Restaurant review: Miyazaki, Cork
TO the 1.3 billion-plus population of China, the Yangtze River is a symbol of the nation’s greatness.
That the longest river in Asia — 3,915 miles — begins and ends within its borders merely confirms the vastness of the country and it provides life and a living to one third of the population residing alongside, the Yangtze River Delta region alone generating as much as 20% of China’s GDP.
To a generation of Corkonians, however, the Yangtze River will always be the Chinese Takeaway a few hundred yards from the island city centre of Cork.
Sited near the bottom of Barrack St on one of the main arteries from town, it was a lodestar for numerous half-cut Corkonians after a night on the tiles, the old takeaway furnishing fuel for the long march home to various Southside suburbs.
Being Corkonians, it is also entirely possible many assumed this particular Leeside Yangtze to be the original, but though the great Chinese river still flows unimpeded, the former takeaway knocked out its last chips and curry sauce some years ago, the premises remaining idle until a Japanese restaurant/takeaway, Miyazaki, opened last March.
It may seem cheeky to review what appears to be just another takeaway but the global trend for casual dining is putting paid to much of the silver service and starched linen brigade and it is now entirely possible to source excellent meals from the humblest of outlets.
The former Chinese takeaway’s menu was typical in an older Ireland, bearing little or no relation to any of the great Chinese cuisines, and that entails a whole lot more than sushi, especially when you consider much high-end food in Japan is served in similarly casual surroundings.
We fetch up at 6pm on a dark November Tuesday and the place is hopping, mostly regular customers picking up a substantial and inexpensive supper to take home but we snaffle four stools at the high narrow counter and, through the large serving hatch, observe the theatrics of the culinary kabuki.
One of the great Japanese staples is Dashi, a stock made with water, kombu (kelp seaweed) and katsuobushi (shavings from dried or fermented bonito fish) and Miyazaki’s resultant strained broth is the essence of purity, each spoonful of liquid comfort utterly addictive, thanks to an intoxicating umami kick. I order a couple of bowls with plain hot noodles before ever properly contemplating the menu.
Two types of gyoza arrive first, vegetable and chicken, little dumplings of ground meat and vegetables wrapped in fine dough, tasty morsels, rapidly hoovered up.
Miso Butter Tonkotsu Ramen (Miso Butter Tonkotsu Pork Stock, Noodles with Corn and Chashu) is a wonderfully balanced and simple dish but don’t mistake simplicity for shortcuts; Tonkotsu is a pork stock that can take up to three days to make, rendering all the cartilaginous material in the meat and bones into a milky broth.
Topped with a couple of melting slices of chashu (pork), it is healing, wholesome and heavenly.
Tofu is one of those go-to words from a lazily pejorative vocabulary often used to dismiss vegetarianism but this pressed soy curd is an integral ingredient in Japanese cuisine.
The tofu in Age Dashi Tofu is dusted in potato starch and delicately fried until it is a near-melting silken custard collapsing into delicious dashi.
During one particular confinement, the Dearly Beloved took a shining to sushi, requiring me to make it night after night for months.
Neither of us care much for it these days but the predilection obviously passed on to that particular fruit of the womb and he now can’t get enough of the stuff. He orders a tray and pronounces it most fine, a remarkable feat of discernment considering it takes all of 60 seconds to disappear.
Chef/proprietor Takashi Miyazaki is more than happy to incorporate Irish produce into his extensive and daily changing specials menu but if a former takeaway doesn’t do it for you and the thought of a high stool gives you vertigo, you could always wait until he finds the suitable premises he has been seeking to open a full-blown restaurant. Seems a shame, though, to postpone such a wonderful pleasure.
€47 (including two cans San Pelligrino Orange and tapwater)
Tuesday to Sunday, 1pm-4pm and 5pm to 9pm
Food: 7.5/10
Service: 8/10
Value: 9.5/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
