Restaurant Review: Mikado
MIKADO SUSHI & ROBATA
10350 109th Street | mikadorestaurant.com
Instagram: @mikadorestaurant.yeg
Co-Diners: The E.A.T Crew
There are restaurants that paved the way and then there's Mikado, Alberta's first Japanese restaurant which opened in 1972. Now that's a trailblazer! Bringing Japanese food to a prairie province in the 70s must have been a huge risk - one that paid off and changed the landscape of Edmonton's food scene forever. Now with three different locations around the city and voted Favourite Sushi Restaurant 2023 in the Edmonton Journal, Mikado has stood the test of time and is always viewed as a trusted favourite when the craving for umami hits. Visiting on a Saturday evening, I made by way Downtown to the oldest Mikado location of the three. There's plenty of free parking (always a huge plus downtown) and the restaurant occupies a rather large space on a very busy corner. Entering through the door my group was met with an exuberant "irasshaimase!" from all of the nearby staff, a traditional welcome greeting. My eyes were immediately drawn to the long sushi counter which includes certified Japanese Sushi Chefs, a rainbow of ingredients before them, each one working on their next plated masterpiece. The restaurant is large and made up of various dining areas, including regular style tables, sushi bar seating, and many private tatami rooms. The space is clean and classic with pale wood creating most of the decor and sliding shoji panels that softly diffuse the light throughout the restaurant. It's a beautiful space that feels quintessentially Japanese. My group was seated in our own tatami room which certainly heightened the overall experience. In these rooms guests are meant to sit on the floor at a low table. It's common in western culture for a hole to be cut out under the table so that your legs are able to hang down and you'll actually be sitting quite normally - such is the case at Mikado. The most important rule of tatami dining is that you must remove your shoes and leave them outside of the room before entering. It would be very rude and disrespectful to leave your shoes on. Servers glided around the restaurant in beautiful kimonos and everyone was very welcoming and friendly. Upon getting settled, I made my way to the cocktail menu and quickly found the Sake Caesar ($9.00), a favourite. Of course there are plenty of Japanese beers, sake, and plum wine as well. They also carry Ramune pop which is always a ton of fun!
I love a savoury cocktail and a sake caesar like this one perfectly fit the bill. I loved the salty rim and the pickled green bean (why not pickled edamame?!). The use of sake adds a slightly different flavour and helps the beverage pair really well with the food. A true Canadian-Japanese fusion, I love ordering this drink when I see it on a menu. The food menu is extremely extensive and spans 13 full pages. I don't think they'll blame you when it takes a few minutes to come up with a dining plan. I enjoy that there's a really great Bento Box section where you can totally customize your perfect bento. This is an ideal option if you are dining with a group who has different tastes and doesn't intend to share dishes. Plus it's a great way to still try a little bit of everything! I also really liked that the menu (while very big) is bright, clear, and colourful. There are lots of photos that show you exactly what to expect the food to look like, plus illustrations that describe the fare (and how to eat it) in even more detail. The menu itself tells a story and is a bit of a learning experience all its own. There were lots of dishes that I wanted to order but there would've been no way to eat all of it. I had to pair down my selections quite a bit. (I wanted to try both the Dragon Eyes and Baked Scallop appetizers but there was just no way.) I tend to gravitate quite heavily to the sushi rolls, although there are truly so many varied options that don't necessarily include sushi at all. Mikado has fresh fish flown in weekly from the famous fish market in Toyosu, Japan. A roll that caught my eye is the Spider Roll ($25.00).
The plating artistry at Mikado is very good. They do a wonderful job of putting out dishes that almost look more like a painting. You eat with your eyes first and this concept is celebrated quite well at this restaurant. This roll took some unexpected twists and turns. I ate my first piece without dipping the roll into anything, attempting to taste the roll exactly the way that it was prepared. I enjoyed the crispy fried soft shell crab and I think the addition of kanikama (imitation crab meat) was a smart way to round out the fact that this is a crab-centered roll. At first I felt that there was too much cabbage and lettuce used, making the roll taste more like a salad (although maybe a lighter, salad-like roll isn't such a bad thing!). However, once I dragged my second piece through the decorative sauce on the plate everything changed. The sauce is not mentioned but it tasted like mustard and teriyaki sauce. I loved this unique flavour combo and it kicked everything about the roll up a notch! This was like eating a wild sushi hot dog and I loved it. The next roll that I couldn't pass up is the most expensive one on the menu. The Lobster King Roll ($40.00). It sounded very luxurious and with a $40 price tag it had better be something extra special.
Again, the presentation was very special and the beautiful plating was nothing short of appetizing. Everything about this roll was executed beautifully and so many flavours that I enjoy were included. I liked that the Dragon Eyes sauce added a bit of a spicy kick and the torched-kissed wild salmon was a delightful addition. However, I will say that the lobster itself seemed to get a bit lost. With so many big flavours surrounding it there wasn't much opportunity for the lobster to shine. For a $40 roll where you're mainly paying for the lobster, I think that I would've been happier if the lobster had held a bolder presence. One unique and exciting thing about Mikado is that they carry bluefin tuna. Another luxury ingredient, bluefin is limited in its availability making it expensive and less common on menus. Mikado offers the fish in various cuts, including the O-toro which is the most pricy. If you're willing to shell out the cash, it's a great opportunity to try this very fancy fish. One of the more economical ways to do so is by ordering the Red Rose Roll with Bluefin Tuna ($29.00).
Of all of the rolls, this one was my favourite! Disappointingly not shaped like a rose like in the photo in the menu, but regardless, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by the bright crimson-coloured slices of fish. This roll was easier to eat than the others because there wasn't as much packed in. The ingredients were selective and balanced, letting the rich and full flavour of the bluefin lead the way. A delectable roll! My family loves mackerel. It's a strongly-flavoured, oily fish, and it might be an acquired taste for some. My family has acquired this taste. My first instinct was to order some Saba Sashimi, which we all love. However, the very last item on the menu is the Norwegian Mackerel ($16.00) under the Grilled Fish section. Does anyone ever order this or notice that it's even there? I did.
I was glad to have ordered a grilled dish because these are another specialty at Mikado. Their robata grills were specially imported from Japan and it would've been a shame not to sample a dish made on the robata. Grilled to a crispy perfection on the outside, the meat from this whole fish filet was tender and packed all of the rich and distinct flavour that mackerel is known for. Salty, oily, and delicious, I love this full-bodied fish very much. The crispy skin added great texture. Delicious! (However, we did encounter a few bones that needed to be picked out.)
Lastly, we saved a bit of room for dessert and ordered the Green Tea Tempura Ice Cream ($14.00) which was sure to be a hit.
Other available ice cream flavours for this dessert include coconut and cappuccino. A big ball of green tea ice cream was tossed in tempura batter and then fried. It's pretty amazing how un-melted practically all of the ice cream was! The portion was quite large which makes it ideal for sharing, especially since each person can just take their own quarter. The ice cream was creamy and full of classic green tea flavour. The crisp tempura shell created a fun play on textures and temperatures. This is a playful and enjoyable dessert!
For a restaurant that has been a mainstay in Edmonton for over 50 years, this pioneer should be celebrated. Mikado is still innovating all the time and creating dishes for the tastes of today's diners, while continuing to uplift the classics. We are fortunate to have many wonderful Japanese restaurants in the city these days - to the point where you can visit specialty restaurants for specific kinds of Japanese cuisine. Someone had to be the first. Someone had to open the door. Mikado will always be viewed as an icon and we can thank them for a lot of delicious eating! ありがとう!
Comments