Dinner at Mirakutei

A couple months back I wrote about a fantastic lunch Wifey and I had at Mirakutei on East Burnside and I commented about how we needed to go back for dinner. So we did.

I won't rehash the history of the place. I'll just say we went for dinner on a Saturday night and did not have to wait at all - it was about half full. This, dear readers, is a travesty.

We started with some tempura - shrimp and broccoli.

Very lightly breaded and cooked just enough so not to be greasy but still be done thoroughly. 

And of course we had to get the gyoza, which were so damn good before. (We wanted the fried rice that we had before, too, but unfortunately it's not on the dinner menu.)

Again, cooked just right with a bit of crunch on the outside and the pork and onion mixture inside still soft. 

We also ordered a sushi roll, one called the crunchy roll, with shrimp tempura, crab, avocado, and a couple other ingredients. It was fantastic. 

Next up was kara-age, or fried chicken. Skinless pieces of chicken breast, lightly fried and a tad salty. Perfect.

Our last item was a special of the night, a slow cooked piece of pork belly. It melted in your mouth, both the meat and the fat layers. The sauce was a little sweet, too, which was a nice complementary flavor. I could eat this every night, though I may die of a heart attack or something.

Conclusion? Mirakutei is fantastic for lunch OR dinner! Seriously, go - it's right there at the top of best Japanese restaurants in Portland (as you can see, we've tried many). Kurata is good, but not quite this good, and Yuza, Wafu, Shigezo and Biwa are in a slightly different category as izakayas. We haven't yet been to Murata or Yakuza, but they are on the short list.

Oh, one more thing: this entire meal was $33. Not bad at all.