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Food La La: Meeting at Mimasuya
BY LINDSEY MURAOKA / Special to the Star-Advertiser
This week I went to check out a new, Kyoto-style Japanese-Italian restaurant called Mimasuya. They’re located on Kapiolani Blvd. underneath Uraku Tower.
I actually went to Mimasuya twice for lunch and for dinner. My friend Toby Tamaye found out about the restaurant while he was jogging and suggested it for a lunch meeting with our friends.
This is the bar area.
Mimasuya is a nice place for business meetings. I think the best deal on the lunch menu is the pasta course for $13 that comes with a three appetizer medley, salad, and pasta. The pasta choices are pancetta and eggplant tomato, tuna and mushroom cream, or shrimp and asparagus. For an additional $3 you can get the pescatore or parma ham and gorgonzola cream pasta instead.
This is the three appetizer medley: tuna with tomato sauce, frittata, and caponata.
This salad was just a typical salad with some tomato slices, nothing bad about it but nothing special.
The complimentary bread is on the salty side but strangely addicting. It comes out nice and warm.
I ordered the pescatore since our server mentioned that it is one of their popular dishes. I really liked the texture of the noodles. They were al dente style and slightly chewy. The sauce had a nice balance to it and went well with all of the delectable shrimp, muscles, and clams!
My friends were nice and patiently let me take pictures of their dishes before eating. This is the pancetta and eggplant tomato pasta.
This is the parma ham and gorgonazola cream pasta. I asked Tamaye what he thought about this dish.
“One of the highlights of this restaurant is the Parma Ham or Prosciutto as we typically refer it as,” he said. “It is extremely rich in flavor and makes every dish that includes it explode with flavor.
“I could eat anything with Mimasuya’s Parma Ham and the lunch special with Gorgonzola is a must-try. The creamy sauce mixed with the Parma Ham creates quite a delicious combination. If you love food with lots of flavor, I’d recommend this.”
(You can tell by his response that he does public relations for a living.)
The veal cutlet and shrimp pilaf ($16) is plated is very fancy! It also comes with a salad. My friend Gene Park ordered this.
“The marinara on the veal cutlet livened up the dish,” he said. “I would definitely try it again.”
Mimasuya has a chicken Caesar salad and soup of the day combo for $13.
The soup of the day was a pumpkin cream soup.
The desserts were $5 and came with a coffee or tea. This is the tiramisu.
This is their Japanese style cheesecake. It’s very creamy and light.
Group picture with my friends!
Then I went back again a few days later to check out their dinner menu because it has a bigger selection than the lunch menu.
The atmosphere at dinner is very different from lunch. The lights are dim and the atmosphere feels classy and romantic.
Here are the daily specials on the day I was there. I want to go back and try the Dungeness crab!
The chef choice appetizer set ($28) is a must try! It comes with ten beautiful and elaborate dishes.
Here’s an up close picture. Clockwise from top: frittata with pomodoro sauce, shrimp with basil aioli, caponata, and tomato farci.
Clockwise from top: tuna and tomato sauce, white fish, steamed spinach and prosciutto, black tea infused sweet potato, octopus tossed in tomato sauce, and assorted marinated vegetables.
My favorites were the shrimp with basil aioli (very creamy!) and assorted vegetables (I loved the pumpkin. It had a slight cinnamon flavor). The steamed spinach and prosciutto was the overall favorite amongst my friends. The prosciutto is very salty and beef jerky-like so it contrasts nicely with the softer texture and taste of the spinach.
Of course all Italian restaurants have a caprese salad ($13). I actually don’t like tomatoes unless they’re cooked so I will usually eat only the cheese and disregard the tomatoes. Luckily my friends like tomatoes. This dish reminds me of a war with mini cherry tomato soldiers surrounding the bigger tomato castle. The castle is topped off with sun dried tomatoes.
This is the Mimasuya Italiano house salad $11. This salad is vibrant, tasty, and packed with lots different types of fresh vegetables. It had a light but flavorful shoyu based dressing. If all salads were like this I would eat them all the time.
Since I already tried their pasta for lunch, I decided to try out their porcini mushroom risotto ($22) which turned out to be a very good choice. The risotto was rich and full of flavor. I wanted to eat it all myself and not share any with my friends.
This is the grilled veal stuffed with fresh mozzarella ($26). The veal is tender and filled with lots of cheese. The mushrooms were drenched in a heavenly butter sauce.
Then it was on to dessert. My eyes (and stomach) bulged out at the sight of the amazing dessert platter ($8 each)!
After great deliberation, I chose the strawberry tart. The crust at the bottom is a little too hard for my liking, but everything else about it was wonderful. The custard in the middle had the perfect amount of sweetness and matched well with the strawberries.
Overall it was a delicious and grand meal!
Mimasuya is located at 1341 Kapiolani Blvd. Call (808) 951-9000 for reservations.
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Lindsey Muraoka blogs about food and drink for the Pulse. Contact her on Twitter or via email at foodlalablog@gmail.com.
