WHOEVER said a good dining experience is satiating the palate’s craving alone needs to be filled in.
Like almost everything else, the definition of food enjoyment has become more dynamic.
Whatever that means is what one would surely find in Mismokuno Teppanyaki.
As Japanese proficient folks would have already guessed, mismokuno bears no linguistic meaning at all. The word is just a word play in the vernacular. The way Charlie Pages, owner of the restaurant, puts it, “mis mo like gimingaw ko nimu.”
This Japanese restaurant serves, well, Japanese delights only that one should not expect to find sushi and the like. It is a teppanyaki restaurant, after all. Teppan means iron plate. So the culinary style makes use of an iron griddle to come up with sumptuous dishes.
Mismokuno Teppanyaki may or may not be the first of its kind in the country, but what is for certain is how its innovative setup is able to captivate all the senses of a diner.
Not only does it quench the yearning for good taste, it plays more tease to the palate as a diner hears the delicious sound of grilling and observe how an appetizing dish is prepared right before his very eyes.
Beef teppanyaki is the specialty of the house. It is made of thin slices of beef slices and authentic Japanese ingredients. Teppanyaki also comes in scrumptious twists of chicken and pork.
Mixed seafood is a real treat to the taste buds. It has succulent slivers of squid, shrimp and scallop bathed in a tasty peanut-based sauce. Other seafood staples include rock lobster, hibachi tofu, mahi-mahi fish, scallops, salmon, yakisoba and prawns.
Another mouthwatering grub is the short ribs order. It is made of tender beef chunks glazed with a flavorsome sauce. Then there is also the chicken teriyaki and shiitake mushrooms.
More than the delectable fare, “it’s the experience that we are trying to sell to customers,” shared Pages. He is talking about the unique concept of the whole dining setup: people sitting on what looks like bar stools while anticipating what is cooked in front of them on what looks like a counter made of a huge iron plate. Orders are taken, cooked and served in literally one seating.
Other features worth noting about the restaurant includes the cozy and ambient interiors, which Pages personally conceptualized. From the air conditioning units down to the stools to the wash area, painstaking effort and inventiveness are hard to miss.
Mismukuno Teppanyaki is under the same management as known restaurants like Lantaw and Mooon Café. It is located along AS Fortuna St., Banilad, Cebu City—not too far from the Banilad-Talamban flyover. (Cherry Claire P. Medalle)