Houston’s New Sushi Palace Brings Michelin Star Chef Power — Your First Look at Molihua, an Asian Fine Dining Wonder

The revered Michelin Guide may not be published in Houston (not yet anyway), but the Bayou City can now boast it hosts not one, but two chefs who each earned two lauded Michelin stars at their previous restaurants. Chef Ho Chee Boon, creator of the Boon Group just recently opened the new restaurant Molihua at the Blossom Hotel in Houston’s Medical Center.

The Malaysian-born chef has opened an array of glittering high-end Asian fine dining restaurants from Bangkok to London, Moscow to San Francisco, earning rave reviews and a couple of Michelin stars for his international work at Hakkasan Global. Boon’s partner/chef Hideki Hiwatashi is a more permanent fixture in Molihua’s Houston kitchen, one who during his career specialized in the art of kaiseki cuisine (a series of small seasonal plates considered the finest level of dining in Japan).

Situated on the second floor of the hotel, you enter Molihua through a discreet, simple black door, a humble entrance that belies the dramatic interiors on the other side. The serene, elegant setting features ebony-colored wood accents, dark grasscloth-papered walls and pin lights that hover above each table.

Collaborating at the Molihua (meaning jasmine in Chinese), this chef duo blends Chinese dim sum dishes with traditional Japanese cuisine, albeit crafted with a modern twist. Open for dinner to start (5 pm to 9:30 pm now with lunch expected to follow in the coming weeks), Molihua’s a la carte menu offers a selection of hot and chilled small plates, two-piece sashimi and nigiri, maki rolls, tempura, noodles and chargrilled (sumiyaki) items.

You might want to start with a cocktail — everything from a lychee rose martini ($14) to a matcha sour ($16) is available — or select from a small curated list of wines and sakes by the glass.

Highlights from the chefs-driven menu include the taco-like crispy (fried) temaki roll (two for $14) cradled with prawns (although salmon and tuna are options) and the hot pumpkin puff ($18), a soft orb filled with minced duck meat and an array of mushrooms (cloud ear, shiitake and shimeji) along with a trio with pickled shallots by its side. Beautifully presented maki rolls include the Naruto, named for the Naruto Strait in Awaji and Shikoku, which blends salmon, chutoro and hamachi with shiso leaves all wrapped with pickled daikon and served with a Yuzu ponzu, while the crunchy soy marinated soft shell crab roll is tempura fried and rolled with fresh, creamy mango ($18).

Don’t miss the wild mushroom and black truffle scented rice ($32) a communal dish cooked and served tableside — kamameshi style — otherwise known as kettle rice cooked in a kama, a sturdy iron pot. While the succulent Chilean sea bass ($36) is chargrilled and napped with a delicate yuzo miso marinade.

You can end your Japanese repast with the beautiful coconut sago dessert ($19). An unctuous blend of tapioca topped with cool yuzu and pineapple sorbet, with tiny lime scented financier biscuits served in a clear trifle-like glass covered with a whisper-thin caramel tuile.

Molihua is located in The Blossom Hotel at 7118 Bertner Avenue. The restaurant is open 5 pm to 9:30 pm Tuesdays through Sundays. It is closed Mondays.