$49 Christmas Eve Prix Fixe at Cafe Hiro - Cypress

Cafe Hiro's prix fixe Christmas Eve Dinner is a holiday tradition we intend to continue for as long as Cafe Hiro offers it. I first waxed poetic about seven years ago. Last year, when I wrote about it, I merely put up my snapshots to let the pictures speak for themselves.

This year, I'm going to implore you to remember this post come next Christmas Eve and make a reservation, because last night, despite the bargain base price for a meal of this magnitude, there was barely anyone there to enjoy it.

If you did you would've been dazzled by Chef Hiro Ohiwa's food and pampered by his attentive staff.

You would've started your five-course feast with the sashimi plate of Fanny Bay oysters, sea urchin, scallop and octopus that he mixes with dashi gelee, yuzu-vinaigrete and white truffle oil. Your date would've swooned over her first course, too: a creamy spread of smoked salmon, shrimp, crab meat and cream cheese eaten with red onion, caper and cherry tomatoes over crispy toast.

Your second course would've been thin slices of beef tataki with poached cabbage, anchovy-vinaigrette, reggiano cheese, garlic chips, all drizzled with a balsamic reduction. She would've said her course--the breaded monkfish with tartar sauce over an Asian mango slaw--tasted like the best fish sticks crossed with a lobster she'd ever had.

Next, you both would've tried not to fill up on the uni spaghetti, a Cafe Hiro classic, or the ume-shiso spaghetti with oba mint and nori, with dried bonito flakes that flap in the hot updraft as though they were still alive.

And for a main course, you both would've opted for the hunk of roasted beef--yours cooked to a rosy pink, hers well-done--both soft as silk and doused with garlic soy sauce, served with Chef Ohiwa's ultra creamy mashed potatoes.

Finally, for dessert, you would've been able to choose from the regular menu of sweets, but then you would've also noticed a gateau au chocolate with macaron, fresh berries and whipped cream that Ohiwa added just for Christmas Eve. You would've ordered it but also the croissant bread pudding, because that's what you did last year, and tradition is tradition.

Cafe Hiro
(714) 527-6090
10509 Valley View St
Cypress, CA 90630

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