Mori Sushi

I heard about Mori Sushi a while back for fresh Japanese food at reasonable prices, but it didn't cross my mind until recently. It's tucked away on Graham Street, just off the top of Lyndhurst Terrace. It was not easy to book though - I called on a Monday for a Friday 1pm booking, but they were already full!

The shop is a bit of a tight fit, and has a selection of sushi, sashimi, and rice bowl sets for lunch ranging from $80 to $150. I had the negi-toro (minced tuna belly with green onion) rice bowl ($98), and my friend had the negi-toro uni rice bowl ($150). Each set comes with miso soup, a salad and appetizer, as well as a small dessert.

Negi-Toro Rice

Negi-Toro and Uni Rice

I was surprised by the freshness and portioning! They really pile on the negi-toro and uni, and as shown in the photo they use whole pieces of large uni. It goes without saying this is a lot better than what you'd pick up at Three Sixty or at the Citysuper Deli. There was also no service charge.

Book early to get your lunch spot!

Mori Sushi
G/F, 34 Graham Street, Central
Tel: 2854 1800

Travel Bite - Kyusyu Jangara Ramen in Tokyo

I usually go to Kyusyu Jangara when I'm in Harajuku - it's the two-storey shop near the top of Omotesando, with a lot of people lining up. It turns out they have a few more branches in Tokyo and this time I went to the one in Ginza. English, Chinese and Korean menus are available at all branches!

Kyusyu Jangara Ginza Storefront

The most popular ramen is the Kyusyu Jangara, which is ramen with a mixed soup base of pork bone stock, chicken stock and vegetable stock. I picked the Kobonshan, which is the Bonshan (pork bone stock) soup, but fired up with garlic.

Kobonshan Ramen with Egg

Thin white ramen noodles

Stewed pork belly

Soft boiled egg

All I can say is yum!! 

Kyusyu Jangara - Ginza 
Ginza 6-12-17, Chūō-ku, Tokyo
Other Tokyo locations available
http://www.kyusyujangara.co.jp/

Omurice at Hidden Kitchen

It seems like there aren't many places in Hong Kong that have a good Omurice (Japanese Omelette Rice). I tried the one at UCC but I was very disappointed. The rice was really dry and the egg was rubbery.

My problem was solved when I found Hidden Kitchen in Causeway Bay!

Omurice with Tomato Sauce

Hidden Kitchen's Omurice is super good. They have a fluffy, runny omelette draped gently over a bed of fried rice, instead of the fried rice being wrapped in a thin egg "crepe". They use Japanese rice in their fried rice too. The Omurice lunch set was $98+10% (includes salad, soup, and a drink).

The Omurice Omelette

Other choices on their lunch menu include hamburg steak in demi-glace with rice ($108+10%). The hamburger patty is moist, but the star is the demi-glace for sure.

Hamburg Steak with Demi-Glace

Their beef cheek stew ($148+10%) is also very good - the beef is very tender. I just wish that there were more chunks of beef (I think there were only four).

Beef Cheek Stew

Worth a try if you have time for a lunch in Causeway Bay. Unfortunately, they don't take reservations and they are closed on Sundays and public holidays.

Hidden Kitchen
Room D, 3/F Prosperous Commercial Building, 54 Jardine's Bazaar, Causeway Bay, 
2504 1511

Sushi Kuu

There's been a lot of hype around Sushi Kuu, so a friend and I went to try it out. I've already found a sushi place that's hard to beat - Sushi Ta-ke in Causeway Bay, which deserves a full blog post. Given the hype, I thought Sushi Kuu might give my favorite spot a run for its money.

Kuu, however, didn't come anywhere close to Ta-ke in terms of food, environment or service.

The fairest comparison was to order the deluxe sushi set, which was $340 + 10%. Same price point as Sushi Ta-ke. 



Kuu's Deluxe Sushi Set - Warning: it looks better than it tastes!

In the set there's only one salmon roe gunkan and two pieces of egg. My friend traded pieces before the photo was taken.

Disappointment #1: even if you sit at the sushi bar at Kuu, the deluxe sushi set is not made piece by piece like it is at Ta-ke.

Disappointment #2; the maki (rolled sushi) for both the regular and deluxe sushi sets is three pieces of a California roll. No negi-toro roll (minced fatty tuna with chives) for the deluxe set.

Disappointment #3: the seaweeds of the gunkan sushi was already soft when it got to the table. Even Senryo makes their gunkans and handrolls to order!! Ta-ke goes the extra mile by serving the sushi with seaweed separately, after you finish the other pieces.

Disappointment #4: the udon served with the set is not the good quality chewy udon, and was either over-cooked or sat around for too long after it was cooked.

Disappointment #5: I asked for no wasabi in my sushi, but they still set down a plate of sushi with it. Only when I saw the green through a slice of white fish and told them did they realize.

I conclude that at this price point, I'd rather save up the money and go to Ta-ke on the weekends. Look for a mouthwatering post on Sushi Ta-ke soon!

Sushi Kuu
1/F Wellington Place, 2-8 Wellington Street, Central, 2971 0180

Butao Ramen

Butao Storefront

Finally I've tasted Butao Ramen. A source told me that there are no lines at Butao if you go around 4 in the afternoon (Butao now opens till 6pm). So C, K and I went to eat at around 4:30pm. We didn't even have to wait and sat down immediately! This place has just only a few more than a dozen seats - it's no wonder the wait can be so long.

Order sheet to choose your preferences

Everyone gets their own order sheet to tick their preferences. Butao has four ramen soup types on its menu - yellow (the plain pork bone broth) for $75, black (soup + squid ink) for $88, red (soup + spicy base) for $88, and green (soup + pesto) for $90. I've heard that there's a curry soup base off the menu, but I didn't ask about it.

You can also choose the concentration of your soup base, the amount of oil and garlic, yes or no to roast pork and onion, how much spicy miso paste, and hardness of your noodle. You can tick for add-ins too. I wanted the half-cooked egg but it's currently unavailable.

Original Butao King (Yellow)

C and K both ordered the original. K described the soup as tasting like liquified cooked egg yolks. I agree!! The roasted pork was about normal.

Green Butao - with pesto and parmesan cheese

I thought this was pleasantly surprising. You can still taste the egg-yolky broth but the pesto works well with it! A Japanese and Italian fusion creation.

Noodles

Luckily I ordered the noodles hard, because these were thin noodles. C ordered his soft and said they were pretty soft. I think I actually might try extra hard noodles next time. Even though I'm a fast eater, the noodles in the last few bites were soft. I wouldn't mind a bit more firmness anyway.


I like Butao and I wouldn't mind going back to try the other soup varieties (I think I'll try the Red Butao next since I love spicy food). Having said that, C and I both think that this place is not worth a long wait while you starve yourself in line. 


Butao Ramen 豚王
G/F, Wo On Building, 8-13 On Lane Street, Central, 2530-0600

Hide-Chan Ramen

Last weekend I was in Central and wanted to see how ridiculous the queue was for Butao Ramen, the small ramen shop with less than two dozen seats on Wo On Lane in Lan Kwai Fong. I've long decided that I will wait until the hype is over to try it than waste a morning lining up. It was already 1pm and the line still looked like it was about 2hrs long. Butao closes after selling 200 bowls of ramen, so I was wondering if all those people at the end of the line actually thought they had a chance to eat a bowl of ramen that day.

Not to despair! Hide-Chan Ramen (serving Kyushu style ramen) just opened on Wellington Street and the line was only about 15 minutes. One of the servers came out every now and then to make sure the people in line had menus to look at and gave out an order form with clipboard and pencil so you can decide what you want to eat while in line.

Hide-Chan's menu

The order form - available in Chinese and English

A view from the noodle bar

While the noodles might be the heart of a bowl of ramen, the soup is definitely the soul. When it comes to the soup, my rule of thumb is to choose the most basic soup base. That way, you can taste the actual soup without interference from add-ins like miso or soy sauce. There were three choices of soup at Hide-Chan: White Hide (the basic pork bone soup), Black Hide (soup + special soy sauce), and Red Hide (soup + special spicy sauce). You also get to choose the texture of your noodles and whether you want your roast pork to be from the shoulder or belly. For additional $$, you can add extra anything to make a unique bowl of noodles. 

They also have tsukemen (mixed noodles, noodles and dipping sauce served separate) if you're not in the mood for something soupy, and gyoza with a choice of mayo (cheese, green onion, or tarako). The gyoza would probably be nice to share with a friend, but they run out of gyoza quick! The couple next to me wanted to order them but they were already sold out.


My choice: White Hide, medium textured noodles (al dente), roast pork shoulder, +$10 for a whole soft-boiled egg.

White Hide Ramen

The soup was thick, white and creamy, perhaps even a bit too thick, as if they reduced the soup a bit too much. I read somewhere that they simmer 120kg of pork bones for 400 bowls of soup for a whole day. If you're not one for intense flavors, this place is definitely not for you. The soup was borderline salty for me (probably because it's so concentrated). I'm glad I didn't choose the Black Hide because that would be even saltier!

The noodles were cooked just right. I think if you chose soft noodles they might be a bit mushy, since the noodles are on the thin side. Even though I ordered the roast pork shoulder (the less fatty option), the meat was still very delicate and not dry at all. You can also order a plate of roast pork, which they torch just before serving to give it a little bit of a char.

Soft boiled egg

I think the egg was a bit disappointing because for a soft boiled egg I was expecting the center to be slightly runny, like the eggs at Wakayama. I cut the egg open right after my first bite of noodles so I know it wasn't because I let the egg sit in the hot soup for too long.

Done!!

For about $80 a bowl of ramen and a shorter wait time, Hide-Chan is worth trying if you're in the Central area. Note that I waited about 15 minutes on a Sunday afternoon at around 2pm, so the wait could potentially be much longer.

Like: customizable ramen, roast pork
Dislike: egg, soup base might have been too concentrated


Any other ramen places worth trying? I still have plans for Mist and Ippei-An - stay tuned!

Hide-Chan Ramen

Upper Ground Floor, The Loop, 33 Wellington Street, Central , 2522-5990  
http://www.hide-chan.hk/eng/index.html

Kiriyaki

Coming across Kiriyaki was an accident - a friend and I had a lunch date in Causeway Bay, but we didn't know where to go. She wanted Japanese food, and suggested trying Kiriyaki. Since that lunch date about two years ago, I've been visiting Kiriyaki regularly for their minced tuna, salmon roe and sea urchin rice set lunch ($148 +10%). I just can't seem to order anything else!

Minced tuna, salmon roe and sea urchin rice set

The set includes Japanese steamed egg custard, miso soup, pickles, a small side dish, and coffee or tea.

Kiriyaki's pretty big on the portions, and doesn't skimp on the fish. They pile on the salmon roe, and are fair with the sea urchin. Sometimes instead of getting these smaller sea urchins, I got two or three large pieces. It depends on what they have in stock.

Kiriyaki has their set lunch menu every day except on Sundays and public holidays. There are at least 20 choices of set lunch, with pricing ranging from $80-$148. Some other noteworthy choices is the kimchi stone pot rice, the wagyu beef set, and the mixed grill set.

A decent, not-too-crowded choice for lunch. Dinner's a chunk more expensive though.

Kiriyaki

Room 1302, 13/F, World Trade Centre, 280 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, 2895-1313

Okinawa Dining Bridges

Okinawa Dining Bridges opened recently in the new Cubus building on Hoi Ping Road in Causeway Bay. Also part of the En Group, Bridges brings in Okinawan fine dining to Hong Kong (the other En restaurants are more on the casual side or are izakayas). They also have a small store specializing in Okinawan products just at the entrance of the restaurant - this is a collaboration with the Okinawan government and the Antenna Group in Okinawa.

Bridges has set lunches ranging from $150 - $280. Set lunches such as Goya Champuru (Stir-fried Pork and Bitter Gourd) and Okinawa Soba Noodles are at the $150 mark, whereas a sashimi rice bowl set lunch and a sashimi set lunch are priced at $260 and $280 respectively. The other sets feature tempura, pork cutlet, sushi, beef, grilled cod, etc, and are priced in between. They also have a Shokado Bento (Lunch Box set) at $280 (limited to 15 sets a day) and a Grilled Fish set for $180 (limited to 5 sets a day). I ordered the Shokado set. 

After a light salad with sesame dressing, they brought the lunch box out.

Clockwise from top left: Sea Grapes and Mozuku (a type of seaweed native to Okinawa) in Vinegar Sauce, Stewed Okinawa Aged Pork, Grilled Okinawa Motobu Wagyu Beef with Miso and Goya Champuru, Deep-fried Prawn and Shallots (Tempura).

Just a few more close-ups

If I had to pick a favorite amongst the four dishes, it would have to be the Motobu wagyu beef. It was so tender and delicious, and sweet with the miso. In reality, this is actually 5 dishes, since there's some champuru underneath the beef. I really liked the vinegared mozuku seaweed too - it's clean and refreshing, and the half scallop was fresh and sweet. The tempura was light and crunchy. Aside from the shrimp, there was also tempura yam, bitter gourd, squid, and shallots. The piece of tofu next to the pork was surprisingly good too! It had a clumpy texture, like rough tofu, and the soy bean taste was there (which you don't find in the mass produced stuff). The pork itself was okay.

Clockwise from top left: Steamed Egg, Sashimi, Clear Soup, Okinawa Rice (Takikomi Gohan, steamed rice with mushrooms, vegetables and meat), pickles in the middle

And a few more close-ups.

The sashimi was super fresh! There was a piece of salmon, a piece of octopus, and two pieces of snapper. It was great that instead of plain white rice they served the takikomi steamed rice. The egg was like silk in your mouth, with bits of chicken, mushroom, and a ginko on the bottom.

The set comes with tea/coffee and dessert. 

Today's dessert was a yuzu sorbet and a frozen orange jelly.

Even though this was described as a bento (or lunch box) on the menu, this was more like a tasting menu with samplings of Okinawan cuisine. I love how this one set lunch puts forward all the food highlights I had in Okinawa (the seaweed, the champuru, the pork and the beef). Presentation was beautiful and delicate, following the Japanese tradition.

If you plan to eat this whole bento, come hungry! Like a tasting menu, the fullness creeps up on you.

Okinawa Dining Bridges
6/F Cubus, 1 Hoi Ping Road, Causeway Bay, 3428-2131

Teppanyaki at Wa San Mai

I love teppanyaki - it's the display of fresh ingredients in its simplest form possible and a demonstration of honed culinary skill rolled into one dining experience.

Wa San Mai is great - the food is fresh, service is good, and it's in the heart of Causeway Bay. It offers both teppanyaki dining and Japanese 'Wa Shoku 和食' dining. Reservations for the teppanyaki dining are definitely recommended.

Teppanyaki is like a tasting menu in the sense that the portions may be small, but that the end you'll have your hands on your stomach wondering how all those small bites managed to fill you up. We had five people, but we ordered a dinner set for three people and an abalone and beef set for one person and it came out to be just right.

  
In the dinner set for three, there was an appetizer, Australian abalone, Hokkaido scallop or king prawn, boiled clams in sake, fois gras, seasonal vegetables, sliced beef and steak. It's $2080 for the US beef, $2500 for Australian Kobe beef, or $2980 for Japanese Saga A4 beef. In the abalone and beef set, there was an appetizer, South African abalone, cod, king prawn, beef (thin or steak) and vegetables (US Beef steak $510). All sets include a salad, fried rice, pickles, fried vegetables, miso soup, ice cream, and coffee or tea.



An appetizer of a fried dumpling and pomelo salad, as well as a house salad with sesame dressing.

The fois gras - quickly seared on the teppan and served on toast.

The Australian abalone - it was huge, still alive when it was put on the teppan, carved out of its shell and sliced. The chef seasoned it with salt, pepper, and made a sauce from butter, white wine and lemon juice.

 

The scallops, cod, and king prawn 

being prepared by the chef.

The boiled clams in sake - the chef takes out a 'bowl' made by pleated sturdy foil, pours some sake into it, and then lights it up once it comes to a boil to remove the harsh alcohol. He adds the clams and some aromatics like garlic and spring onion.

Steak - the chef will ask for your preference. It's served with some fried garlic slices, which turn out like chips. The other form of beef you can choose is the thin beef, where the chef will roll up some finely diced onion and carrot with a thin slice of beef.

The fried rice and vegetables - the rice has beef, egg, onion, carrot and spring onion in it.

Wa San Mai is a nice treat. Set lunches are a bit cheaper (about $250-$300 a set) if you want to try it out. With 5 people splitting 4 dinner sets, it came about to be about $500 per head.

Wa San Mai
22/F East Point Center, 555 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay, 2831-8989

A Preview of MIST

I wrote in my Wakayama post that I was looking forward to trying out MIST, the high-end ramen counterpart in Causeway Bay. What I didn't realize was that I didn't have to go out to MIST, but it came to me. MIST has been invited by the Jockey Club to do a ramen promotion this week at the Happy Valley Clubhouse's Food Plaza (4/F).



When I got to the Food Plaza at 12:00pm, there was already a mass of people waiting around just to get their order in. I was told I would need to wait for 30 mins for my bowl of ramen. It's no surprise - it was $85 for a bowl of ramen with Japanese BBQ pork, or $108 for ramen + side salad + BBQ pork rice or chicken gyoza. Pictured is the shio (salt) soup ramen with the BBQ pork rice and side salad.


















I didn't care much for the salad or the BBQ pork rice - I went straight for the ramen. The ramen looked good, but, as my sister also pointed out, there could be a bit more soup. It had the standard topping of bamboo, BBQ pork, green onion and chives. My first bite of the noodle - unfortunately disappointing. It was like the noodles were covered in a thin layer of slime, and the noodles were overcooked.

I have a habit of ordering the shio soup because that's the best way to taste the quality of the broth. If you get the miso or shoyu soups, the miso/shoyu mask the essence of the ingredients. MIST puts 25+ ingredients and more than 12hrs of stove time into their soup. The soup was clean and delicate, but not enough to redeem the noodles. The egg was not as remarkable as the Wakayama egg because the yolk was cooked through, and I like having a slightly runny yolk.

The BBQ pork rice was plain. It was just the pork on top of rice, so it felt like to separate components in the same bowl. The pork was a bit on the dry side too. There was nothing noteworthy about the salad.

Having written this blog post, I have not ruled out going to MIST in the near future. I have a feeling that not being on home base and the overwhelming number of orders may have thrown Mr. Morizumi and his staff off their game. This won't be a reason next time; look out for a future MIST blog post!

Wakayama

It seems like lately two new high-end ramen (Japanese soup noodle) restaurants have popped up on the island - Mist? in Causeway Bay (which I hope to be trying soon) and Wakayama, in IFC.









Definitely not your Beppu or Ajisen Ramen place. This upscale ramen shop on the 3rd floor of IFC has a sleek, modern decor. You can see the kitchen from the dining area.
























The tenderous rib ramen - basically a braised cartilage rib (lots of collagen, good for bones and skin!) so tender that it falls apart when you try to pick it up with your chopsticks. I chose the chicken and bonito broth, but you also have the option of choosing a pork-bone based broth. The chicken and bonito broth had a "sweet" (in the context of Chinese soups) clean flavor: there was the savory depth from the bonito but the sweetness of the chicken. It was definitely lighter than the pork-bone counterpart. Don't overlook that egg - it was perfectly cooked with a slightly coagulated yolk. Of course, there were the standard accompaniments of bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and seaweed. The noodles were slightly chewy (the way I like it), but don't leave it in the soup long because it starts to get soggy pretty fast.

For $125 + 10%, the set also includes a choice of a side dish of either the daily sushi or the gyoza. The gyoza were okay, nothing special.










Aside from the tenderous pork rib noodle, you also have choices such as Wagyu Beef, Japanese BBQ Pork, Sakura Shrimp, etc. Prices are from $100 - $160 for the set. There are a la carte items as well, such as Wagyu Beef sashimi, but I was pretty full just with the noodles and the gyoza.

The pricing's not outrageous for a lunch in Central, and not over the top given the quality of ingredients. Hopefully I will try Mist? to compare ramen soon!