Posts Tagged Japanese
Review – Roppongi Robataya, Tokyo
Hey this might be a touristy place, but the atmosphere was really great. All the staff speak pretty good English, so ordering was not a problem. Even if you’re lost in translation, you can just point at what you want grilled as everything was spread out in front of you. We arrived early (around 7:00pm) so there was just one party apart from us. But the later it got, more people arrived and the atmosphere became ecstatic. Towards the end of our dinner, there was a “Changing of the Chefs” ceremony where everyone joined in the shouting and synchronized clapping of hands.
The food was great and cooked right in front of you – teppanyaki style. There was a water tank where we picked fresh shrimp and abalone. Really nice. The Kobe beef melted in our mouths and surprisingly the garlic and ginko were excellent.
I’d suggest to go a bit later, around 8, to experience the atmosphere to its fullest. You can walk around Tokyo Midtown, which is right next door.
– 16.5/20
Roppongi Robataya
1/F Kyowa Building Nishikan
4-4-3 Roppongi Minato-ku
Tokyo, Japan
T: +81 (3) 3408 9674
W: www.roppongi-robataya.com/english
110916 Roppongi Robataya - Logo typography
110916 Roppongi Robataya - Chef picks ingredients
110916 Roppongi Robataya - Live seafood
Review – Yardbird, Hong Kong
The buzz around town recently has been the opening of this place called Yardbird tucked in a small street off Hollywood Road (behind The Press Room). The chef, Matt Abergel, previously at Zuma Hong Kong takes chicken to a new level. Although we were never huge fans of Zuma, we must say this was impressive. Their specialty is chicken and you can get yakitori with just about any part of the bird that you can imagine. They claim that their birds are fresh from the market every day.
When we tried to book a table, they said that apart from being closed on Sundays, they don’t take reservations. Seems like there are more and more places adopting this in Hong Kong. IMO, I’m not sure that it works here. People are impatient and this favors the patrons either living or working nearby. Nevertheless, we went early and managed to grab a seat downstairs next to the open kitchen. Our whole party had to be present before they could give us a table, so our friend had to wait at the bar on the ground level. The decor was neat and simple, but maybe because of the loft-like high ceilings, everyone’s conversation bounced off the walls left right and center. We almost had to shout to hear ourselves. Maybe we’re just getting old.
Yakitori notables were the Thigh (HK$38/US$4.87), which was very tender; the Oyster (HK$42/US$5.38) – the hip joint, named for its resemblance to an oyster and the Knee (HK$38/US$4.87), the soft bone. But the highlight were the Meatballs (HK$42/US$5.38), which were juicy, soft and tender. It went extremely well with the sweet soy sauce mixed with a delicious raw egg yolk.
Some non-chicken items were also very good. The Sweet Corn Tempura (HK$85/US$10.90) was excellent. Even better than Inagiku. Each individual kernel was crispy and sweet. Yummy. Another interesting dish was called KFC (HK$75/US$9.62), and from a restaurant specializing in chicken, you would think the obvious. But it’s actually Korean fried cauliflower with a hint of kimchi but not too spicy. To get your fiber, the Yardbird Caesar (HK$90/US$11.54) was very unique. An oriental twist to the Caesar salad, with deep fried anchovies and miso sauce.
Although stuffed, we still couldn’t resist the fragrant Chicken and Egg Rice (HK$128/US$16.41) with crispy skin and peas. And of course there’s dessert…Peanut Butter Ice Cream (HK$40/US$5.13), not really our cup of tea though. It’s kind of like foie gras ice cream, you either love it or hate it.
Overall, Matt has done a great job and we would certainly be back for more. There are still parts of the chicken that we haven’t tried yet.
– 18/20
Yardbird
33-35 Bridges St.
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
T: +852 2547 9273
E: info@yardbirdrestaurant.com
W: www.yardbirdrestaurant.com
Hours: 6pm till late | closed on Sundays
110913 Yardbird - Main entrance
110913 Yardbird - Table setting
110913 Yardbird - Matt Abergel
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Update – Robatayaki Ichiban, Hong Kong
We were at one time so worried that our favorite Robatayaki place in Causeway Bay, Ichiban closed down. Check out our previous review. Just after Chinese New Year, we passed by and noticed that the street level shop had closed down without any notice of a new location.
Fortunately, we passed by a week later and saw their removal notice. It turned out that they were on the verge of closing for good due to the high rents. Lucky for us, they found their current location on Hennessy Road, also in Causeway Bay (right next to Sogo department store).
Inheriting the decorations from the Japanese restaurant that previously occupied the premises, the decor is very different from the rustic feel of the old shop, which had been there for more than 20 years. Nevertheless, the same people provide the same friendly service and great food. As they just reopened for one week, there are still some minor teething problems with the new kitchen. But we are sure that they will sort it out very soon and we will definitely be back to support them. Please help spread the word of their new location 
Robatayaki Ichiban
12/F, Macau Yat Yuen Centre
525 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
T: +852 2890 7580
110228 Robatayaki Ichiban - New entrance
110228 Robatayaki Ichiban - New interior decor
Review – Teppanyaki @ Inagiku, Kowloon, Hong Kong
We’ve been regulars at Inagiku on the Hong Kong side for their tempura, but we have a new found love at the Inagiku on the other side of the harbor…this time for teppanyaki. Their new Chef Masami Inoue originally was here on loan from Japan last winter, but the restaurant liked her so much they offered her to stay full time. Lucky us. And yes, the chef is female, very rare, especially for Japanese cuisine.
We started with some seasonal appetizers and some amazing sushi that we had before at the sushi bar. One was the botan ebi (shrimp – 牡丹蝦) and uni (sea urchin) tempura sushi, another was the mantis shrimp sushi. Both excellent and not to be missed. We opted for the HK$1,000/US$128 teppanyaki set menu but had some dishes swapped to cater to our palates.
We started with Japanese Oysters. This was different in that they were dipped in curry powder beforehand for a nice spicy flavor without overpowering the freshness of the oysters. The Scallops that followed were accompanied with a butter cream sauce. Unfortunately the mushrooms were a bit cold. The foie gras was not on the set menu and came with slices of kiwi fruit. Even though the kiwi was cooked, it may have been a bit too sour, but the foie gras was excellent. The Abalone was also off the set. Sourced from Dailin, China, they were chosen for its tenderness as opposed to those from Australia. The innards were finely chopped to make the sauce for the abalone. A natural match. Yummy. The Japanese Saga beef was very juicy but had a tad too much fat and so was very filling. The fried rice was delicious. It was not oily at all and every grain of rice was beautifully translucent.
The special preparation and presentation by Chef Inoue exemplifies her previous training in French cuisine. Rather than using the traditional teppanyaki sauces, each dish had its own sauce to enhance the main ingredients. You can say that it is kind of fusion cuisine, but the execution was very well done. Ichiban.
– 17.5/20
Inagiku
The Royal Garden
1/F, 69 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong
T: +852 2733 2933
E: inagiku@rghk.com.hk
W: www.rghk.com.hk/dining_inagiki_kln.html
110107 Inagiku - Private teppanyaki room
110107 Inagiku - Chef Inoue's set menu
110107 Inagiku - Seasonal appetizer
110107 Inagiku - Botan ebi & uni tempura sushi
110107 Inagiku - Mantis shrimp sushi
110107 Inagiku - Oyster in curry seasoning
110107 Inagiku - Scallop in butter cream sauce
110107 Inagiku - Chef Masami Inoue in action
110107 Inagiku - Foie gras with kiwi fruit
110107 Inagiku - Abalone from Dailin, China
110107 Inagiku - Japanese Saga beef steak
110107 Inagiku - Fried rice with beef
110107 Inagiku - Fried mixed vegetables
110107 Inagiku - Sample of different desserts
Review – Miyabi (雅), Hong Kong
We hopped over the harbor to try this new Japanese restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Located in a new building, The ONE, there are plenty of new restaurants here, so I’m sure we’ll be back very soon. We knew that Ah Fook, our favorite tempura chef from Inagiku moved here, along with quite a few of his colleagues. But we were told that for him to cook in front of us, we had to book the private room that had a HK$12,000/US$1,540 minimum charge! So we opted for a sitting at the sushi bar.
We ordered a slew of the regular sashimi/sushi, starting with the tsubugai (whelk) sashimi. The chef separately served us the stem that directly connects to the shell and highly recommended it. And he was right, this was surprisingly very crisp and sweet.
Then all of a sudden, Ah Fook came out to greet us and offered to let us savor his cooking once again. We were lucky that they weren’t very busy, otherwise we wouldn’t have had this opportunity. So we immediately halted our orders at the sushi bar. We narrowed the selection to focus on specifics that we like. One of them was of course the botan-ebi (shrimp) sashimi that was not very big, but very sweet and had a distinct fresh shrimp flavor. Many other places have the size and texture, but lacks in taste. Next on the must try list was the uni (sea urchin) in the whole shell. Unfortunately, this was a bit disappointing despite its beautiful presentation. It was a bit too chilled and therefore, the taste did not come out. We saved the best for last and the chūtoro (medium-fat bluefin tuna) was superb. We prefer this to ōtoro, which although very fat, normally has too many tendons for our liking.
Now off to the private room to enjoy the rest of our dinner. The room had spectacular views of Victoria Harbour with a long table capable of seating 8-10 comfortably. Although we only tried the tempura, there was also a teppanyaki grill to provide more variety. Too bad there wasn’t a sushi bar, otherwise, we’d be all set. We had the usual tempura dishes that Ah Fook made for us at Inagiku – shrimp, mantis shrimp, abalone, uni, yam and Mitake mushroom. Although Ah Fook’s technique and finesse was up to our high expectations, we somehow felt that the oil was not as fragrant as that used at Inagiku. Nevertheless, it was still very good. This time, we still had some surprises. Japanese tomato tempura? Very quaint…however, the sweetness and the juices did overwhelm the thin tempura batter. The highlight was cheese tempura. First wrapped with a shrimp paste and then just on its own. A very interesting and creative combination…that worked very well.
Next door, they also have a bar called Cocky Bar (???) that has a wonderful terrace that overlooks the harbor with a magnificent view. A great place for an after dinner drink…or two.
Despite being in Kowloon, we will definitely make it over the harbor more often.
– 17/20
Miyabi (雅)
L18, The ONE
100 Nathan Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon, Hong Kong
T: +852 2724 6222
E: miyabi@ambrosia.com.hk
W: www.miyabi.hk
100829 Miyabi - Entrance signage
100829 Miyabi - Main entrance
100829 Miyabi - Main dining area
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