Japanese Cuisine goes chic at MIMI KAKUSHI

BY AKANKSHA DEAN

DUBAI: The Restaurant Village at the Four Seasons Jumeriah Beach Resort is an airy sanctuary, and tucked in it is Mimi Kakushi a meticulously designed restaurant with lots of dark oak tables, ornate typographic chandeliers hanging overhead. On my dinner visit, it was buzzy, relaxed and the service was lovely. Just the precise volume of buzz: no one hastening you over your meal experience.

Cold appetizers are its strong suit with attractive salads, sushi, and sashimi platters. A favorite on our table was the Salmon tataki, beautifully arranged into a spiral, with a spicy jalapeno relish topped with crispy onion and shiso leaves for texture.

From the hot selection, the yakitori chicken thigh with sweet soy was decadent and juicy. The stand-out dish was the Baked Bone Marrow, beef tartare served with pickled onions and fried buns. Bone marrow with sweet buns shouldn’t work. It sounds wrong. But this dish was a revelation: most significantly, the marrow was pitch-perfect – impossibly succulent – and each bite with the buns gave it a fresh, sweet, and savoury slap. There were easier and more predictable choices, too.

The truffle miso shiru with tofu came comforting and hot, infused with shitake and mizuna wakame. My personal highlight? Wonderfully crispy yasai tempura pork served with a chili sour dashi broth. But it’s the Kagoshima wagyu beef Donabe Rice pot that’s stuck in my mind. The bar at the front of the restaurant is a destination in itself, offering Asian beers, stylish shooters with interesting names, and well-judged cocktails featuring oriental booze from sake to Midori. Mostly, the food was imaginative in a good way. Don’t leave the building without trying the Kori Kori Chocolate mi-cuit, crunchy peanut butter with coconut ice cream. Go to Mimi Kakushi and you’ll have a meal you won’t forget.

WHERE: Four Seasons Resort – 23 A St – Jumeirah – Jumeirah 2 – Dubai – United Arab Emirates

TEL: +971 43794811

Menu: https://mimikakushi.ae/menu/

Akanksha Dean is an independent chef, Events Specialist, & food & travel writer, who is the first Indian to have trained at Osteria Francescana, in Modena, Italy, rated as the world’s best restaurant in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, in 2016 and 2018