Miyabi-Tei on a Sunday

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My mom needed to go to a Japanese store to stock up on boxes of bagged green tea, so I said, "Mitsuwa Marketplace!" I drove mom and dad to Costa Mesa yesterday to eat lunch and do some grocery shopping. Uhh...12:30 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon? Not the best time to eat there if you want to actually sit down at a table while enjoying your food. My dad was hovering over various tables, waiting for families to leave, while my mom and I ordered the food. We settled on Miyabi-Tei, which had the shortest line of all the eateries in the marketplace.

Almost every time we go to Mitsuwa, we end up ordering at Miyabi-Tei. Probably because it's usually got the shortest wait, but also because I really do like their food. I always get something different when I eat there. Last time I went I had a curry plate. Yesterday, however, I went with the Hamburg Plate ($6.25). It is seriously a bargain, with miso soup, mashed potato, a generous bowl of rice, and a hamburg steak served on a bed of lettuce & bean sprouts, and topped with caramelized onions, with a side of minced daikon.

I normally don't shove onions in my mouth, but these...I had to.

This is probably the best hamburg I've tasted. Either that means it's really good, or I just haven't eaten a whole lot of hamburg steaks in my lifetime. The beef is relatively juicy (not in the least bit dry by my standards — whatever those are), and the flavor of the meat has a hint of sweetness. I don't know how they season it, but it's tasty. I have a recipe for hamburg that I'd like to try. I wonder if it'll taste anything at all like this one.

Miyabi-Tei (inside Mitsuwa Marketplace)
665 Paularino Ave.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 754-7044