Video
Read full review
2011-07-27
1169 views
Ever since Yu closed down, I haven't been able to find a nice okonomiyaki joint in HK. Then I noticed this the name of this place pop up in the Openrice front page so decided to give it a try, feeling fairly confident that a chef from Osaka would do a fine job of it. The lady taking my reservation (recommended, as the place only has 3 tables and a few counter-top chairs) was Japanese too, which is sometimes embarrassing as you're not sure whether she knows Cantonese, whether you should use Engli
The decor is simple and functional despite the awkward shape of the room, with the teppanyaki table on one side and a quarter circle in front of it where a few Japanese guests were having a banter with the chef. Perhaps due to inflation, tea and water does not come free, though are still priced reasonably. The grape fruit juice was a good choice for a hot summer's day.
To start with, we had some verdant and perfectly salted edamame, oden and the onsen egg salad, which had a runny but very chilled egg atop a good-sized portion of salad, crispy bacon bits and a light dressing.
Then a few grilled items came: fat juicy oysters, chopped razor clams, and more clams. The seafood was fresh, and still retained a hint of briny flavour, but the best part was the scallion and the almost burnt-and-crunchy garlic bits... you could give me a bucket of those and I'll have it with plain rice.
The grilled mix mushrooms was OK, but nothing spectacular and very mildly seasoned. The cheese omelette was perfectly shaped but once you cut into it, the gooey cheese started to ooze out and stopped short of touching the tin foil. Now THAT's expertise.
And after agonising about what okonomiyaki to get, we eventually decided on the original version with extra kimchi (which gave it just that kick of spice), and yakisoba in omelette. You could also have the okonomiyaki with extra noodles, or the yakisoba without the egg, or mixed yakisoba or yakiudon, spring onion pancakes, 3 kinds of fried rice. Additional toppings are $10 each. All very reasonably priced under $78-88. And man! were they all perfectly made - round, even height, still fluffy enough but well stacked and didn't come apart whichever you cut it up, and just tasted soooo gooood. Reminded me of Japan. I tried to savour every last bite and made it last as long as possible.
There is a little bit of smoke and smell from the chef's cooking counter, but it wasn't bad enough that I left reeking of it, and in fact the lingering smell helped me recap the lovely dinner I just had when I was heading home. Definitely coming back for more.Post
