Posts Tagged Tempura

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