Sushi at Miyake

Portland, Maine is one of the best food cities on the east coast. On a recent trip, I wanted to try Miyake, a sushi restaurant that I heard wonderful things about.

Arriving for a late lunch, we sat at the bar and had a close-up look as Chef Masa Miyake and staff prepared for dinner service. Slicing, dicing and chopping, the chefs showcased their knife skills with ease.

I especially love seeing the dishes I ordered come to life, and I enthusiastically watched as the chefs expertly sliced the ingredients for our first dish, tuna three ways (traditional sashimi, marinated in sweet sake soy sauce and tartar) as well as the super toro roll we had next (tuna and avocado roll topped with diced toro, truffle oil, spiced sesame oil and scallions).

tuna 3-ways

super toro

Next up was our one and only hot dish of the afternoon, the yaki buta. Yaki buta is a braised pork belly with scallions. This dish was fantastic and indulgent. Each piece was about 2 inches wide, and had been marinated in a sweet soy sauce. It was grilled, then plated with scallions and hot mustard sauce.

I've had yaki buta before (in ramen) and eating it where the meat was the lone star on the dish was refreshing to see.

yaki buta

Our final dish was a plate of sashimi. Again, the knife work was impeccable and the fish was incredibly fresh. The colors of the toro and salmon really popped out on the slate grey plate.

sashimi

The chic, modern restaurant offers a chef tasting menu of three, five or seven courses and proudly serves locally raised ingredients.