Miku: Valentine’s Day 2019

This year for Valentine’s Day we decided to go to Miku and try their special Valentine’s Day Kaiseki. Kaisaki is a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. This means it’s not just sushi, but also other Japanese small plates as part of your courses.

Miku’s Valentine’s Day menu is only available on February 14 (a Thursday) and only at dinner time (5:00 pm onwards). We booked early online before their Valentine’s Day menu was even released and still was only able to get a 5:45 pm time slot. Optimal dinner times were taken with the next availability at 8 or 9 pm.

Of course, on Valentine’s Day it starts snowing in Vancouver. With the snow, traffic, and trying to find parking, we didn’t get to Miku until 6:00 pm. The hostesses called or told us in person, “You’ll only have 1.5 hours – is that ok?”

Yes, that was totally fine with us and we got seated in the back party room where only tables of two are set up in little rows. The party room isn’t large – can maybe fit 2-3 large round tables if you are considering holding a party there – but it has a great view of the lit-up Canada Place at Waterfront. Sitting in the party room also feels more intimate as we are far away from the hustle and bustle of the group tables, bar seating and the open kitchen.

Drinks

We start off with some cocktails – the Nightshade and the Shiso Mojito. The Shiso Mojito is just like any other mojito I’ve ever had.

The Nightshade is made of dragon fruit liquor, yuzu, vanilla extract, house blend of bitters and egg white. It had a cool blue design on it and tasted strong but not disgusting, as I find strong cocktails end up tasting just too strong.

First course

Amuse bouche

The first course in the Kaiseki is the amuse bouche brie fondant. We ask them if it is fondant like the fondant you find on cakes, and the server simply replies that it is “fondant”, pronounced “Fond-aunt”. So not sure if that really answers our question but it adds onto our confusing first course.

So this brie fondant is very confusing. It has a bunch of things like yuzu gel, aloe, pears, lemonade (none of these are very evident when we taste the dish) and what looks like a deep fried lavender flower. It is in a little shot glass and I only taste the lavender, which makes the dish quite bitter and strange. I wonder why I am eating a flower.

We ask if this was some sort of a palette cleanser, and the server tells us it’s more of a palette exciter (?). Anyways, we both feel strange about the first course. We understand the chefs are trying to create a unique dish with unique ingredients. We half-wish we were given a sunomono or even some edamame instead.

Second course

Arita Kaisen Globe

After the confusing first course, we are really hoping the rest of the courses will be better. We are pleasantly surprised when this ball is placed before us for the zensai.

The globe disassembles to three different plates, which is a very cool plating experience.

The top plate has oysters served two ways: one fresh with lime pearls and cucumber vinaigrette, and one in Miku’s signature aburi style with shiso tempura, blood orange puree and wasabi espuma.

The cucumber oyster is refreshing and slightly sour, different from the cucumber oyster we tried at Araxi earlier this winter. The aburi oyster is very interesting as I have never eaten it before with tempura underneath. It gives the oyster more flavour and is a nice texture accompaniment.

The second plate is the feature sashimi with local BC botan ebi (spot prawn), chu-toro Kanpachi (amberjack) from Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture, and scallop from Hokkaido.

We are very excited for the spot prawn sashimi because we almost never see it on restaurant menus. It reminds us of the time we made our own prawn sashimi (we just bought it from T&T and decided to eat it raw… don’t do this).

As expected, the prawn sashimi is sweet and delicious, as are all the other sashimi. Great sashimi temperature – not cold and frozen like sashimi you would find at cheap sushi places.

As an additional nice bonus, the server takes our prawn heads and gets them deep fried so we ate the heads as well.

The third plate is the Alaskan king crab accompanied by edamame veloute, burnt onion puree, ikura (red caviar) and nori (seaweed)on a rice crisp.

The crab piece is small so that is over with quite fast. It definitely is not as sweet as the Alaskan crab at Tracy’s crab shack (from my Alaska cruise). We really enjoyed the edamame veloute, though, and used it to dip some leftover radish.

Third course

Ora king salmon

The third course is shusai and the entree is ora king salmon, certified Oceanwise by the Vancouver aquarium and sourced from New Zealand. I didn’t even know king salmon was a thing.

This course is essentially a big chunk of salmon fillet, served with some sort of deep-fried and slightly spicy kale or lettuce, barley risotto and a yogurt and yuzu sauce. Very delicious and filling! The salmon is soft and juicy and all the accompaniments paired very well together. The yogurt sauce tastes great with the salmon or with the risotto, and the fried vegetable has a kick in it with the spiciness at the end.

There is still some random flowers in there though!

Fourth course

Aburi sushi

The fourth course is the highlight – Miku’s aburi sushi selection, flame seared with binchotan and oak charcoal for a smoky finish. The aburi platter (from left to right) contains : miso roll, miku roll, hamachi (yellowtail), selva tiger prawn with truffle (!), black cod, salmon and saba.

They are all absolutely delicious and the number one reason why Miku is one of the top Japanese restaurants in Vancouver. Here is my ranking from favourite to least favourite:

1. Selva tiger prawn with truffle. This has to be number one on the list. It is the most unique aburi I’ve tasted (mostly due to the truffle). This piece of sushi tasted like a whole pizza.
2. Miku roll. This is Miku’s signature roll and it is made of salmon, crab, cucumber and then rolled in tobiko (fish eggs) with Miku sauce. It tastes like salmon aburi, which is a taste I haven’t been able to get from a roll before.
3. Salmon aburi. My classic favourite. I always feel like Miku’s salmon aburi is tastier than other places. You can now find salmon aburi in many Vancouver sushi restaurants, but Miku is the OG. Their middle filling of salmon makes it juicier and the rice to fish ratio is always perfect.
4. Hamachi. The yellowtail tastes very fresh and even though it was garnished on top, it tastes similar to what you would expect from traditional nigiri, which focuses on just the fish and the rice. For this reason, this piece is refreshing against the other sushi as they are heavy with flavours and sauces and toppings.
5. Black cod. We had high hopes for this piece because my boyfriend really enjoys black cod. Unfortunately he didn’t enjoy the topping that was paired with it as much as the fish itself.
6. Miso roll. It is interesting because I have never tried this roll before. It has tuna and tasted heavily of miso paste – interesting but I wouldn’t order it again.
7. Saba aburi. Basic aburi and I’m not a fan of saba fish.

Fifth course

When dessert rolls around, our server asks if we want to take a break. We tell her that actually we have to go because we only have the table for 1.5 hours. The server then tells us that we no longer need to worry about that because we chose the tasting menu and she wants us to have time to enjoy each course.

I am delighted to hear this but also felt bad for the hostesses who have confirmed with us numerous time about the 1.5 hour time slot, who probably would also need to deal with the next table that was supposed to be after us.

Salted dark chocolate raspberry fondant

For the dessert we are presented with a dark chocolate lava cake with raspberry filling on the inside. It has a pretty clear fondant stuck to the top of it.

The sorbet beside it is actually a pear ginger sorbet with some green-sand like stuff that I mostly ignored. It reminds me of the sour “sand” on my Notch8 Dine Out dish.

The plate is adorned with raspberry and chocolate sauce and other fruits and almond for you to pair with either desserts. Generally, it is a nice dessert. I find that chocolate and raspberry is always a nice combination but I was really hoping for a more Japanese-inspired dessert such as a tea-infused mousse of some sort.

Final thoughts

We spent around $270 in total for two people. This includes the $98 per person Valentine’s Day Kaiseki, our two cocktails, and tax and tip.

This is one of the most expensive dinners we’ve had together but in conclusion we did think it was worth it. We thought it was worth it for the following reasons:

• We love sushi and this Kaiseki had some unique sushi, such as the truffle ebi aburi in the aburi platter.
• We were very full. Every time we choose to do a multi-course meal at a fine dining establishment, we find that we are usually not full or just about to be full. After this Kaiseki, we were balanced and full.
• Presentation of the food was beautiful and I care about food aesthetics.
• Great ambience, super romantic room and a lovely server.

Sincerely, Loewe