Japanese food in Hong Kong is good but expensive. Here is an excellent (and pricey) meal at Unkai, the Japanese place inside the Sheraton Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.
negitoro maki and temaki
kanpachi, uni, grilled toro
tai, aji, tamago, unagi
toro
The sushi all around was excellent. Barely a step off Japan. Let me first of all say that they had fresh wasabi. In America we almost always get either the paste or powdered wasabi. Those of you that know me know how I always point out the difference... Real wasabi is actually a type of root, and you grate it into the thing you mix with soy sauce. Real wasabi is actually not very spicy. The idea that good wasabi is extremely hot is a myth - real wasabi tastes a lot fresher, but not really hot, and consequently you can actually use more of it.
Anyway, we had 3 kinds of toro. Well 4 if you count the 2 kinds of negitoro. A negitoro hand roll currently reigns as my single favorite food item, and this one did not dissappoint. Toro sushi was also excellent... Very fatty and buttery. They also had something called "grilled toro" on the menu, and we had to try it. They literally quick sear a piece of toro and put it on sushi. The fattiness of the tuna makes for a pretty unique and different taste and texture compared to normal toro. Very hard to describe, but definitely worth trying if you get the chance. The rest of the sushi was also great. Uni was extremely sweet and creamy. Kanpachi in my opinion tastes better than hamachi... I like the chewier texture. Tai and aji were good, but not spectacular... Which isn't fair considering the amazing aji I had at Sushi Zen in Sapporo. They didn't have anago that night and the unagi was alright. Tamago was also alright, but nothing special. The toro was as usual the highlight, and the grilled toro was definitely something new.
teppanyaki steak - australian wagyu sirloin
teppanyaki foie gras
teppanyaki fried rice
We finished off with some teppanyaki. Wagyu steak (which just means beef grown Kobe-style, but not actually from Japan) is popping up everywhere now. Hong Kong seems to be getting a lot of Australian Wagyu. This stuff was definitely good, but still isn't the real thing. When you bite into it, you can taste about half of it as the superbuttery melt in your mouth fatty beef, while the other half is a little bit leaner (as compared to full blown melt in your mouth butteriness in Japan). Still excellent, and superior to the Wagyu/Kobe steaks I've tried in both SF and Boston. Interestingly, they had teppanyaki foie gras on the menu. These were huge servings of blocks of foie gras, and as you can imagine turned out very good. Just look at all the fat/oil. Really delicious - surprised I haven't had it before... it's such an obvious combination. The fried rice was good as teppanyaki fried rice always is, but they cooked the leftover fatty pieces from the steak a little too long. Overall though this was an absolutely excellent meal.
negitoro maki and temaki
kanpachi, uni, grilled toro
tai, aji, tamago, unagi
toro
The sushi all around was excellent. Barely a step off Japan. Let me first of all say that they had fresh wasabi. In America we almost always get either the paste or powdered wasabi. Those of you that know me know how I always point out the difference... Real wasabi is actually a type of root, and you grate it into the thing you mix with soy sauce. Real wasabi is actually not very spicy. The idea that good wasabi is extremely hot is a myth - real wasabi tastes a lot fresher, but not really hot, and consequently you can actually use more of it.
Anyway, we had 3 kinds of toro. Well 4 if you count the 2 kinds of negitoro. A negitoro hand roll currently reigns as my single favorite food item, and this one did not dissappoint. Toro sushi was also excellent... Very fatty and buttery. They also had something called "grilled toro" on the menu, and we had to try it. They literally quick sear a piece of toro and put it on sushi. The fattiness of the tuna makes for a pretty unique and different taste and texture compared to normal toro. Very hard to describe, but definitely worth trying if you get the chance. The rest of the sushi was also great. Uni was extremely sweet and creamy. Kanpachi in my opinion tastes better than hamachi... I like the chewier texture. Tai and aji were good, but not spectacular... Which isn't fair considering the amazing aji I had at Sushi Zen in Sapporo. They didn't have anago that night and the unagi was alright. Tamago was also alright, but nothing special. The toro was as usual the highlight, and the grilled toro was definitely something new.
teppanyaki steak - australian wagyu sirloin
teppanyaki foie gras
teppanyaki fried rice
We finished off with some teppanyaki. Wagyu steak (which just means beef grown Kobe-style, but not actually from Japan) is popping up everywhere now. Hong Kong seems to be getting a lot of Australian Wagyu. This stuff was definitely good, but still isn't the real thing. When you bite into it, you can taste about half of it as the superbuttery melt in your mouth fatty beef, while the other half is a little bit leaner (as compared to full blown melt in your mouth butteriness in Japan). Still excellent, and superior to the Wagyu/Kobe steaks I've tried in both SF and Boston. Interestingly, they had teppanyaki foie gras on the menu. These were huge servings of blocks of foie gras, and as you can imagine turned out very good. Just look at all the fat/oil. Really delicious - surprised I haven't had it before... it's such an obvious combination. The fried rice was good as teppanyaki fried rice always is, but they cooked the leftover fatty pieces from the steak a little too long. Overall though this was an absolutely excellent meal.