Mi Sushi & Noodles: East Lansing’s hidden gem

By LIZY FERGUSON

Mi Sushi & Noodles was on my “to eat” list in my Notes app for months, but I kept opting for other choices, mainly due to its somewhat out-of-the-way location. Nestled between a Little Caesars and a dog-grooming salon, the restaurant sits on a stretch of Lake Lansing Road way east of my regular Meijer that I probably haven’t driven down in at least five years. Fortuitously, my friend and I decided to brave the hordes of children at the East Lansing Family Aquatic Center on a hot Friday afternoon and were therefore in the perfect place at the perfect time of day to make an impromptu inaugural visit for dinner.

The dining room is small but extremely clean and attractive, with a large TV that was playing inexplicable and endless footage of various kinds of sausage being prepared. The menu is extensive, containing a variety of sushi rolls and other Japanese standards such as teriyaki, ramen and udon as well as poke and sushi burritos. In the mood for something simple and comforting, I chose the Chicken Katsu Donburi Rice.

Donburi is a general term that refers to any Japanese rice-bowl dish, no matter the toppings. The ingredients are often cooked in donburi sauce, which is typically a combination of mirin, soy sauce, sugar and dashi, or Japanese soup stock. In this instance, the toppings consisted of green and white onion and eggs that were cooked to a scrambled consistency, plus the chicken katsu, a hammered-out chicken breast coated in panko bread crumbs and fried to golden-brown perfection.

The flavors were delicate but sublime, with a sweetness from the mirin that perfectly balanced the salty soy sauce and savory dashi. The strands of pale yellow egg absorbed the sauce to especially great effect, as did the breading on the succulent chicken breast. My favorite complementary elements were the slivers of pickled ginger and daikon radish, which added a sour contrast and crunch. It was the best thing I’ve eaten in some time, and I intermittently brought up how tasty it was for the remainder of the evening.

My companion got two of the restaurant’s specialty rolls, and since we always eat off each other’s plates, I can confirm the sushi was equally excellent, featuring glistening fish and rice that was cooked and seasoned with care, as opposed to the gluey, homogenous mess I find so disappointing at other places. I can’t recommend Mi Sushi & Noodles enough – I have already made a return visit since, and I look forward to many more.

Chicken Katsu Donburi Rice

$12.95

Mi Sushi & Noodles

3340 E. Lake Lansing Road, East Lansing

11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday

4-9 p.m. Saturday

517-816-8666

misushinoodles.com