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2017-04-18
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This restaurant has been on my wish list since we had a good dose of delectable chicken wings during a Kansai vacation. Hubby dismissed the place as admittedly not-so-good value for money and a waste of time to queue for.On a rainy Friday night, I decided to revel in the weekend mood and dine here. Tsim Sha Tsui was overflowing with people when we arrived at the MTR. So it was not a surprise when we found the queue extending from the basement stair to the ground level. I tried to divert hubby’s
On a rainy Friday night, I decided to revel in the weekend mood and dine here. Tsim Sha Tsui was overflowing with people when we arrived at the MTR. So it was not a surprise when we found the queue extending from the basement stair to the ground level. I tried to divert hubby’s attention by shopping for snacks nearby, and trying to get a place at Doraya to no avail. We came back to line up for around 30 minutes before seating. When waiting, I was terribly shocked by a flying cockroach resting on my tote bag. I lost my mind and dropped the tote bag and umbrella and ran away. Only the dad ahead of me reacted and kicked the insect away, while hubby just kept saying I had dropped all my things on the floor.
The waiter told us we have one and a half hours to dine. We pondered on the menu and decided to have the Yamachan specialty “Phantom” wings, grilled chicken wings with salt, shochu on rocks, apricot liqueur on rocks, Nagoya curry and dote-meshi, cabbage salad, pan-fried flat noodles and pumpkin salad. We were worried about ordering too much but the portions turned out to be not so big. Drinks were served first. The apricot liqueur on rocks was extremely sweet with barely noticeable taste of alcohol while the shochu on rocks was strong. We mixed them halfway and the mixture tasted much better.
Japanese vegetables are always good to savour although the nuclear crises still looms behind. The cabbage salad is a delicacy in which the cabbage is naturally sweet mixed thoroughly with just the right amount of sesame salad dressing. The pumpkin salad is more expected and the appearance is bit deterring.
The Nagoya curry with dote-meshi looked mini. We told ourselves that dishes here are more like a condiment that goes with wine. We were intrigued by the dote-meshi. According to a Nagoya travel guide, “Dote-ni originated in the olden days, and began by making dote (embankments) on the edge of a pot using premium Hatcho miso, adding water, and letting it simmer to make oden. A variety of ingredients can be added, including daikon radish, beef sinew, giblets, and egg. Dote-ni can be eaten with sake or have rice added to make dote-meshi, and it is so popular it has become standard fare at pubs in Nagoya.” The dote-meshi here was overwhelmingly sweet with pig intestines and konjac jelly. The sauce can well be washed down with a double amount of rice.“Phantom” wings should be the specialty that people would be back for. They were much better than the basic salty wings with just a tiny dash of grapefruit pepper to spice up. “Phantom” wings were a bit spicy and richly spiced so that it went well with wine, while the basic if not none seasoning of the salty wings made the meat feel even drier.
The presentation of the pan-fried flat noodles is interesting. The noodles lay on top of a fried egg layer that was fragrant by itself while absorbing some of the flavor of the noodle sauce. The noodles were chewy with rich texture.
Chicken wings here were a genre by itself. Other food items are rather salty. Worth a try but rather turn to the ones in Japan for more.
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