Photos by Rachel Dobbs.
Venture down that alley and you’ll be welcomed by owners Luke McCartin and Claire Beard, inviting you to sit in what was once the home’s lounge room. Now, it’s a refreshingly pared-back space with white-washed furniture, soft lighting, a few thriving plants – it’s a modest and minimal wabi-sabi setting, where the focus is on the food and the company you’re enjoying it with.
The simple, honest surrounds are the perfect complement to simple, honest Japanese cuisine. The food at Mr Miyagi is exquisite: super fresh, clean and flavourful, and crafted with delicate attention to detail by the kitchen team.
Much of the menu is designed to share, including melt-in-the-mouth gyoza, organic beef tataki, golden-fried miso eggplant and a selection of sushi that you shouldn’t go past.
Mr Miyagi offers authentic, traditional dishes, with a contemporary touch or two. We try the selection of Japanese salads including the tatsoi kingfish salad, tempura pumpkin salad, and a ‘popped’ black rice salad (the rice is boiled first and then deep-fried – the texture is divine!) with a lively ginger dressing. There are also steaming, soul-restoring broths, an amazing rendition of katsudon and a warming Japanese chicken curry.
Mr Miyagi uses only free-range and free-farmed eggs, chicken and pork, while box planters in the dining courtyard provide small harvests of seasonal produce for your plate. Luke and Claire even bring organic avocados in from their backyard.
A small but perfectly formed dessert menu includes treats like tempura fruit with homemade ginger sugar. And to refresh, there’s a few varieties of sake, four different Japanese beers and an umeshu (plum wine) – along with New Zealand libations, of course.
Mr Miyagi Restaurant, 147B Maunganui Road, Mount Maunganui, Serving dinner Monday–Saturday from 5.30pm.
Try their famous Ginger Ice Cream recipe here
Words by: Alana Broadhead.
Photos by: Rachel Dobbs.
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