Months ago a friend of mine praised Mikado Ryotei for their sushi. So after a 5 hour commute back into Austin for the second weekend in a row, I decided that I wanted sushi. The last time I went for sushi I visited Maiko. The first time I ever went, Nuke the sushi chef blew me away with his special dishes. However, the second visit lacked that quality that Nuke put into every dish he made us. The saba (mackerel) was not cut with skin, the way I like it.
With this in mind and my friend’s recommendation, my boyfriend and I set out for 183 and Burnet Rd. for Mikado. I expected it to be busy for a Friday night, especially around 9 o’clock, but there were open tables and we were promptly seated.
I looked at the specials and found many interesting ones. However, I was craving sushi. So I ordered the saba, saka toro (fatty salmon), and the Spicy Hama (yellowtail, smelt roe, cucumber and scallions). My counterpart ordered Unagi Maki (smoked eel, avocado, cucumber and sesame seeds), Negihama (yellowtail, scallions, and cucumber), the cucumber roll and the snow crab special wrapped with cucumber.
My Spicy Hama caused me to drink tons of water, but couldn’t stop me from eating it. The saba was just the way I liked it. The saka toro tasted like smoked salmon. However, the dish of the evening was the snow crab special. It was like a crab dip with tempura flakes on a bed of rice wrapped in a cucumber shaving. One bite and it was gone, but it left me craving one more. I will return to Mikado, hopefully to be wowed, again.
