Let me be very upfront, I'm not a fan of Michael Mina restaurants. I actually really like his lobster pot pie, but that ridiculous price tag just does not warrant a second try. Everything else is just so so or not good. Sadly we live in the building above one of his restaurants RN74 and I would say avoid it if possible.
His Japanese restaurants at 101 California, Pabu (izakaya) and Ramen Bar ('nuff said) just opened earlier this week. We managed to get a reservation at Pabu on the official opening night, so that was kind of exciting. Off we went.
Here is what we ordered and my takes:
1) Happy Spoon - uni, ikura, tobiko, ponzu crème fraîche. Decadent and heart-attack worthy, loved it, ingredients were good, combination was great.
2) Yuzu Kanpachi - yuzukosho ponzu, pine nuts, fried shallots. Not bad, didn't taste the yuzu too much though.
3) Robatayaki - we got meatballs, chicken tail and pork belly. The table loved the meatballs, not me though. The rest were so so.
4) Shabu shabu Japanese A5 beef - miyazaki prefecture, enoki, mizuna, ponzu. At $32/oz, and we ordered 3oz, we got 6 small pieces of beef wrapped enoki. It was good, not phenomenal, but for the price tag, I'd rather go to Nijiya and get my own beef and wrap it myself and create a shabu pot. This was a total bust. The shabu broth was not very flavourful, some of the ingredients were unique but by no means spectacular, and the pot itself was just cumbersome and felt like it was going to fall off the burner. I give this a negative 10 out of 10 for poor value, annoying, and lack of fabulousness. We did get a bowl of noodles in broth with the ponzu and peanut shabu sauce doused in it and that was delicious. But that probably cost the kitchen all of $2 max.
5) Negitoro roll - bluefin fatty tuna, scallion. Waste of money, not that great.
6) Crispy flounder - gomoku gohan, ponzu, lemon. Kind of tempura style with shaved daikon provided for the dipping sauce. Didn't think the breading was particularly yummy, but at least it wasn't a thick gross coat of it. Nicely battered and fried and with the sauce it was OK.
We passed on dessert for lack of innovation or excitement.
Overall will say Michael Mina to me is still a bust. Food was good, but not special, and the price tag is largely due to is big famous name.
I had blazed through probably the past 5 reviews so I could write this one on time, coz I was actually rather excited about a Michael Mina Japanese restaurant, so that was good motivation, but I'm sad I could not give a happier review.
His Japanese restaurants at 101 California, Pabu (izakaya) and Ramen Bar ('nuff said) just opened earlier this week. We managed to get a reservation at Pabu on the official opening night, so that was kind of exciting. Off we went.
Here is what we ordered and my takes:
1) Happy Spoon - uni, ikura, tobiko, ponzu crème fraîche. Decadent and heart-attack worthy, loved it, ingredients were good, combination was great.
2) Yuzu Kanpachi - yuzukosho ponzu, pine nuts, fried shallots. Not bad, didn't taste the yuzu too much though.
3) Robatayaki - we got meatballs, chicken tail and pork belly. The table loved the meatballs, not me though. The rest were so so.
4) Shabu shabu Japanese A5 beef - miyazaki prefecture, enoki, mizuna, ponzu. At $32/oz, and we ordered 3oz, we got 6 small pieces of beef wrapped enoki. It was good, not phenomenal, but for the price tag, I'd rather go to Nijiya and get my own beef and wrap it myself and create a shabu pot. This was a total bust. The shabu broth was not very flavourful, some of the ingredients were unique but by no means spectacular, and the pot itself was just cumbersome and felt like it was going to fall off the burner. I give this a negative 10 out of 10 for poor value, annoying, and lack of fabulousness. We did get a bowl of noodles in broth with the ponzu and peanut shabu sauce doused in it and that was delicious. But that probably cost the kitchen all of $2 max.
5) Negitoro roll - bluefin fatty tuna, scallion. Waste of money, not that great.
6) Crispy flounder - gomoku gohan, ponzu, lemon. Kind of tempura style with shaved daikon provided for the dipping sauce. Didn't think the breading was particularly yummy, but at least it wasn't a thick gross coat of it. Nicely battered and fried and with the sauce it was OK.
We passed on dessert for lack of innovation or excitement.
Overall will say Michael Mina to me is still a bust. Food was good, but not special, and the price tag is largely due to is big famous name.
I had blazed through probably the past 5 reviews so I could write this one on time, coz I was actually rather excited about a Michael Mina Japanese restaurant, so that was good motivation, but I'm sad I could not give a happier review.
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