IT'S A MIRAKEL ... or rather MIRAKU

I WAS HONOURED TO BE invited to try out the food at Miraku Japanese Restaurant at the G Hotel in town a couple of nights ago, and even more so as I was the only guest of Yasuhiro Nishida, Managing Director of Sushi King Sdn Bhd, and Akihiko Hijioka, Deputy MD, together with Tan Chee Kin Sr Finance Mgr and their Chief Executive Chef Susumu Sakamaki. It just so happened they were all in Penang for a board meeting, so I was able to meet the bigwigs.

Miraku is Sushi King's flagship restaurant as opposed to the other 55 fast-food outlets - yes, they have 55, of which 5 are in E Malaysia and 5 are in Penang. Considering they were only established in 1995, they have grown fast and furiously.

The restaurant in on the first floor of the trendy hotel, and laid out in typical Japanese fashion - a central food bar and dining tables - and with zen-like austerity, yet simple and elegant. I love it, and wish I could emulate it in my house (although my husband will probably object to having to kneel on the floor for his dinner!). There are six private rooms which are bookable especially at weekends.

Mi means taste, and Raku means to enjoy, and that's what we did, especially as the menu was specially chosen for us by Mr Sakamaki, a friendly and chatty host who even cooked for us at the table (Touban Yaki). It's a simple dish - the fat-lined beef is quickly fried in butter then dipped in soya sauce - but truly exquisite. Hate to think what it cost ... esp if the CHIEF Executive Chef cooked it for us!

The Miraku Salad was also delicious, topped with their secret sauce, and of course we had to have some sushi which consisted of, unusually, CHILEAN salmon, not Norwegian which is usually the case. The flesh is less soft and fatty.

Mr Hijioka showed us how to eat it the PROPER way, which is NOT to plonk a load of wasabi into the soya sauce bowl but to just put a touch on the meat itself then dip the part of the slice into the bowl. That way, the sauce is kept almost pristine to the end. Hmmm ... the way WE eat it, we are more likely to douse the WHOLE slice into the soya-flavoured wasabi (as opposed to wasabi-flavoured soya) in order to get some spiciness, philistines that we are! As he told us, the Japanese like original food flavours, and only use condiments like soya and wasabi to enhance; whereas we South East Asians just like chillis with everything!!

There was also a large selection (20 pcs) in their Sushi Moriawase although to be honest by that time I really was quite stuffed ... but their beautifully-presented Dragon Roll, a deep-fried prawn roll wrapped with skinned avocado slices was absolutely to die for. I could have finished the whole lot myself ... but that would have been quite piggish. Worth every sen of the RM28.

To go with the meal we had a mild Jyozen Mizu No Gotoshi sake which was apparently more suitable for ladies. According to Mr Sakamaki, sake is a drink which, unlike wine, goes with everything. I second that. Dessert was a Tempura Ice Cream - a bit like a Bombe Alaska, but with tempura batter on the outside.

It was a great experience, not least of all because it was a meal that was particularly authentic, accompanied as it was by my Japanese hosts. Miraku is really quite a mirakel.