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The post-isolation restaurant reopenings made me feel like Rip Van Winkle awakening from a prolonged sleep to find the world changed, yet longing to pick up life just where I left it.
So when it came time to decide which to visit first, the answer was easy: Miro Kaimuki.
Restaurants were ordered to close in late March, just a few days before I was scheduled to visit the restaurant, the latest from Senia’s Chris Kajioka, in partnership with San Francisco-based chef Mourad Lahlou.
The restaurant has opened with concessions made in terms of reduced seating to accommodate social distancing, but thankfully the original menu plans and format remain intact.
Diners will find a five-course, $65 prix-fixe menu, in keeping with the affordable degustation menu of the original Cafe Miro, a Kaimuki fixture for 25 years until its chef-owner, Shigeru Kobayashi, sold the restaurant to Kajioka last fall.
“Kaimuki is the neighborhood I grew up in, so it’s very near and dear to my heart,” Kajioka said. “Cafe Miro has been a mainstay and I didn’t want to lose that. This is a true neighborhood restaurant.”
For a menu of this caliber, diners usually could expect to pay $125 to $150, but Kajioka said he wanted to keep the price down so people feel they could return any time, and not just for a special occasion.
The French-inspired dishes represent a collaboration among Kajioka, Lahlou, chef de cuisine Trevor Webb and Kajioka’s corporate chef, Jason Peel, and menus will change about once a month.
Dinner got off to a good start with ahi tartare flavored with oyster essence, blanketed in crunchy fried lentils and served in chili oil. I welcomed the distancing from poke flavors so prevalent whenever ahi tartare appears on a local menu.
Next came a variation of a dish Kajioka presented many ways during his tenure at Vintage Cave, in dinners costing $300 per person. This was an egg yolk with minced celery root and the smokiness of bacon, capped with Parmesan foam, that added up to one decadent whole. To his credit, each component was distinct in flavor and texture, not lost in the balance.
To be realistic, that $65 prix-fixe will turn to $70 when you add the bread supplement, because you need to have the house whole-wheat loaf. It already has that winning combination of a crispy crust and fluffy interior, made even more irresistible with accompaniments of butter and marjoram-bay leaf powder spice blend. Our loaf was quartered for a party of four, and if not for the hands-off dining to prevent any passing of germs, I definitely would have tried to snatch more bread from the slow eaters.
Next came the entrees — fork-tender beef cheeks over green farro, and brined, smoked salmon glazed with calamansi and brown sugar. The salmon was served with the chefs’ version of ratatouille, broken down into components of basil curd, eggplant, bell peppers and tomato jam, intended to be enjoyed with the fish in that order. The ratatouille is another nod to chef Kobayashi, who often paired the summer vegetable stew with his entrees.
Those who want more may choose from supplemental dishes such as escargots ($17) in vodouvan, a French curry without turmeric but with the sweetness and depth of shallots; and Parisian-style flour-and-egg gnocchi ($19), served with uni in a creamy Parmesan sauce.
Foie gras torchon ($25) is topped with honey and urfa pepper, accompanied by sweet touches of lychee marinated in rose geranium vinegar and a strawberry veil, a gelatinous fruit roll-up of macerated strawberries. It’s served with brioche, and the combination of sweet, salty, savory and buttery is all anyone could ask for.
Dessert by Beverly Luk is a gluten- and nut-free combination of buckwheat sponge with yuzu sorbet and yogurt cream capped with a meringue shell.
A wine pairing is available for $35, or order wine by the glass or bottle, or select a cocktail by mixologist Justin Park.
Original restaurant plans called for an a la carte menu at the bar for walk-in patrons. That plan has temporarily been scrapped due to social-distancing regulations that make it impractical to create a separate menu for so few. But weekend brunches are on the way, expected to start in three weeks.
Coming out of strict portion control during quarantine, this was a lot of food. At home, just one course would have been a full meal. But even the risk of a stomachache didn’t stop me from finishing every bite. And aside from the family-style handling of common utensils, in this pristine environment, I wasn’t much concerned about coronavirus at all.
MIRO KAIMUKI
3446 Waialae Ave.
Food: ****
Service: *** 1/2
Ambiance: ****
Value: ****
>> Call: 379-0124
>> Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays to Sundays
>> Prices: $65; $35 wine-pairing option; supplemental dishes $5 to $25
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.
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