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

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

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)

August Restaurant Week HK - Messina il Ristorante

Before the month comes to an end I just wanted to write about a memorable lunch, at Messina il Ristorante. A few friends and I were due to catch up and what better way than do it over good food? Ahead of restaurant week I booked us in for a Saturday lunch as we would all have to trek over from HK side...

We arrived the Harbourside, not knowing it was actually a residential area and hence given the weekend lots of families going in and out. Good thing the restaurants here by K.O. Dining Group have their own lift lobby.

restaurant week menu

August Restaurant Week HK - Socialito

I've always associated Socialito to being more of a drinking spot as opposed to a foodie venue, probably because I've heard too many friends tell me its "mehhh". And knowing the States sell tacos on average US$1-3 per taco ($1 being average); HK$60-85 for two before servicehere seemed a little on the steep end.
Tacos aside, Socialito serves up some Mexican eats in their main dining area. A couple weeks before Restaurant Week I'd heard they'd done some revamping - new menus and all and I thought this would be the perfect occasion to try out their (new) food.

August Restaurant Week HK - La Parole

Taking a break from playing catch-up on writing about my foodventures in the past year... I just wanted to write about a few recent places I visited during Restaurant Week this month. 

First up - a dinner at La Parole 

Menu

For those who aren't familiar, a select few restaurants in Hong Kong participated in Restaurant Week whereby they design a menu for a given price/category; and customers book in advance (through diningcity) to try out the specially designed menu.... La Parole was one such restaurant; and dinner was priced at $428 for four courses.

Tapeo

so....after a long trip to the States I'm back in town, but this time round I will be mostly posting photos since i have so many to put up yet so little time!! So from now will mostly be photo (read: foodporn) posts, with a comment (or two) when I feel its necessary! Enjoy!

Tapeo @ Central 

This was a lunch a while back... their lunch deals (Mon-Fri only) are super value-for-money if your wallet's tight yet you want some decent food! 

 

Amber

Amber @ Mandarin Oriental 

A couple weeks back it was my brother's birthday and Amber was where we decided to celebrate. We went for Sunday brunch but not feeling like having any wine some of us opted for the juice pairing and some without. 

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!

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. 

Gold

Gold  @ LKF Hotel 

I distinctly remember when this place just opened, there was hype everywhere. There was pages of 'congratulations' on Gold's opening in the weekly HK Mag, there was raving reviews..... the whole lot. So, instead of telling myself not to expect much as I usually do, I couldn't help but have slightly high expectations of this place... 

Zenku

Zenku @ Nexxus Building

My cousin was visiting from the States, and she had heard from her other cousin, a food-writer for a local magazine, that Zenku was a fun and good restaurant. We shortened our list so it was either Mirror or Zenku, but because she became unavailable on the evening I had made reservations at Mirror for, I happily joined her for lunch at Zenku...

W52

Date of visit: 23rd December 2010 

W52 @ Central 

lunch menu

not a lot of choices, menu could be more 'fun' if you will, but then again if each one is well-executed, who am i to complain?? 

bread basket

very generous selection, I particularly enjoyed the grissini and the (sun-dried?) tomato-flavoured rolls (orange ones). The balsamic and olive oil that were poured for us were also great...the thick and luscious sweet vinegar - i loved! 

dip

this came with the bread basket, and we noticed that each table received different dips. I suspect this was their take on a baba ganoush, but the eggplant was hardly seasoned the whole dip was almost tasteless.... 

plate of antipasti

this was my first plate from the antipasti buffet, which included some seared tuna, grilled eggplant and squash, sauteed wild mushrooms, salad greens and a cucumber salad that was pre-dressed. Surprisingly, all the items were good, taste and quality wise. I happily polished a second plate of goodies from the buffet. 

"Hand-made taglierini with cauliflower ragout, anchovies and pecorino" 

This dish tasted incredibly light and healthy, not really what I'd like if I were ordering pasta but this was M's choice. Home-made pasta does not necessarily mean it is better than dried varieties, and I actually don't see anything wrong with using dried pastas, unless its a filled-pasta like ravioli. Having said that, I equally don't mind hand-made varieties so long as they retain a bite to them, or is 'al dente'. W52's did not disappoint in this matter, and I would happily return to try out their other pasta selections.... 

This particular dish was studded with cauliflower and the anchovies and pecorino were too subtle, which resulted in the above-mentioned too-light-a-flavour.

"Roast stuffed turkey with almonds and pomegranate"

This was a turkey roulade served with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. It was only two days till Christmas so I'm guessing this was put on the menu in light of the holidays. I love turkey and for some unknown reason this protein is harder to find in Hong Kong than, say in the US, so I went for it. 

This roll of turkey was half-white and half-dark meat, and rolled together with the roasted skin as the wrap. On top were some pomegranate seeds which didn't make much sense for me though I didn't mind them as a bit of textural difference. The meat was seasoned, so it was very flavourful and most importantly, moist. Now only if the skin was crispy....

The cranberry was studded with whole cranberries, and was very sour/tart which was quite nice together with the turkey if you like that sort of combination.

From clockwise, starting with top left corner: tiramisu, pear tart, profiterole, choux, blueberry cheesecake, two raspberry mille-feuilles, chocolate tort, bread pudding and a creme brulee in the centre.

All desserts are laid out next to the anti pasti buffet table, and the spread looked appetizing enough, so M and I decided we'd try out most of the choices - I think we had everything except for a strawberry panna cotta and fruits? 

Anyway, most of their desserts were surprisingly acceptable. I particularly liked the tiramisu, choux pastry and bread pudding. The chocolate torte was hardly chocolatey enough and was quite dry... Others, like the creme brulee and profiteroles were enjoyable enough.  

Our lovely meal ended with a cup of coffee for me, which wasn't bad. W52 serves pretty good antipasti for a lunch buffet style, and upon a recent re-visit to Bistecca (which had deteriorated a lot in quality and disappointing to say the least) I can definitely say I'd much rather come back here. 

Food: ♥♥♥♥ (antipasti and dessert), ♥♥♥ 1/2 (main)

Service: ♥♥♥

Price: $$$-$$$$

W52

G/F-3/F, 52 Wyndham St, Central

Tel: +852 6788 5252

Tokoro

Date of visit: 22^nd November 2010

Tokoro @ Langham Hotel

For lunch my ma and I went to Tokoro for lunch. I quite like the atmosphere of the left side, with seats by huge windows, and a bar in the middle of the room lined full of different sakes. There was quite a selection of lunch sets on the menu, in addition to their lengthy a la carte items (you can see all this info on their website).

For all lunch sets, a starter of salad and a tiny dish (mushrooms and burdock) was first to arrive. 

"Sashimi rice"

I'm actually struggling to remember what there was. But I remembered the lean tuna, hamachi and sweet shrimp distinctively as they were quite fresh. The ones on the left, which I should have asked about, weren't particularly great. They were a little too rubbery and quite tasteless. 

"pearl rice"

very well cooked, yum!

"miso soup"

"sukiyaki"

sliced beef, poached egg, assorted mushrooms, spinach, konnyaku

the broth was very sweet and salty, very good with the rice, but too strong to drink by itself. the beef was overcooked for me, would have been nice if they had let us cook the beef ourselves, but it was already made when served. the egg was also fully cooked, with the yolk fully set, definitely not what I had hoped, so mum had this one. 

dessert was tiny, we would've rather had a fruit or something. this thumb-sized cake-like dessert was dressed with a little honey, I think it was made of some kind of bean - sort of like the green bean paste (yellow in colour) you get in Chinese glutinous rice dumplings. 

Overall, there was aspects that could've been improved easily. Portions were very generous, and I would've rather seen less fish on sashimi selection, and perhaps some scallops. The beef could've been more tender by cooking it for a lesser amount of time. Nonetheless, fine for a weekday lunch. 

Food:  ♥♥1/2

Service: ♥♥♥

Price: $$$

Tokoro 

L3, Langham Place Hotel,

555 Shanghai St,

Mongkok, Kowloon,

Hong Kong

208 Duecento Otto

Date: 24th September

208 Duecento Otto @ Sheung Wan

For lunch, B, M and myself made a trip to 208 Duecento Otto in hopes to find good Italian food after much hype about this restaurant since its opening earlier this year.

Stepping through the entrance and making our way upstairs to the dining hall we knew a lot of effort and money had been put into the design of the restaurant...but how about the food?

There were only two lunch sets, rather than the three which had been published on their site.... we opted for the 3-Course express lunch, each ordering different mains. 

Chopped pizza dough with basil and a little olive oil. Turned stone-cold quickly, which I didn't appreciate. Texture wasn't exactly good either - way too chewy. 

First Course

Salad of arugula and shaved parmigiano reggiano cheese, dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette with lots of pepper and salt. 

The chefs were a little too heavy-handed on the salt, but otherwise a simple and stellar salad. The serving was quite large too, but most importantly the two main ingredients - leaves and cheese were very, very fresh. Couldn't and wouldn't ask for more!

My Second Course

Margherita

The first pizza came out with the center completely soft, clearly because the pizza sauce was too liquid. So I asked them to bake it slightly longer to which they agreed, but the waiter commented that this was how pizza napoletana is meant to be.... FYI no pizzas should ever be soggy.... yes they may be soft (as in the case of Neapolitan-type bases) or crunchy/crispy, but soggy? In the end they were unable to re-fire the first uneaten pizza and made a new one for me in the end. The second one was still quite soggy in the center, but slightly better and acceptable. They could use more torn basil for flavour, but otherwise a very ordinary and unimpressive margherita. 

M's Second Course

Spaghetti with parma ham and bell peppers

Quite a small portion, and sauce was acceptable, thanks to the parma ham and adequate salt. Spaghetti was cooked al dente so it had a nice bite. 

B's Second Course

Penne with Eggplant 

This vegetarian pasta was definitely one of the blandest pastas I've tasted. The sauce was predominantly tasteless, and the oiliness of the sauce didn't help either. Eggplants, parmesan and basil did not impart adequate (if any) flavour....and the penne was a bit too chewy for me, could probably have used another minute or two in the hot water. 

Third Course

A scoop of gelato of your choice

We picked saffron (right), green apple (bottom), raspberry (left). 

The saffron was quite milky and although the saffron was not particularly strong it was quite enjoyable. 

The raspberry was tart and had bits of rasperry pulp for texture which I didn't mind, but for the masses I think straining the mixture prior to churning would've been better. 

The green apple sorbetto was my least favourite - despite the bits of green apple the icy sorbetto itself tasted a little artificial for me...

coffee....

or tea??

Despite the mediocre food, reservations are a must. This place was fully packed by 1pm, and was told they had a long wait-list for dinner time. 

Food: ♥♥

Service: ♥♥♥

Price: $$$

208 Duecento Otto

208 Hollywood Road,

Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2549 0208

sushi shota

Date: 22nd September

Sushi Shota @ Kyoto Plaza

My younger brother was set to leave town for some time, so I decided to treat him lunch at Sushi Shota… 

menu

we ordered the Sashimi and Sushi set ($280 + $20 for upgrade to hot udon), plus a beef teriyaki set ($90)

chawanmushi

the sashimi and sushi set came with a lot of side dishes, and this was first to arrive. the custard was pretty solid and very eggy and not much taste to it apart from 'eggs' - i.e. there wasn't enough dashi added to the mixture. there was no seafood but only a few pieces of mushroom.... definitely no where near Naozen's. 

potato salad

mashed potato salad, iceberg, cucumber, tomatoes, fish roe

T downed this one for us, as we don't like potatoes much...

udon

thick udon, hot shoyu broth

udon was too soft for me - i still prefer the thin and chewy or flat udon noodles.... 

miso soup, pickles

nothing crazy good here - miso soup was just plain with spring onions. 

sushi and sahimi platter

sushi: negitoro (fatty tuna & spring onion) maki, uni gunkan, salmon roe gunkan, snapper, steamed shrimp, tamago, salmon, yellowtail, fatty tuna

sashimi: octopus, lean tuna, sweet shrimp, salmon, clam, yellowtail, hirame (flounder), mackerel

whilst most of the sushi were fairly fresh, my favourite being the negitoro maki, the sashimi disappointed. the sashimi today were mostly the inexpensive kinds - something you would expect for their normal sashimi sets, rather than a premium set. we weren't given any toro save for the one piece on top of the sushi, and even so, the lean tuna which we were given was no longer fresh and was quite oxidised....it was actually inedible =(. Mackerel sashimi was nice though. 

appetizer

this appetizer of korean-like japchae came with the beef teriyaki set. weird pairing, but ok. 

beef teriyaki main

grilled beef, mayo, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, shredded cabbage

beef was way way way too tough, and it tasted..... a lot like a burger patty for some reason

the bowl of rice was also dishearteningly your typical long-grain rice, rather than Japanese pearl rice

after being rushed to pay, we were rushed to order our flavours for ice cream too... 

sesame

bits of ground sesame in the icecream for a bit of texture, different but strong and yummy

green tea

not as strong nor bitter as i would have liked - you can probably tell from the light green colour...but nonetheless edible

cute cup of coffee to end, served with miniature ucc creamers

Food: ♥♥1/2

Service: ♥♥

Price: $$$

Sushi Shota 

8/F Kyoto Plaza, 491-499 Lockhart Rd., Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2834 3031