Miyabi 45: Japanese with a fusion twist

Miyabi 45, a Japanese fusion restaurant located in Wallingford, Washington (just west of the University of Washington) has always been on my to try list ever since I heard about its opening.
I was finally able to try it out last weekend for an early Mother's day dinner with my family.
To me, this place is nothing like the original Miyabi restaurant (located in Tukwila) but it does have a nice atmosphere to it. Since it was a hot day, the side paneled window/doors were open right at the front of the store allowing a nice breeze. The seating was a bit tight since I think they get packed pretty early so they were not able to give us an extra half a table (even though no one was really there yet right when it opened).
Now I'll jump right into the food :

They started it for us by giving us these complimentary tofu bites? I'm honestly not too sure what these were, but I believe it was some type of soybean product. It was soft and creamy and seasoned with ponzu and wasabi.

I wanted oysters for the hot day so we tried out the Shigoku and the Olympias. I've never had the Shigoku before and I have to say that I did enjoy it more so than the Olympia which I had before. They're mild and sweet and a larger size.

Everytime I go to the Miyabi in Tukwila, I almost always order an Uni (sea urchin) shot. They are $2 more here, but I still love them.

Here we had a chop salad with golden beets, asparagus, pea vines, and more. I really liked the dressing that they paired with this salad. The noodles were a little too hard for my liking, but I really enjoyed the tender beets.

A deep fried sweetbread that was on their special, this dish was on the more mediocre side and the sweetbread was a little chewy and not as flavorful as I would've liked. Also, the pea vines underneath were stringy since they didn't remove the top vein (as with most people that prepare pea vines UNLESS you're at an authentic Chinese restuarant). So overall, this dish wasn't as impressive.

Cheese plate with 5 different cheese and homemade crackers. The Meyer lemon marmalade pictured on the far left was amazing and paired with the cheeses really well. My favorite was the koji yeast fermented tofu (cheese on the bottom left ) since it reminded me of the Chinese fermented bean curd used in their cooking.

Foie gras with jerusalem artichoke (sunchoke) and brussel sprouts. This foie gras had a nice aromatic flavor which infused into the veggies. The piece I had (since we split it amongst 5 of us) was a little bit undercooked, but didn't bother me too much. It was still a nice succelent piece.

The main courses were our Soba dishes! (I had the Zaru Soba--cold dippng styple soba) while the hot ones other people had.

My mom ordered the duck and leek (kamo nanban). I only had a piece of the duck which I liked the texture of, but wished it carried a little more flavor.

I ordered the dipping soba. This handmade soba is very good. The texture is different than of the dry packaged ones you buy at the store or even have at other restaurants. It is nice a light and chewy but not overly aldente. Definitely a good soba and a good place if you want something handmade.

For dessert, we had this Japanese fusion style and their interpretation of a french beignet. I liked the idea of it, adding the bacon and having maple syrup that flavor-wise, should pair nicely with kinako (soybean flour). However, the buckwheat tofu reminded me more of the sesame paste with a too gooey of a center that reminded me of mochi (rice cake). It was okay, but I wouldn't miss not seeing it since it was on their special menu.

Overall, I was very pleased with my experience. The location was nice and on a sunny day, its even better because you can walk around and check the area out--(where we also got Molly Moon's ice cream about 3 blocks down!).

I would definitely go back and maybe try some other items like something off the Seattle's Best Bukkake (bad name..for certain reasons!) style of soba.

And below are pictures of the menus and pricing.