Orange County Register

Four-dolla lunch, bring it on! We found out about Cafe Hiro’s $4 lunch special over the weekend when our group of 12 descended upon the tiny gem of an eatery in Cypress for a birthday dinner. Turns out that Cafe Hiro — where chef Hiro Ohiwa has been churning out delightful Japanese fare with Italian and French influences — is celebrating its 6-year anniversary by offering daily lunch specials for the rest of the week until Friday. What a nice little way of thanking their customers, right? (Click on the jump to see more photos … )

In case you were thinking $4 would nab you an itsy-bitsy serving, nope. Today’s special, the Hamburg Steak in a demi glace sauce, came with a bit of cold spaghetti, rice, creamy scalloped potato AND soup and salad. What a deal! Admittedly, the Hamburg Steak is not the most elegant looking dish, more of a huge hunk of moist hamburger patty with a red wine reduction sauce. It’s definitely a hefty dish and reminded me of a homey meatloaf. Wednesday’s special will be a breaded pork filet, followed by Breaded Hamburg Steak on Thursday and then Breaded White Fish on Friday.

Of course, you can also order from the regular lunch menu, which has plenty of interesting options like Sea Urchin or Uni Spaghetti, Spicy Caviar Spaghetti, Carbonara, Tonkatsu Chicken, and lots of curry plates, too. My dining companion opted for the Jidori “Free Range” chicken sauteed in a spicy miso sauce (above) that turned out to be not so spicy at all. Nearly all of the lunches were $10 and under.

We couldn’t resist making extra room in our stomach for desserts. This walnut creme brulee ($4) is one of the best creme brulees I’ve had. A nice, thick caramelized sugar crust, followed by some really creamy custard embedded with lovely bits of walnut.

But my absolute favorite is Cafe Hiro’s interpretation of Panna Cotta ($7), which is less dense custard and more like an airy, milky pudding with fresh berries. I could eat three of these and be happy.

P.S. Get there early (they open at 11:30 a.m. for lunch) or be prepared to wait in line.

Cafe Hiro (in the same plaza as a Carl’s Jr. and Chili’s –ha)

10509 Valley View St

Cypress, CA

714.527.6090

Closed Mondays

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