Why Mimi Kakushi's weekend brunch is a song of glamour and gastronomy

Sponsored: Revel in the essence of 1920s Osaka…

When it’s at its best, food takes you places — a constellation of flavours that spark travel of the mind. And when restaurants deliberately curate their interiors to capture, evoke and reinforce that same combination of time and place, the results can be quite remarkable.

So it is with Mimi Kakushi, a multi-award winning, refined Japanese restaurant from the team that brought you La Cantine De Fauberg, Lana Lusa and Twiggy. It is styled with the art, elegance and ethereal glamour of 1920s Osaka — a sparkling relic of the jazz age that serves up some of the most incredible plates of Japanese food you’ll find in the region.

And the jewel in their gastronomic garland of offerings is their Orient Nouveau brunch. It takes place every Saturday and Sunday between midday and 4pm, with three hour dining and drinks packages from Dhs415. And there’s a very good reason why it’s rarely excluded from discussions about the best brunches in Dubai.

The dining odyssey pushes off from shore with a cruise through starters such as citrus salt edamame and picked yuzu daikon; there’s sharing platters of beef tataki with truffle ponzu, sesame-dressed seaweed salad and a selection of sushi and sashimi.

The next stop on this taste itinerary features gushing prawn gyoza with a citrus miso sauce; crisp vegetable tempura; Kushi Angus beef and yakitori chicken thigh with joy sparking sweet soy.

Arriving at the main destination of this journey diners will be able to enjoy, the now famous and immaculately prepared marinated black cod with citrus miso sauce; or perhaps your tastes favour a turn towards the grilled salmon with green chili sauce, glazed corn-fed baby chicken, sesame sweet garlic grilled Angus fillet or wild seasonal mushrooms with umami-laden seaweed butter.

This tour through the taste highlands of Japan ends, of course, with the sweetest sort of sayonara — Mimi Kakushi’s exquisite, hand crafted selection of desserts. And throughout the trip there are all the perfectly balanced cocktails and mocktails magicked up by the venue’s master mixologists.

It is a sage you will want to revisit again and again.