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2019-07-29
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Summary: I'm split between respect and disgust, hatred and grudging admiration. TMK is definitely not for everyone, and God save you if you don't eat mayo or fried food. That said, TMK's commitment to theme and a few interesting dishes save it from complete failure. If you like fun bar-type restaurants and new-wave japanese sushi rolls that would make Californian Japanese restaurants blush, this might be your place. Everyone else, probably best to stay away.TMK (named for TeMaKi, or handroll) is
TMK (named for TeMaKi, or handroll) is the casual part of the Pirata group's new Japanese two-headed monster in Sheung Wan. It goes for a rock vibe, and really commits:
I love the colors and casual seating, and the classic/pop rock they pipe through works too. There's a freaking motorcycle just sitting behind glass. They prepare all the non-fried rolls at the sushi bar, a blessing and a curse as i'll mention below.The food and drinks menus are pretty simple:
As its name suggests, TMK's signature dishes are handrolls, roughly half the food menu. Here's the drinks menu:
One thing, don't order the cheapest sake - it's completely flat in both flavor and freshness. And why are highballs so damn expensive? The whole table has to order the same tasting menu (if you go that route), so we both had the Leather set, and added an extra karaage (who can resist fried chicken).
Here's what we had:
Edamame - tastes like edamame
Wagyu Tataki
Beef isn't the highest quality, and it's a bit chewy, but really liked the slightly tart ponzu-type sauce, with a bit of heat from the chili oil. The pickled chinese onion works as a crunchy offset, but i think the sauce was acidic enough as it is.Vegetable Tempura
Nothing remarkable, but the mushroom and pumpkin were really sweetKaraage
Beautifully fried and juicy, the breading was the perfect thickness. While the yogurt still tasted a lot like mayo, it was a great cool contrast to the chicken.Tuna and Salmon Sashimi
Meh? was fine. Tuna wasn't very flavorful, but the salmon wasn't bad. Nothing you'll remember.Hamachi Sushi
My friend didn't like think much of this, but i thought it wasn't bad; the yuzu (i think?) concoction on top helps wake up the traditionally sleepy, oily hamachi. The sushi technique was surprisingly good too - not heavy-handed with rice or over-pressed.Soft Shell Crab Handroll
A tasty combination of ingredients - cucumber and sea grapes along with the mayo and soft shell crab; but the crab was over-fried, and that over-cooked crunch kinda kills any subtlety the other ingredients bring. My friend's comment was that the over-frying kills any taste of crab there might have been - does soft-shell crab ever have any flavor though?Tuna Hot Dog - Love it or hate it
A deep-fried crab-mayo rice roll cut open, stuffed with spicy tuna mayo, topped with seaweed and crunchy bits, then dressed with EVEN MORE MAYO. I think the description speaks for itself, but I will say that the deep fried roll is done pretty well, and the additional crunch makes this monstrosity ALMOST work. Unfortunately, as we were at the bar, I watched the sushi chef dump an incredible amount of mayo in just for the spicy tuna mix, and then proceed to douse the finished product with even more. As someone a bit ambivalent on mayo in general, this was too much for me to handle, but i can imagine some people really digging this dish.Ice cream - their shaved ice machine is broken so the kakigori was replaced by green tea/red bean and candy toppings. Sure, it's fine.
Overall, this place is the definition of "your mileage may vary." Did i enjoy the food? not really. Did i like the meal though? Kind of.They work hard to make it fun - at like 9:45 they bought a round of sake for everyone (the sake i mentioned above - works as a shot i guess), and as i mentioned, the decor, music and food combine to make a lively experience. The food though, is really heavy (the tuna hotdog is nightmare fuel ) and the non-fried stuff is pretty nondescript. You shouldn't be coming here to eat regular sushi or sashimi, let's put it that way. It's not particularly expensive though - it came out to just over $1000 for the two of us with 1-2 drinks each, and quite a bit of food, so it's not a huge investment to try.
If you're into fun/loud restaurants, crazy sushi rolls covered in obscene amounts of ingredients (read: mayo) and deep-fried food, then friend, do I have a place for you. If not, then you don't need to try TMK.
張貼
