REVIEW: We Ate at the Real Harryhausen’s From ‘Monsters, Inc.’ and Disney, You Outdid Yourselves

We had the chance to experience the Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship, the Disney Adventure, and we’ve been doing everything that the ship has to offer. Of course, that means eating — lots and lots of eating!

The Disney Adventure has over 20 restaurants to try, and one of them is themed like Harryhausen’s from Pixar’s Monsters Inc., the place where Mike Wazowski takes Celia on a date, and they first encounter Boo. We were so excited to not only eat here, but also to see it with our own eyes. We’re taking you inside and letting you know what we thought about the food!

The restaurant is called Mike & Sulley’s Flavors of Asia, and it offers up four distinct Japanese dining experiences, including From Sushi to Steak and Beyond and A Taste of Harryhausen’s. As soon as we showed up, the theming made us feel like we stepped into the movie.

This is an upscale dining experience, and we loved the decorations at this place!

There were paintings up…

…unique decor…

…and nods to the iconic film. Do you recognize the bag that Mike and Sully hid Boo in?!

They had a lot of seating that screamed upscale dining.

There are also spots where they’ll cook in front of you!

Alright, let’s get into what we ate! We started with the Tarabagani for $30, which is King Crab Tartlet, Muskmelon Pearl, Yuzu Agar, and Caviar. The tart was so light, crispy, and buttery. The filling in this was AMAZING! Yes, the dish looks very stunning, but there’s plenty of the meaty, fresh crab. Also, the yuzu agar was jelly-like and on the sweeter/floral side. It was interesting!

The caviar added bites of extra saltiness that were great. The pearl added the most amazing crunch to the dish and almost reminded us of celery if it were on the sweet side. The edible flowers added beautiful color to the dish, making it bright, unique, and a great bite for anyone looking for something adventurous.

Then we grabbed the Kale for $15, which is Curly Kale, Pea Purée, Pine Nut, Puffed Rice, Yuzu-Chia Seed Vinaigrette. This was surprisingly good. The waiter described it as the only “healthy” thing on the menu, but it was so worth it.

The kale was perfectly massaged and not bitter at all. The pine nuts were mild and nutty, adding great texture to the kale. The pea puree was so intriguing. It had that classic pea, natural, subtle flavor, and it made the kale even lighter somehow. The puffed rice was fun and airy, adding even more texture to the dish. We believe there are some pieces of dragon fruit in here that have a sweetness to the dish. Each bite was earthy, light, and subtly sweet.

The Asparagus costs $12 and is made with Beni Sloga Hollandais and Bonio Flakes. Another very surprising dish! The waiter recommended them, so we went with it, not expecting much. Well, we were wrong.

The asparagus was cut into bite-sized pieces and PERFECTLY cooked. They were super soft but not mushy, and they still held their shape. The hollandaise was thick, but the main flavor was ginger. The sauce was creamy and so fragrant. The flavor was refreshing and slightly sharp, which made it a very unique way to dress up a traditional side.

Our main dish was the Pure Black Australian Striploin for $45. This thing cut like BUTTER — it was amazing! It was cooked perfectly to medium rare with a warm pink center. It had several accompaniments, like grilled onions, a tomato, fried garlic, a sesame sauce, and seaweed salt.

It was genuinely an amazing cut of meat that didn’t have too much fat and only had one tough spot. Plus, it was the cheapest steak on the menu, which leads us to wonder how good the others are.

We grabbed the Sauce Flight to try, which came with Shichimi Miso, Daikon Sweet Shoyu, Garlic-Goma Sauce, Yakiniku Sauce, and Bordelaise Jus:

• Shichimi Miso — This one was probably our second favorite in the flight. The miso had a really incredible umami flavor. Shichimi is the popular five-spice seasoning blend, which made this so interesting and flavorful. It actually had a bit of heat as well.
• Daikon Sweet Shoyu — This one was sweet, although not overwhelming. It was the closest option to a traditional soy sauce that you might look for.
• Garlic-Goma Sauce – This one was really interesting, with its main flavor being nutty. It didn’t take a lot to get the real sesame flavor, although we would’ve liked to see a little bit more garlic.
• Yakiniku Sauce — This one was hands-down our favorite. We can’t quite place what it was, but we enjoyed it so much. We found ourselves going back to it consistently. This sauce is traditionally used for grilling in Japanese cultures, according to our research, so it might not be the most exciting for someone who eats Asian cuisine consistently, but we found it very balanced and enjoyable.
• Bordelaise Jus – Familiar, yet popular favorite, according to the Cast Member. This one was tasty, but not our favorite of the bunch. It definitely was a safe choice and added a really interesting savoury element to the steak, but there were no real noteworthy flavors.

For dessert, we grabbed the Basque Ube Cheesecake for $12, which is served with blue butterfly pea flower crème and matcha tuile. Just add this to the list of things we thought were SO GOOD here! It was Ube-based, so it was super creamy while being sweet and earthy.

The top was the blue butterfly cream, which we loved, but it didn’t have a ton of flavor. The Cast Member told us that the blue color comes from the butterfly pea flower. Personally, we loved this and need many, MANY more. They twice baked it for a charred, almost caramel-flavored layer on top, which was notable.

Overall, it’s safe to say that we absolutely LOVED this restaurant and highly recommend it to anyone on board the Disney Adventure. Now we can only hope we see something like this at Disney’s Hollywood Studios when the new Monsters, Inc. land opens. Be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for all our news and reviews from the Disney Adventure!

Enjoying the Disney Adventure by Day, Fighting Crime by Night

Is this a place you would try? Let us know in the comments!

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