Everyone’s in on the action at this singular, sought-after dining experience in the South West.
Miki’s is an outlier in several respects. There’s the unassuming shopping plaza site; the Japanese-accented menu’s unconventional format, comprising anywhere between 14 to 23 so-called “elements”. Yet so fine is the focus on premium ingredients and local produce that it’s little wonder this immersive 30-seater has struck such a chord in Margaret River.
No vantage point in the black-and-white box of a room is a bad one, but the ringside counter is the place to be, overlooking owner-chef Mikihito Nagai and his small team. They begin simply – with a Bravo apple wedge and yuzu gel, say – before working fastidiously towards deftly grilled duck breast blotted with miso wasabi. Along the way, tempura proves a strong suit, lending fragile and filigreed texture to matcha-salted Shark Bay scallops or butternut pumpkin with hollandaise-like kimizu sauce. And while the fryer does much of the heavy lifting, there’s rigorous technique writ large throughout, in the expert slicing of kingfish sashimi or depth of a sesame mousse to finish.
No vantage point in the black-and-white box of a room is a bad one, but the ringside counter is the place to be, overlooking owner-chef Mikihito Nagai and his small team.
So many moving parts means the sum total might feel unequal, but there’s no doubt it’s a high one, helped along by well-chosen wines and junmai sake. Book well ahead, or run the very real risk of missing out.
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