テーマ： グルメ
As I mentioned last time, some of my friends were not entirely happy with their Meals here despite repetitive visits: They label it as too expensive for an izakaya eating joint, together with its mediocre execution and consider it culinarily unchallenging! On a Personal matter however, over the last few visits I'm starting to like this place more and more, as some of the Kyushu style dishes here are kinda unique in the local market, albeit always very oily and strongish and my friends are right that the dishes here aren't always prepared well. (I heard the chef here is infact from Osaka rather than Kyushu, although they 主打 - 九州&宮崎 dishes).
Here's a summary of some dishes we've tried and I'll submit the photos and be brief rather than go into the details. Some dishes which 'I' enjoyed are the エシャレット金山寺味噌 (Shallots with Barley Wasabi Miso), the soy-based cooked 吉備奈子 was better than the Grilled version we had on a separate night, this being a sought after fish delicacy during only Summer and has a much narrower frame of availability than the much more popular 鮎. The 筑前煮 with greens and root vegetables is always welcome and enjoyable but surprisingly not always available locally except 2-3 shops.
The signature 南蛮Chicken as usual is ultra oily and same goes with almost all their fried dishes here, with 赤豚Pork Katsu being full of oil. I would rather order their Full Tonkatsu version which is oily but really very excellent and a Must Try! The Grilled Ox Tongue as usual isn't good at all in this shop, its chewy and doesn't carry the desired Tongue oiliness and char-grilled flavouring. The home-made Tsukune Chicken however with diagonal slits is really enjoyable and unlike most traditional shops, done with Salt instead of the Smoky Teriyaki sauce though could do with a bit more on the grilling side.
The $288 Sashimi Platter of 5 Varieties we got on 1 occasion was noticeably prepared by the Head-Chef and unlike my previous horrendous experience with their very below-average sushi's 'twice', was for once cut really cleanly and professional, and quite fresh! The かます with the thickish skin is another delicacy only served briefly during Summer but mostly missed by local eaters due to its short time frame, but this brings another point.... In Japan, no one really orders Nigiri Sushi's in Izakaya's as its almost a taboo - most customers only order お造り Sashimi's as part of the grander dining, plus most non-specialised izakaya shops aren't willing to prepare Nigiri Sushi's unless they have trained sushi chefs - this type of mentality is also seen in local shops such as '道’, who consider Nigiri Sushi's to be another professional item. Respect! In Hong Kong however, I normally buck the trend and so do the Japanese owners, because Nigiri Sushi's are often on the menu to cater for the Hong Kong customers.
And here's where the Catch-22 scenario comes in.
Most Sashimi Platters offered on default in Hong Kong are 'localised', and often carry a Snapper, a Tuna, a Yellowtail (Hamachi or Hiramasa) and a Salmon. That's 4 out of 5 fishes already. Eerrr... READ: very boring. Even though I do like these Salmon or Tuna or Yellowtail or Snapper fishes on separate occasions, I just DO NOT WANT THEM during certain occasions! That's because its what Hong Kong customers normally crave and expect, so their wishes have been granted by the localised Japanese chefs! Personally however, we already anticipated this to be the case more often than not, therefore our group usually tend to order our own set of selected Nigiri Sushis when available, as we at least get to choose our own 'preferred' shellfishes and seasonal fishes in small portions. We could obviously order our own 'singular' sashimi fish and concentrate on say a Kamasu or a summery Sanma or an Aji, but they're often quite expensive and in small dining groups we don't want to eat only 1 type of fish as sashimi, as we're greedy eaters committing a gluttony sin.
Here's a summary of some dishes we've tried and I'll submit the photos and be brief rather than go into the details. Some dishes which 'I' enjoyed are the エシャレット金山寺味噌 (Shallots with Barley Wasabi Miso), the soy-based cooked 吉備奈子 was better than the Grilled version we had on a separate night, this being a sought after fish delicacy during only Summer and has a much narrower frame of availability than the much more popular 鮎. The 筑前煮 with greens and root vegetables is always welcome and enjoyable but surprisingly not always available locally except 2-3 shops.
The signature 南蛮Chicken as usual is ultra oily and same goes with almost all their fried dishes here, with 赤豚Pork Katsu being full of oil. I would rather order their Full Tonkatsu version which is oily but really very excellent and a Must Try! The Grilled Ox Tongue as usual isn't good at all in this shop, its chewy and doesn't carry the desired Tongue oiliness and char-grilled flavouring. The home-made Tsukune Chicken however with diagonal slits is really enjoyable and unlike most traditional shops, done with Salt instead of the Smoky Teriyaki sauce though could do with a bit more on the grilling side.
The $288 Sashimi Platter of 5 Varieties we got on 1 occasion was noticeably prepared by the Head-Chef and unlike my previous horrendous experience with their very below-average sushi's 'twice', was for once cut really cleanly and professional, and quite fresh! The かます with the thickish skin is another delicacy only served briefly during Summer but mostly missed by local eaters due to its short time frame, but this brings another point.... In Japan, no one really orders Nigiri Sushi's in Izakaya's as its almost a taboo - most customers only order お造り Sashimi's as part of the grander dining, plus most non-specialised izakaya shops aren't willing to prepare Nigiri Sushi's unless they have trained sushi chefs - this type of mentality is also seen in local shops such as '道’, who consider Nigiri Sushi's to be another professional item. Respect! In Hong Kong however, I normally buck the trend and so do the Japanese owners, because Nigiri Sushi's are often on the menu to cater for the Hong Kong customers.
And here's where the Catch-22 scenario comes in.
Most Sashimi Platters offered on default in Hong Kong are 'localised', and often carry a Snapper, a Tuna, a Yellowtail (Hamachi or Hiramasa) and a Salmon. That's 4 out of 5 fishes already. Eerrr... READ: very boring. Even though I do like these Salmon or Tuna or Yellowtail or Snapper fishes on separate occasions, I just DO NOT WANT THEM during certain occasions! That's because its what Hong Kong customers normally crave and expect, so their wishes have been granted by the localised Japanese chefs! Personally however, we already anticipated this to be the case more often than not, therefore our group usually tend to order our own set of selected Nigiri Sushis when available, as we at least get to choose our own 'preferred' shellfishes and seasonal fishes in small portions. We could obviously order our own 'singular' sashimi fish and concentrate on say a Kamasu or a summery Sanma or an Aji, but they're often quite expensive and in small dining groups we don't want to eat only 1 type of fish as sashimi, as we're greedy eaters committing a gluttony sin.
*************
OVERALL - I do enjoy this shop more than before but just wished that they could make 90% of the dishes good-to-great rather than us needing to do guess work, only to get half the food in the excellent category whilst the rest are ho-hum or even below average.
The prices of the dishes here always fluctuate quite a bit. They had a $100 discount offer during July and in the middle of the campaign, the original menu prices were marked up a bit artificially, but nowadays its come back down again and more affordable than ever - which is a good gesture by the shop!
FOOD RATING '3' - '5', SOME IN THE '2' RANGE, DEPENDING ON DISH ORDERED.
RECOMMEND IF YOU'RE EXPLORATORY.
NOT RECOMMENDED IF YOU EXPECT HIGH QUALITY VS MID-HIGH PRICE FOR SPECIALTY ITEMS.
OVERALL - I do enjoy this shop more than before but just wished that they could make 90% of the dishes good-to-great rather than us needing to do guess work, only to get half the food in the excellent category whilst the rest are ho-hum or even below average.
The prices of the dishes here always fluctuate quite a bit. They had a $100 discount offer during July and in the middle of the campaign, the original menu prices were marked up a bit artificially, but nowadays its come back down again and more affordable than ever - which is a good gesture by the shop!
FOOD RATING '3' - '5', SOME IN THE '2' RANGE, DEPENDING ON DISH ORDERED.
RECOMMEND IF YOU'RE EXPLORATORY.
NOT RECOMMENDED IF YOU EXPECT HIGH QUALITY VS MID-HIGH PRICE FOR SPECIALTY ITEMS.
CHUMANMAN
