Mr Miyagi @ Canberra Times Night Noodle Market 2022 – Series Part 1 – Foodies Cucina

Hey Foodies,

The Canberra Times Night Noodle Market is back in 2022, after pausing for a year due to COVID, in its new home at Parkes Place West Lawns directly in front of the Old Parliament House. This year the market runs for 2 weeks from 25 February to 06 March from 5 pm everyday and brings the all-time-favourite food stalls altogether.

Tina and I attended the market on 26 Feb (yesterday) and really enjoyed the food on offer. From local favorite restaurants to nationally acclaimed and popular venues, this year’s market is bigger in its new beautiful home. We will showcase what’s on offer and what we had on the night in my next post.

Entrance @ Canberra Times Night Noodle Market

In this article, I will specifically talk about one of the most innovative stall, Mr Miyagi. Mr Miyagi is a popular Melbourne Japanese restaurant that focus on a playful spin on the food and flavours of Japan. Each year, it brings innovative and interesting ideas on Japanese food to Canberra Night Noodle Market in their pop-up stall. Every year when I go to the market, this is an always-go-to spot.

Mr. Miyagi @ Canberra Times Night Noodle Market

This year the team has a delicious selection on offer – Mr. M’s Mighty Pucks with the choice of hoisin duck, satay wagyu beef or miso eggplant served in a bun with saucy goodness as well as Mr. M’s famous Miyagi Gravy Fries. To help you select what you may want, I tried all three choices of the Pucks alongside with the fancy chips.

Miyagi Gravy Fries, $10.50

Let’s talk about their famous fries first. My take is, even at a noodle market, it is not complete without fragrant and good chips. This Fries does that final touch well. The golden shoestring fries is drizzled with rich Japanese gravy, spring onions and roasted sesame seeds. When it first came out, the smell was so good that I could not help myself to handpick one and went, yum! The gravy has a real Japanese flavour to it which made the fries differently special.

Wagyu Beef Pucks, $18.5 (2 Pieces)

Now let’s talk about their Pucks. Wagyu Puck – what would the flavour be like? The pucks were filled with satay wagyu beef in the white dough bao and were grilled to perfection with crispy skins on the outside while the entire bao was still soft. The pucks were topped with roasted peanut infused Japanese mayo, coconut crunch and spring onions. On the first bite, the pucks were full of meat – don’t expect chunky meat as this is not what a filling to a bao is about – and were enriched with wagyu beef flavours. The satay flavours could be experienced easily while with more bites happening, the flavours of Japanese mayo kicked in and combined really well with the satay. My favourite pucks of the three.

Miso Pucks, $18.5 (2 Pieces)

These are the vegetarian pucks on offer. Filled with chargrilled eggplant and quiona, the baos were grilled to the right level of crunchiness. Then they were topped with sticky miso glaze, pink Japanese mayo and coriander. The flavour of the sticky miso glaze and the pink Japanese mayo really enhanced the experience of eating with sweet, salty and delicate creamy flavours added to the eggplant with every bite, making people feeling they are having premium versions of vegetarian baos. Like them.

Duck Pucks, $18.5 (2 Pieces)

When I started with these pucks, I thought they were filled with plain Peking Duck but it was actually BBQ hoisin peking duck they were filled with. Again, not chunky duck pieces that one was expecting as in baos, you really putting the filling rather than the chunky meat. The grilled pucks were topped with Japanese mayo, roasted sesame seeds, pickles and ginger. Every bite gave a really good level of hoisin sauce flavour and the creamy mayo combined well with the duck filling. I could taste hints of the Peking duck flavour in there as well.

All of the above mentioned pucks go extremely well with their Fries as the flavours complement each other to make it a plesant experience. Recommend you try their combination so you know what I am talking about.

So, foodies, here you go – my first post on the Canberra Times Night Noodle Market. If you have not been there this year, I recommend you go – perhaps run, not walk – as you will certainly be amazed by the things on offer.

In my next post, I will share my experience on other venues at the market this year. Stay tuned.

James

Disclaimer: Foodiescucina.com attended the market as media guests of the organisers but all opinions are our own.