The smell of Pacific Asian cooking welcomes customers as they walk through the doors of Miro Kitchen, located on Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield. The sizzling of food and aura of casual sophistication invites the customers inside.

“I think it's a laid back casual place. Its got a cool, casual vibe, but despite that the service is still very professional,” Eugene Kabilitinsky, who helps to manage Miro Kitchen, said. Carmen Jusino, waitress at Miro Kitchen flashed a wide smile when asked about what she enjoyed about working at the restaurant. “The vibes are great,” she said. “I love working with everyone.”

Miro Kitchen opened March 19th by chefs Chris and Nicole Gonzalez, who transitioned their cuisine from Hapa Food Truck into their menu today. “The truck is very small as a kitchen and as a business. In a truck you don’t have the capacity to make dozens of dishes, so what we did was we took the things that they did that were really successful in the truck and created a full restaurant menu around them,” Kabilitinsky said.

The menu features a wide variety of options, including Hawaiian, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, and Hong Kong cuisine. The inspiration for this assortment of dishes stems from Chris Gonzalez’s culinary history of working abroad, and his upbringing in the Philippines. “From his experience in Hawaii, to the places he’s worked in America, his general upbringing, he has a fairly inventive and creative style,” Kabilitisky said about Gonzalez. “He’s not a classically trained chef, so because of that I think that he likes to experiment with things and ideas and flavors.”

Kabilitinsky explains how co-head Chef Howard Mccall, who is a classically trained chef, also contributes his culinary expertise to the menu. “...I think they’re a perfect compliment to each other,” Kabilitinsky said. “Howard knows how to make certain traditional dishes, and then Chris likes to experiment with different things, so they compliment each other where his creativity blends well with Howard’s classical training and they kind of bounce ideas off each other and figure out the best way to make it.”

While the restaurant also serves lunch, the dinner menu includes everything from salads to tacos and burrito bowls to noodles and burgers. The crispy pork belly was cooked to perfection and the peanut sauce added a nice sweetness to the rather savory pork belly.

For the taco section of the menu, the korean beef short rib, crispy cauliflower and spicy garlic shrimp tacos were said to be both chef and customer favorites. The spicy garlic shrimp held true to those statements as the shrimp was cooked with a light crisp on the edges and the pickled carrots and cucumbers added a nice burst of flavor.

For the main course, the Singaporean Street Noodles are a fun addition to the meal. Served in a big bowl with a wide spoon, the thin noodles easily soak up the spicy red sauce. The vegetables and bean sprouts add a delightful crunch and it's highly recommended to add either chicken, shrimp, pork or steak for a bit of protein.

When it comes to dessert, it’s hard to pass up the Malsadas. A Portuguese delicacy consisting of fried dough lathered in caramel sauce, these tasty treats make for a creamy and sweet end to a colorful meal.

While the restaurant chose not to spend any money on advertising its opening, their building an outdoor patio and expect to see a lot more customers in the coming months. “People come in, they like it, they come back... We’re starting to recognize people and faces, so people who are regulars coming in because they like it, they just keep coming back,” Kabilnitsky said with a smile.