Named after the famous Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, Mifune is a Japanese restaurant located Midtown East that serves an interesting menu. Yes you can get sushi and sashimi there, but I encourage you to try their other dishes that show a certain creativity.

I like the feel of this two floor restaurant: calm and warm at the same time, like traveling miles away. The menu can be overwhelming with all the choices they propose, especially as they have a wagyu special with a large number of dishes. And if you are vegetarian, they do have few choices for you. Not many but still. According to their website, they take “traditional Japanese cooking that places supreme importance on the seasonal bounty of the land and sea—and reimagines it using French technique to create innovative, artistically composed dishes”. Well, let’s see:

To start the meal, I went for a cocktail called the Hidden Fortress, like one of the movies of Toshiro Mifune, that was made with bourbon, milk, honey shrub, orange cordial and bitters. I thought it would be whiter because of the milk, but no and it had a nice sweetness to it.

The Hidden Fortress cocktail at Mifune in NYC, NY

For the appetizer, I chose the King salmon tartare served with avocado, ikura and ponzu gelée. Very good, the acidity was well balanced and I loved the combination of the salmon and avocado that both have some fattiness.

King Salmon tartare at Mifune in NYC, NY

Jodi went for the Winter truffle and mushroom chawanmushi, a sort of flan made with mushroom that was smooth and quite tasty.

Winter truffle and mushroom chawanmushi at Mifune in NYC, NY

For her entree, she picked the vegetable tempura (crispy and not greasy), as well as the avocado and cucumber roll.

On my side, I had the foie gras and egg sabayon over rice, and added the Winter truffle for $15 more. I did not think they would have it as they mentioned on the menu that it is limited to 5 daily and we were at the end of the day, but I suspect that they do have more and it is just a way to entice people to order it, playing on its rarity. The rice and foie came in a separate dish from the sabayon and the idea is to put as much egg sabayon as you want over the foie and rice and mix everything. So mixed little by little as I ate and was quite happy that I did not put everything on the rice at the beginning: it was very good, but only when eaten with the foie or truffle, the former giving a nice fattiness to the dish; the sabayon and rice only was not being that tasty for my taste.

Last was dessert: we chose the soba tea blanc-manger with kibito caramel ice cream. Blanc-manger is a sweet dessert commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with gelatin or corn starch for instance, that has a texture similar to a panna cotta. This was an interesting dessert as it tasted a bit like a creme brûlée, with an underlying buckwheat flavor. Curious but good.

Soba tea blanc-manger at Mifune in NYC, NY

We had a great meal at Mifune: the food was delicious and the service Michelin star like. We really need to go back and try some other dishes.

Enjoy (I did)!

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Mifune - 245 E 44th St, New York, NY 10017

Contemporary Japanese at Mifune

I Just Want To Eat!