For my wife’s birthday, we decided to try Mhel (pronounced “mel”). We sat at the chef’s counter, right where they were prepping the dishes, so it was interesting to watch how they were made. Service was attentive, unobtrusive, and fairly informed about the dishes and drinks.
As it was New Year’s Eve, we first shared 8 oz of Marie Demets champagne, pinot noir, traditional brut, NV - loved this, very gently fruity, with less of the usual toasty, bready notes. After this we split a drinks pairing, which was all sake, for the rest of the meal.
Sake #1 was Taiheizan Shingetsu, junmai kimoto, Akita – very smooth. This accompanied two small dishes, both of which seemed to nod towards nishime (a Japanese New Year’s dish) in terms of flavours and ingredients. First was three rolls of slightly sweet aburaage, stuffed with mizuna soaked in dashi, plus 2 fried and grilled tofu slices – simple and lovely. The second dish featured satoimo (Japanese taro), covered with taro puffs and deep fried, then served in ankake dashi with yu choy, nori – the crispy outside was a nice contrast with the sweet, starchy and slightly gooey inside, and the dashi added a lightly umami touch.
Sake #2 was Ippaku Suisei, prémium 23, junmai daiginjo, Akita – lots of tropical notes, including pineapple and a bit of mango. This accompanied delicate raw hirame, wrapped in kombu, accompanied by sweetly vinegared amazu carrots, fresh mazuma wasabi, and farmed Siberian osetra caviar.
Sake #3 was KID Karakuchi, junmai ginjyo, gohyakumangoku rice, Wakayama – dry, with a bit of floral. This came with raw kan buri (winter yellowtail), with a lusciously fatty belly piece and 2 meaty back pieces, garlic chives, negi, karashi mustard miso (sauce) – very simple, allowing each flavour to shine.
Sake #4 was Hanatomoe Natural DNA “tropical”, ginna sato, Nara – indeed very tropical. This was paired with the next two courses. First was Hyogo A5 wagyu striploin, lightly cooked shabu shabu style, with seri (Japanese parsley), namafu (Japanese glutinous rice cake), yuzu, and sukiyaki sauce – the beef was so marbled, it half-melted in your mouth. Next was braised shortrib, sautéed chuinamul (aster family), rice with mukago (small shoots from Japanese yam leaves), shiitake, ramps, and charcoal grilled turnip beside – beautiful braising and the chuinamul was a great herby side.
Sake # 5 was Nansen organic, Nara - tasted of dried persimmon, sweeter. This was coupled with purin, a Japanese custard pudding like creme caramel, made with organic cream, caramel, and maple syrup – maybe not as interesting as the other dishes, but very nicely executed.
Overall a great experience. We’d be happy to return.
