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2012-03-18
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We went on another spree to discover new Izakaya places on Hong Kong side. After browsing through Open Rice, the high amount of good comments caught my attention. Usually finding a place to have dinner on a Friday night at Causeway Bay without some pre-planning is a futile exercise. Surprisingly, we managed to make a last minute booking for two. The place was reasonably easy to find. You'll see a very Japanese style sign placed outside the small entrance of the commercial building:We arrived on
Usually finding a place to have dinner on a Friday night at Causeway Bay without some pre-planning is a futile exercise. Surprisingly, we managed to make a last minute booking for two. The place was reasonably easy to find.
You'll see a very Japanese style sign placed outside the small entrance of the commercial building:
We arrived on time at 8:30 pm.
The restaurant was very crowded at the time and the staff were extremely busy. Nevertheless, they still made an effort to smile at customers despite looking obviously very worried about something. We were shown to our counter seats which were physically located in the middle of the restaurant. There were a lot of Japanese and Chinese customers. Despite the fact that no one was obviously shouting, the restaurant was extremely noisy. It's similar to a very crowded bar on Friday and I could barely speak with my wife. I find it quite unbearable so I had to order a draught beer to numb my senses a bit. However, they did not have draught beer and only had bottled beers. Plum wine was available by the glass. Sochu was only available by the bottle. I ordered a beer - Sapporo "black label" while we read the menu.
I didn't do my research properly beforehand and was not in the mood to do so once inside the restaurant. So we ordered what we usually have at Izakayas such as "Ankimo" (fish liver), Tsukune (Minced Chicken meat balls) and Sunagimo (Chicken gizzards). A glance at the menu showed that the restaurant should be good at making simmered food and also Tofu. We were adventurous so we ordered Natto Gyoza , a simmered Squid with Taro and one fried tofu.It was quite interesting to see the division of labour : the main chef was busy preparing some grilled food as well as the sashimi at the counter while other staff were preparing other dishes inside the kitchen.
The squid and yam simmered dish 魷魚山芋煮 was a very family style food. A type of comfort food for some Japanese people. It think it's OK. Nothing special. The squid was slightly tough but the yam was very soft. Those were simmered in a light soy sauce with some dashi, i.e. fish broth. Then came the Ankimo 安康魚肝 , fish liver:
This was not good. It tasted a bit off and the texture was a bit strange - a little bit too soggy. It wasn't like what I've had at "Ginza Ookura 大倉" or "New Kotobuki 新大壽". I think those two restaurants are much much better. Not recommended. Then came the sunagimo 雞腎 and the tsukune 雞肉串:
The sunagimo was not bad. You'd be surprised at how few Japanese restaurants could do this properly. It's very easy to overcook the gizzards. This did not happen here. The quality was above average and the price was reasonable. The tsukune, on the other hand, was quite disappointing. It came in ball shapes and I thought all was lost - all the best tsukunes I've had in Japan and in Hong Kong were the long stick like version - ball shaped tsukunes will easily become dry and lose all their juice inside them; it's also less hearty. The restaurant tried to stop the juice from escaping by marinating the tsukune in a type of gravy. However, the result was that the gravy (possibly sweet soy sauce and flour) overwhelmed the dish and made the tsukunes too soggy. What's worse was that the tsukunes did not have any chicken cartilages inside - if there was, I couldn't find it. Not recommended.
At this point, we were really straining our voices when tyring to have a conversation so I ordered a bottle of Sochu. 黒甕 (Kurokame). It's made of Imo (Yam) and was pretty strong. It's stronger than the other sochu produced by the same brewery, kuro kirishima 黒霧島 but less aromatic.
Natto Gyoza 納豆餃子 :
This was interesting but I will not recommend it unless you really really like Natto - in that case I'll suggest just ordering natto since the gyoza skins were all pretty thick and tough. I don't think it adds much to natto. However, it certainly is a much easier and cleaner way of eating Natto. The nattos were the big nattos and tasted strong. Even my wife, who eats natto all the time, think it's quite strong. I had to submerge every gyoza in a lot of soy sauce because eating them. I also needed a copious amount of sochu, well - a few sips, to go with it afterwards. I'm getting quite fed up with the noise and some of the food at this point. Luckily, this came and saved the day:
I can't remember exactly the name of the tofu, it's possibly tosa tofu 土佐豆腐 とさ. You could find this dish in the menu at the section especially for tofu. The batter was light but tough, which is important to keep the very soft tofu intact. The tofu itself was very aromatic. It's what you'll get from organic soy beans freshly prepared and kept at the right temperature. The sauce that accompanied the dish was also a bit different from tosa tofu you could get elsewhere. It's light but a long aftertaste. Perhaps the secret was in the soy sauce they used and the amount of sake and fish broth (if any) they put in. This dish is recommended. By the time we finished our meal. it was nearly 10:00 p.m. Half the restaurant was empty and the noise level was a lot more bearable. This might be the time to come for a better experience.
The service was good. Notwithstanding the large amount of customers, there were efficient, attentive and polite.
I'd reconsider going to this place if I could find a really quiet time slot. If you don't mind the noise too much and not too fussy about drinks, then it's worth a try. But make sure you check the recommended dishes first. For my part, I'll recommend the tofu dishes.
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