Another bougie and expensive restaurant review brought to you by Jenny who benefitted from a very generous friend of Chan’s. I will not even post the cost of the meal here but you can easily look up Mugen‘s website and get a sense of it. Very thankful for this dining experience and spending time with friends.

Quick funny story about this night. We didn’t know the parking situation with this restaurant so Chan decided to park at the International Marketplace and walk over. Before we headed to the restaurant, we decided to walk through Target in case we could find something to buy to cover part of the parking validation. This Target location is crazy busy with tourists and the 1st floor is packed full. As we are making our way through, we suddenly hear a loud “excuse me!” behind us coming from an older asian man. Not sure if he was a tourist – either he was local or from the mainland. Anyway, obviously Chan and I stop and he then walks around us. As he is passing us, he loudly screams, GEEZ! Well guess what? I am old now and am no longer patient so I immediately yell back at him, GEEZ WHAT. He doesn’t stop and doesn’t look up, just continues walking away. And get this guys, we weren’t even walking in a tight aisle or anything – it was a huge walkway in Target so he had every chance to get around us without this commotion. He better watch out cause Target’s cameras almost caught this chinese chica “ch-row” hands. Okay onto dinner. 🙂

Pretty centerpiece

Chic Cutlery!

Pinky Promise | $15.00
lychee & guave puree, lemon-lime soda

Mocktail of the night for me. Oh this was so good…so so good.

Amuse Bouche

Nice starter bite for everyone to start off with. I can’t quite remember exactly what it was, like a fish ceviche/poke served atop a brick of crispy rice. It was pretty good!

Bread and Butter

How cute is this bread! It is so teeny tiny but in the best way since there is so much food coming. And look at the butter! It’s a herb butter and strawberry butter in puzzle pieces! Isn’t that so cute. I would take this bread over the Mariposa popovers anytime lol.

Kona Kampachi Starter
kupu place nasturtium, green apple ponzu, trout roe

My starter, it was good but nothing special. I got a different starter from Chan so we could taste different ones. I would get his over mine any day!

Scallops
chinese black bean & smoked kurobuta ham veloute, trout roe, celery root

Chan’s scallops. Oh these scallops were so meaty and tender and seasoned wonderfully – I loved this dish!

Wagyu Beef Tartare | $28.00
egg yolk gel, black garlic, potato pave

We got this to share for the table. I love beef tartare so I have no complaints here, it was delicious!

Maui Beets
pickled mustard seeds, spiced pepitas, sweetland tomme tuille, ko cho jang vinaigrette

Another shared starter, isn’t that tuille so pretty? The beets tasted good, nice huge chunks and sweet. It was good but I prefer a beet salad with goat cheese myself.

Nigiri

The menu was comprised of tasting menu sets, you could get a tasting set with nigiri if you wanted to. I didn’t get that option but here is the sushi it comes with!

Maine Lobster
truffle nori risotto, hon shimeji mushroom, parmesan foam

How can you go wrong with lobster? Also, the two choices you had was lobster or shima aji. I think the choice is a no brainer – gotta get the lobster! It was delicious. So so good. One of my favorite dishes of the night.

Toriyama A5 Wagyu (add $25)
maitake, mochi rice, yuzu long pepper soy reduction

Not my main dish but I don’t think it was worth the extra price tag. I got to try a piece and when I cut it, it was a bit stringy to cut but the texture was just fine when you chewed it.

Marrunga Marble Lamb
brown butter ulu puree, pineapple chimichurri, coconut aji amarillo sauce

I’m going to be honest, I was so stuffed by the time this dish came I couldn’t enjoy fully it. The lamb was good but gamey for those who want to know. Good dish but I was too full to enjoy it.

Koloa Rum Toffee Cake
date cake, hawaiian honey yogurt gelato, honey meringue, koloa rum toffee sauce

Isn’t this so pretty? So pretty but not my dessert. If I wasn’t stuffed, I would have tried a taste because it sounds like sticky toffee cake which I love. Well, Chan reported that it wasn’t that good and was nothing like sticky toffee cake so we are good.

Passion Fruit Custard
lilikoi gelee, chantilly cream, sable, seasonal fruit

Yet another dessert ruined by me being too full. This was my dessert, I would have enjoyed it if I wasn’t so stuffed. Got a few bites in and it was nice and tart. Seasonal fruit? Sure. There was canned lychee in there so not really fresh seasonal fruit you know?