A restaurateur once told me his adult children never visit his restaurant because they’re afraid they’ll be put to work. As children, they couldn’t refuse work, but as adults they have that option.
I’m sure Jason Yamaguchi can relate to that story. Raised in Orange County, Calif., he was 15 when he went to say hello to his uncle at his new restaurant in Newport Beach. That uncle was Roy Yamaguchi. “He looked at me and asked, ‘When are you coming to work for me?’” Jason recalls.
The next thing he knew, he was applying for a minor’s work permit and that’s how he ended up spending the next 18 years of his life in kitchens, first under the tutelage of Roy’s Newport Beach chef-partner Chris Garnier, then branching out to work with Michael Mina, Joachim Splichal and other Los Angeles chefs who rose to prominence during the celebrity chef boom of the early 1990s.
Caught up in the excitement, Jason Yamaguchi said that he knew after two years that becoming a chef was something he wanted to pursue, and he started to develop his own style. But about a year ago, he’d grown tired of the social media-driven L.A. scene and wanted to try something new — when Espacio came calling.
Waikiki’s newest hotel takes aim at the luxury client in search of privacy, with only nine suites available at $5,000 per night. The hotel needed a restaurant befitting this clientele, so Mugen was born, with Yamaguchi serving up a Japanese-French fusion menu in an intimate room that currently seats 18. When an outdoor patio is completed early next year, the restaurant will be able to accommodate about 40.
For now, dinner here requires a 2-1/2 hour commitment for an eight-course tasting menu running about $125 per person. Yamaguchi said that when the new year comes, he plans to introduce an a la carte menu and limit the prix-fixe dinners to 10 per night, to give guests more options.
If you can’t commit to dinner, he’s already introduced an a la carte lunch with about 11 options available daily. This time of year, the restaurant provides a pleasant space to escape for a while and indulge in a holiday lunch with friends.
Some of my favorite dishes on both menus were the pastas. At lunch there was pillowy housemade pappardelle ($29) with a mild ragu of Big Island lamb belly. For those who don’t like their lamb too gamey, the tartness of Mahiki heirloom tomatoes helped balance the dish, served on a plate sprinkled with shiitake dust.
On the evening tasting menu, pieces of Kona lobster straddled a dish of tagliatelle with a thick Compte foam made for cheese lovers from a French cow’s milk cheese similar to Gruyere.
On another recent day, favorites included ehu poisson cru ($17), the snapper cured with shikuwasa, a citrus typically available only in Asia, sprinkled with what looks like togarashi but is the milder French Espelette pepper, surrounded by a pool of charred pineapple broth and finally finished with a pinch of young coconut.
No expense is spared in getting the ingredients the chef wants, such as miniature purple Brussels sprouts ($14) from Kentucky, which were poached, fried and sauteed before being tossed with black garlic, crisp leeks and nori crisps and dressed with drops of edamame coulis in another lunch dish.
As for dessert, you must try the petite gateaux ($10) at least once. Matcha sponge cake is surrounded by strawberry mousse, then topped with matcha “caviar.” The mousse is heavenly. The cake is planted on a sesame seed tuile that you can eat as you go along, or polish off after the cake is gone.
Other standouts on the evening tasting menu were A5 wagyu, which should go without saying, plus a Red Sea crab cake, a real treat with the bright flavor of yuzukosho aioli, topped with a black sesame tuile and finished at the table with a pour of edamame coulis.
In between entrees was a lovely intermezzo of cantaloupe sorbet with shiso oil that other dinner guests were insisting should be turned into a cocktail immediately because it was so delicious.
It could have served as a light, fresh dessert as well, but the real dessert was Milk & Honey, a cylindrical pudding tasting of cream and honeycomb with a hint of fennel.
—
MUGEN
>> Where: Espacio, 2452 Kalakaua Ave.
>> Call: 377-2247
>> Hours: Lunch 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily; dinner seatings at 5 and 7:30 p.m.
>> Prices: Lunch for two about $70, evening tasting menu about $125 without alcohol
———
Food: ***1/2
Service: ***1/2
Ambiance: ***1/2
Value: ***1/2
———
Ratings compare similar restaurants:
**** – excellent
*** – very good
** – average
* – below average
Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.
