advertised as “tartar sauce” but I did not detect any hint of it being a mayo or had any acidity in it. As mentioned, it was more of a cream sauce. Had it been served at the bottom or as a side, it might have worked better for me.

Before continuing to the sushi part of the Miku zen, some pictures of what they do…

So, yes, they literally torch the top of the sushi and use a piece of charcoal to impart some of that taste to it. Now, I did not see that well but… What are the chances that is kishu binchotan??? But, back to the food…

Now, the sushi part of the lunch box, the aburi sushi. And, below, what I ordered: Traditional Sushi Select: Chef’s selection of nigiri sushi & hoso maki (9 pieces).

Click on the picture above for a larger version.

Now, back to business… When we both took a bite of the sushi, we thought “this is quite creamy”. That thought turned into “this does not taste like fish…”. After going back and forth, we then looked at pieces itself and then at the itamae‘s prep area… If you look closely, the neta/topping part of the sushi is quite “thin” and then there is the top part which looked almost like fat. That is when we realized the top part, which gave that creamy taste, wasn’t part of the fish itself but a sauce they put on top before searing it. Now, this does not happen only with the salmon one – it happened to all pieces except one, though the amount of sauce was different depending on the neta. Regardless, that created two issues that both PR and I agreed: was it on purpose the neta was to fit exactly the top/barely cover the top of the shari (vinegared rice)? Was it also on purpose the sauce had such overpowering taste that you could barely taste whatever was beneath it?

Now, don’t get me wrong, that sauce had an interesting taste – initially; however, after eating a second piece, I was wondering if that was really necessary. I mean, one thing is to try to complement the dish, another is to override whatever taste it could have. If it wasn’t because of the texture of the different neta, I would have to say, you could have make it all salmon and, for the most part, you could have said it is any type of fish.

While the Miku zen seems like a deal, in the end, I wasn’t really impressed by their aburi sushi. So that brings the question: would I come back? Short answer would be no, mainly because their main selling point does not work for me. There is a slim chance I might come back for their regular sushi but not anytime soon.

Tagged under: Downtown • Japanese • Sushi • Vancouver