Thursday, October 2, 2008

Miyabi 9 (East Village, Des Moines, IA)

Last Dined: September 2008

Miyabi 9 is a Japanese & sushi restaurant located in the East Village right between the Olympic Flame & the Grand Piano Bistro. It's a long narrow place with light wood on the walls, concrete floors, cool bathrooms.

There is usually a wait, but never fear, you can go over to the piano bistro and have a drink while you wait.

This is definitely the trendiest sushi place in Des Moines, the best is debatable. Don't get me wrong, Miyabi has great sushi (especially for Des Moines). I do not find it's variety or quality to be any better than the newly opened Samurai, the quality of fish at Waterfront is probably better, the variety at Appare is probably better.

Fair warning, if you order nigiri (piece of fish a top a portion of rice) there will be wasabi between the fish & rice, so make sure if you do not want that to request it without. Also, there is a pork dumpling they serve there on the appetizer menu that has a lot of wasabi & it goes straight to your sinuses.

There's a lot of standard fare, spicy tuna rolls, caterpillar, dynamite, etc. All very tasty. Their nigiri & sashimi also very good. I haven't had too much there that I didn't care for. The volcano appetizer was a little disappointing, it really needed to be served with some toasts or something. The mushroom appetizer, same thing. There isn't really an item on the menu that I "must have" unlike the other sushi restaurants in town, although all are good.

Aside from sushi they do have noodle & rice dishes, none of which I have tried. I'm sure they are lovely, but I've only ever witnessed people eating sushi there.

Bottom line: It's a must for sushi lovers
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