Mitsuwa Marketplace: Sanukiseimen Mugimaru and Miyabi-Tei- Costa Mesa, CA

Three new vendors have joined Costa Mesa's Mitsuwa Marketplace food court: Sanukiseimen Mugimaru, Don Don Tei, and The Loft Hawaiian Restaurant. On my last visit, one companion and I tried out Sanukiseimen Mugimaru while my other companion went to Miyabi-Tei.

Sanukiseimen Mugimaru has a cafeteria style layout; first, line up at their udon pictures, and then tell the employee what you would like to order from the menu. With udon, the freshly made noodles will be heated/boiled up at that time and the noodle bowl will be heated up in the same cooking water, with the employee moving the bowl around. I find that unsanitary, but they did pass certification! For onigiri or tempura, continue to the counter where you can select as many items as you would like. The next stop is the cashier, where you can get utensils as well as condiments including sauces, ginger, green onions, and fried tempura batter bits for extra crunch on your udon.

During our visit, the menu was quite limited, but now the menu has expanded to include more items and applications. All of the items are not too expensive--this beef udon was less than five dollars! Although the portion size is not substantial, it makes for a great light meal. The beef udon has plenty of chewy udon noodles along with the beef and onion slices topped with a scoop of soy-sauce-based broth.

I had a combo of curry rice and the kari udon combo; although the portion size is the same for both items, the price is discounted.

The Kari Udon is the simplest of the udon options; it is just the soy sauce based broth with freshly cooked udon noodles. I enjoyed the simplicity of this dish; the green onion and tempura bits that I added enhanced the dish quite substantially.

(green onions and ginger (cream/yellow color in the background) added as condiments)

What I actually enjoyed was the plate of curry rice; I found this somewhat ironic since Sanukiseimen Mugimaru specializes in udon and tempura. Unlike the typical Japanese curry, this curry was not extremely thick, and plenty of ground beef, onion slices, lotus roots, and carrots were dispersed throughout the hearty, yet somewhat thin curry sauce. If the curry udon also offers this curry, I am very willing to visit here again sometime soon!

My other companion, tried out a hot soba, salad, and curry rice set from Miyabi-Tei instead.

My companion really enjoyed this set, just like we enjoyed the chicken cutlet curry set from our previous visit; we even ordered another of this same exact set (with cold soba) to go for a friend! We chose the hot soba this time around since the weather was windy, but a cold soba option is available for no extra charge. Like our previous visit, all the other items were delightful to eat; fresh, simple ingredients put together at a reasonable price. It was fun trying out two variations of curry rice this visit; Miyabi-Tei's curry is a thick curry sauce, while Sanukiseimen Mugimaru has a thinner, more colorful curry chockful of meat and vegetables.

We had a great visit this time around and can't wait to go yet again to Mitsuwa Marketplace; each visit reminds us of how food courts can place quality ingredients and reasonable pricing together. Plenty of people atre food from The Loft Hawaiian Restaurant, and if I do get the opportunity to revisit Mitsuwa Marketplace I will review it!

Mitsuwa Marketplace
665 Paularino Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92626