Cucina Harita - Tokyo, Japan

Having had an awesome eating trip so far in Tokyo, I happily obliged when a friend made reservations and invited us here. 

menu - they don't give you the prices here, until the bill is served up

Sushi Masuda - Tokyo, Japan

Sushi Masuda - Tokyo, Japan

This six-seater sushi restaurant was awarded one michelin * at the back of 2014, after only 12 months of opening. Only having received training from the best, Jiro-san, Masuda san went on to open this basement sushi joint which also has a very serious atmosphere. We arrive at 12.45pm with 3 others having already started, and we get seated before the chef asks us if there's anything we don't eat....

Yoroniku - Yakiniku, Tokyo, Japan

Yoroniku - Yakiniku, Tokyo, Japan

I had heard through the grapevine Yoroniku was one of the better yakiniku places. With a mighty 4.2/5 rating on tabelog, this was definitely a popular destination for locals too. We made our booking a week or so in advance, and they were definitely full on a Friday evening. 

We were served by a friendly waitress who spoke perfect English - they grill your meat here for you so you don't overcook anything!

menu

Aikawa 愛川 - Old school unaju in Tokyo, Japan I read about this place from Tokyo's Timeout magazine. And after walking off our lunch we decided to check out the place before dinner, a slight trek from the metro. Whilst we wait for our food we have some edamame and senbei i.e. fried eel bones to snack on. Whilst we've had plenty of edamame, senbei is really a for us. Quite addictively crunchy but it gets quite salty after a while, which makes it perfect with beer. senbei (fried eel bone) the glossy box

Aikawa 愛川 - Old school unaju in Tokyo, Japan

I read about this place from Tokyo's Timeout magazine. And after walking off our lunch we decided to check out the place before dinner, a slight trek from the metro. 

Whilst we wait for our food we have some edamame and senbei i.e. fried eel bones to snack on. Whilst we've had plenty of edamame, senbei is really a for us. Quite addictively crunchy but it gets quite salty after a while, which makes it perfect with beer. 

senbei (fried eel bone) 

the glossy box

After a 15 minute wait our glossy box arrives, with a eel liver soup to go with the unaju. The unagi is grilled longer here - katayaki style - so the meat is firmer, and crispier, not very sweet which I enjoyed.  The fillets are very large and meaty, and this was only their medium! What if we ordered the largest? The rice beneath is plump and very delicious too.

 

Medium large eel 

Aikawa does serve up an eel quite different from that you would normally have, which is steamed and then grilled making the meat rather soft. The unagi here is not meltingly soft, and has a slight chew and crispiness on the more grilled bits, which I quite enjoyed.

Overall, if you're looking for eel prepared in a different manner, this is a good place to check out ;-). 

Food: ♥♥♥ 1/2 

Service: ♥♥♥

Price: ¥4,200 for the unaju box, katayaki style (extra grilling, to make the fillets more firm)

Aikiwa

1-17-22 Takadanobaba Shinjuku Tokyo
Tel: +81-3-3200-3717

Daisan Harumi, Tokyo Japan - omakase sushi lunch

Daisan Harumi, Tokyo Japan - omakase sushi lunch 

Having done a bit of research I found out about this place and wanted to go during one of our days. We were lucky to be able to plan 2 months ahead and made reservations the month before the date we wanted to go. 

Menu during lunch

うに虎喰 - Tsukiji Itadori Unitora Kurau, Tokyo, Japan 

Our first breakfast in Tokyo was na sea urchin specialty store to satisfy our sea urchin cravings... we went to this place by the Tsukiji market and avoided the queues at the popular sushi joints as we were going to get top sushi later.

catch of the day

Kishoku

I think I just might have found my new favorite sushi heaven. I won't waste your time by giving you a full-on intro on Kishoku, but if you are interested in a little background information, just read this article. We came just before last order and sat at the sushi counter. Our sushi chef came and introduced the menu and recommended we try the deluxe sushi platter... This was what we had come for and so we happily went along.

lunch menu

Zanzo - izakaya with vegetarian friendly eats!

Visiting Rakuen recently reminded me of another Japanese drinking/eating establishment I enjoy taking friends - Zanzo in hipster area Tai Hang. They have a lovely bar area and small tables surrounding the bar - whilst I wouldn't recommend this for big groups it's definitely somewhere to check out with a partner or a couple others. Part of the Miramar Group, this Japanese 'contemporary bar' has a short but well-executed menu and several daily specials each night; and although one doesn't often think of Japanese places as vegetarian friendly, this place does have a small but good selection that will make any vegetarians happy. Moreover, the prices are ridiculously reasonable.... probably because of its neighbourhood being not as easily accessible (okay it was a good ten minute walk from the MTR, which, is not bad at all!)

guess what's this black and multi-colored dish?!

Izakaya with reliable, delicious drinks & food

A couple weeks ago I was invited to a tasting (thank you David for the invite and arrangements!) at Rakuen in Lan Kwai fong. Now the Causeway Bay branch has been around for a while with quite a good following but this branch, in a somewhat nondescript building of LKF is much quieter (and comfier!) Anyhow, rather than giving us a set menu of selected dishes we were given a budget which we thought was much better as this allows for room for people with picky palates or allergies (*myself included)... Since they have a recent Okinawan chicken specials menu, we went ahead and ordered several dishes from there as well as Rakuen's signatures and staples. 

Washoku lunching at Nadaman

After a hectic week, dad, brother and myself headed over to Nadaman at Kowloon Shangrila Hotel for Sunday lunch. Given that it was the weekend we arrived at almost 2pm to find the restaurant fully packed and a few tables celebrating birthdays (I believe you get a free tiramisu cake with certain credit cards!). Anyway, we were led to our seats and promptly ordered as we were quite close to the last-order time of 2.30pm.  

Although I really wanted to order the kaiseki set lunch ($480) our waitress informed us that we were too late! Next time I thought, next time... Having ruled kaiseki off, the two men went with the Nadaman shokado bento boxes and a Tokusen nigiri zen called for me... 

Tokusen Nigiri Zen ($440)

Yardbird

Yardbird @ Sheungwan

Yardbird has fans. A lot of fans. And despite the long queues (no reservations taken), one waits, and wait they should - the food here is fab. Below is a collection of photos over several visits, with a few comments here and there.

Menu, specials on board

MIST Rahmen

Mist Rahmen @ CWB

I finally got around to trying MIST a couple months ago and went back for a second visit (ordering the same soup-bases because they were so good)... Here, its all about the soup, consistent and impressive. Their noodles are made in-house and come in several thicknesses, but after sitting in the broth for some time, they quickly became too soft, so eat quick! I'd gladly visit MIST again - pricey, yes, but their soups have so much depth it more than justifies the price....!

Menu

Dondonya

Dondonya @ Elements Mall

Assorted sashimi bowl

 Sashimi was not bad; it was fresh save for the slightly fishy salmon roe. Normally they have salmon too but as I don't eat raw salmon they simply took it out - my understanding is that they won't substitute other fish for you here... at least not when I've visited.

Rolled Pork and Shiso Katsu

I loved the flavor of the shiso leaves though I thought the crust could've been less oily - definitely not on par with Tonkichi's frying techniques.

The works: sesame, tonkatsu sauce, house sauce which tastes like pork - mix less or more of each as you please.

On another visit, I sampled the below items: 

Kimchi beef stone pot rice

 This stone pot rice is always a safe and good option - slightly spicy, tender beef cooked fully (if you mix it nearer to the bottom), and the crispy crust of the rice at the bottom....

Hokkaido seafood rice bowl + set upgrade

ikura, ebi, hotate

  I really enjoyed the salty/briny flavour of the ikura mixed with the scallop, shrimp and rice though it was leaning towards the fishy side.

Eel Stone Pot Rice

For those who avoid raw foods yet don't want deep-fried items, I would highly recommend this eel stone pot rice topped with an egg. The eel had a good balance of sweet-salty taste from the kabayaki sauce with the hot stone crispy rice at the bottom and soft egg mixed in, it was delicious!

Dondonya may not be a top-notch Japanese restaurant, but if you look at is as casual fare (which, given its prices, it surely is), it's a good option if you're in elements - just note there may be a longer wait time during dinner hours on weekends.

Food: ♥♥♥ 

Service: ♥♥

Price: Range from HK$120-300pp  depending on the rice bowl.

 

Dondonya
2103-5, Level 2, Elements 

1 Austin Road West,

Kowloon
Hong Kong 
T: +852 2196 8589 (walk-in only)

Sushi Kuu II

Sushi Kuu's kaiseki lunch

Regular lunch menu

Sushi Fuku-suke

Fuku suke @ Causeway Bay

It has been almost two months since i've had sushi (last visit was at Tenzen, which had decent but not particularly memorable quality fish, may post about it later) thanks to exams taking over my life for the past several months. how i crave this stuff! Note to self: must have decent sushi at least once a fortnight =) 

So on a friday afternoon i dragged my raw fish-loving brother to causeway bay to visit fuku suke in hopes of ordering their famous assorted sashimi rice bowl...

some appetizers

Saikou, third time's not a charm

Saikou @ Wellington St

I know i have previously given a (sort of raving) positive review about Saikou about a month or two back, as one of my favourite lunch spots in Central for sushi... If only I could write this post having the same positive views... ! 

I arrived at Saikou today with my brother, hoping to introduce him to this place I used to to like. Without the 20% discount for after 1.45pm arrivals, it seemed a lot more expensive for what they give you. We hesitated at first, but finally decided to go for the pick-your own Tempura Set ($220) and the Sushi Platter ($190). 

Sushi Hiro

Sushi Hiro @ Causeway Bay

Despite the horrific event that happened to Japan back in March I haven't stopped going out for sushi or Japanese food for that matter, just because i believe that the government of HK and Japan take strict measures to make sure our food is safe. in fact, the centre for food safety of HK has daily updates about the radiation tests it performs on various food products... 

i firmly think that the best way to support Japan is to keep consuming their goods, and in any case, any potential hazard will be screened by the respective governments...

on a saturday the 10/f was packed to the rim - guess sushi hiro isn't one of the japanese restaurants experiencing a significant dip in business!

That said, this will be a super brief post!

Hide-Chan

Hide-Chan @ The Loop, Central 

Hide-Chan had received an amount of media attention prior to its opening... and because of this i couldn't help but have certain (not necessarily high) expectations for this ramen chain.

L and I arrived to find a mini queue to be seated even though there were clearly empty spaces inside. That was ok I thought, maybe they're just not used to crowds just yet. Soon enough, we were seated and gave in our form in which we specified our order: Two white hide (orig tonkatsu) ($75) with lean(er) char siu (thin pork loin), 'hard' noodles plus an additional soft-boiled egg for $10 ($5 for half of one).

Saikou

Saikou @ Wellington St., Central 

Good raw fish is not easy to find in Central. Many could frankly do better, and the ones that have fresh produce are charging more for rent than for what you get. So, I was quite pleased to find this place =) 


The menu has horrendous English typos/mistakes....but language aside, there are a variety of staples including Tempura which Saikou is known for... On both visits, I was craving raw fish so I didn't have the chance to try their tempura...maybe next time. 

Sushi Kuu

Sushi Kuu  @ LKF 

A while back L introduced me to this place. Quality sashimi is not easy to come by in Central, but Sushi Kuu does have very fresh sashimi even during lunch. Their lunch menu features some cooked Japanese staples such as tonkatsu with curry on rice, miso black cod and tempura but most are here for the raw fish choices if not for the Kaiseki set.