The Gossiping Gourmet: Great Japanese food, grilled by you

It is always a treat to find a wonderful, small restaurant in some tiny shopping mall.

Manpuku is a Tokyo barbecue restaurant in Costa Mesa that has very good food, some of which you cook yourself. The restaurant explains the name this way: “The term Maupuku means to have eaten till one is full and to have the sensation of feeling full of luck.”

My dining companion and I certainly ate until we were full and then some, and we felt very lucky to have found this place.

The décor is traditional Japanese with its clean look and wood elements as well as flowers and plants. A section of the room is set off on a low platform with low tables and legless seats. A charcoal grill sits in the middle of each table.

The menu is extensive and features four price-fixed “course menus.” We chose the Kobe Style course for two, which includes edamame, assorted kimchee, cabbage salad, Kobe filet mignon, Kobi rib eye, Kobe short rib, Kobe finger meat, shrimp, yukkejan soup, garlic rice and ice cream for dessert. Ordering this way is cheaper than ordering each item separately.

A bowl of edamame and a plate of cabbage salad arrived first. Pale-looking dressing was drizzled on a big mound of shredded cabbage. It looked very ordinary but in fact it was quite delicious. The dressing was sweet and creamy, and the cabbage was cold and crisp. We ate it all through the meal.

Yukkejan soup may be Korean in origin, although it is not really clear since some say it is Japanese, but in either case it was delicious. The excellent spicy tomato broth was full of shredded flank steak, mung bean sprouts, green onions and vermicelli noodles. Heat came from Korean red pepper powder.

A square of tofu was also floating in the broth. I’d go back just for a bowl of that soup. A small platter of three types of kimchee arrived next: Napa radish, cucumber and cabbage. Each had a different seasoning.

We were then treated to a platter of four different cuts of Kobe beef — two of which were marinated — as well as a plate of beautiful, fresh butterflied shrimp and an assortment of vegetables.

Now we got down to cooking. Our waiter said that putting the meat in the center of the coals was best for the thicker cuts and the outer ring best for the thinner cuts. He returned to change the griddle after we had gotten about halfway through, so that the meat wouldn’t get tainted with the burnt, blackened remains.

We feasted on thin fatty strips of Kobe finger meat that cooked quickly, marinated Kobe short ribs, Kobe rib eye and the piece de resistance, Kobe filet mignon. The filet was cut in thick cubes and cooked rare so that you got the flavor of this wonderful premium cut of beef.

We switched between the beef and the large succulent shrimp. A bowl of delicious, well-seasoned garlic rice came on the side. The meal was topped off with green tea ice cream. We were very full by the end of our dinner.

Of course, you can order from the regular menu, which includes appetizers, sashimi, kimuchi, salads, vegetables, seafood, soups, noodles and rice, as well the large listing on the barbecue menu, which features the restaurant’s own secret sauce mixture and has four more beef dishes as well as two tongue. The “salted” category offers pork dishes, chicken, tripe, beef intestine and salted beef liver.

Everything we ate at Manpuku was simply delicious. We look forward to a return visit.

TERRY MARKOWITZ was in the gourmet food and catering business for 20 years. She can be reached for comments or questions at m_markowitz@cox.net.

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MANPUKU

LOCATION: 891 Baker St., Costa Mesa (in Baker Street Village)

HOURS: 5 p.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays; 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays; 4 p.m. to midnight Saturdays; 4 to 11:30 p.m. Sundays

PRICES:

Appetizers: $3.50 to $12.50

Entrees: $9.50 to $33.50

Course dinners: 2 people, $78 to $110; 4 people, $120 to $140

WINE:

Bottles: $30 to $220

By the glass: $7.50 to $11.50

Corkage: $20

INFORMATION: manpuku.us/cm/en/about-us/html or (714) 708 3290