Archive

Posts Tagged ‘restaurants’

HK: Sushi Yoshitake (Jan. 2013)

January 7, 2013 Leave a comment

March 13, 2013 Note: This restaurant is now known as Sushi Shikon.

Author: Victor
Restaurant: Sushi Yoshitake
Exec Chef: Masahiro Yoshitake
Sous Chef (and our sushi chef): Yoshiharu Kakinuma

Date: January 7, 2013
“Miyabi” Menu

Website: http://www.sushiyoshitake.com/

Notes:

Sushi Yoshitake in Tokyo is really popular among sushi enthusiasts, and it recently received its third Michelin star in the 2012 Guide. Chef Yoshitake decided to open a second restaurant and chose Hong Kong as his destination, so I figured that I’d try it while here on my break! There are a total of eight seats in this restaurant, which consists of one sushi bar. There are two sushi chefs, Chef Yoshitake and his apprentice Chef Kakinuma, and each serves up to four diners at a time.

Chef Kakinuma was our sushi chef, and Chef Yoshitake was at the other side of the bar. I should probably add that it was really helpful that Chef Kakinuma spoke fluent English.

7 Chef Yoshitake

Chef Yoshitake is preparing nigiri here. I realize it’s not the most flattering pic haha :(.

Click here to see how the meal went!

HK: Tenku RyuGin Hong Kong (Jan. 2013)

January 7, 2013 1 comment

Author: Victor
Restaurant: Tenku RyuGin
Exec Chef: Seiji Yamamoto
Chef de Cuisine: Hideaki Sato

Date: January 6, 2013
Winter Gastronomy Menu

Website: http://www.ryugin.com.hk/index_e.php

Notes:

-I’m trying to hit up a few kaiseki and sushi restaurants while on my Asia trip this break, and this restaurant was one of the ones I was most looking forward to. My anticipation, it turns out, was justified.
-Nihonryori RyuGin is a famous kaiseki restaurant in Roppongi, and I really wanted to try their Hong Kong branch, which happened to be only their second restaurant!

I use the word “delicious” a lot in my descriptions of the courses. I really can’t help it. That’s what everything was: delicious. The ingredients were really fresh, the execution was perfect, and everything really was delicious. This was INCREDIBLE cooking, and I’m really glad that I’m lucky enough to be able to experience it. This meal is one of my top five meals of all time.

Three of the dishes are specialties from the Roppongi restaurant:
-Course #2: “Premium Monkfish Liver”
-Course #7: Reinvented “Nikujaga”
-Course #9: -196°C “Candy Pear” and +99°C “Pear Jam”

1 Outside the Restaurant

This is the outside of the restaurant; we were in the ICC 101 Sky Dining lobby.

Click here to see how the meal went!

HK: Wagyu Kaiseki Den (Jan. 2013)

January 6, 2013 1 comment

Author: Victor
Restaurant: Wagyu Kaiseki Den
Exec Chef: Hiroyuki Saotome
Website: http://www.wagyukaisekiden.com.hk/

Date: January 5, 2013

Notes:
-I wanted to try some of the sushi and kaiseki restaurants in Hong Kong during my time here, so I looked up restaurants. Wagyu Kaiseki Den came up a lot, so I quickly made reservations. It’s located in Sheung Wan, so it’s a short walk from Central.
-There are a total of 30 seats, with eight of those seats at the bar. We sat at the bar, and we got a great view of the kitchen staff prepping and cooking the food!
-The meal had a LOT of truffles. It’s arguably overkill to do the white truffle tasting at Amber and then eat here the following day, but… you only live once!

-The wagyu used is from Kagoshima, Japan.
-I really enjoyed this meal. The ingredients were all really fresh, and the constant use of uni, truffles, and wagyu made me a very happy man.
-Some of the dishes really weren’t all that creative, but they were executed REALLY well. The ingredients were great, and everything was really well-prepared/cooked, so each dish was delicious. This was superb cooking.

This was the view from our seats. Chef Saotome’s preparing toro for the sashimi course (#5) here.

2B Kitchen

Click here to see pictures of the meal!