Friday, October 8, 2010

Nishiki (錦 鳥燒居) - ♕♕♕♕♕

Japanese Chef and owner 大宗昇 is one of the most low profile but always polite Chef, who welcomes customers of all nationalities!  Despite having a reputation for being arrogant as his kitchen has been shown on TV ridiculing customers who came in asking for Sashimi which he doesn’t normally serve  (well, actually he does occasionally, but only when he’s 100% confident the fish is super fresh and you’ve pre-ordered them. Its called Quality Assurance…).  He treats his staff like a closely knitted family, having lived and gotten married in Hong Kong for a while.  After depleting my list of Yakitori shops to visit in Hong Kong, and after eating here more than a few times, I am happy to claim this to be amongst the ~ Top  3 Yakitori shops in Hong Kong.

Consider that a relative statement only.  In Japan, you can eat great Kushiyaki in many suburban shops, though equally bad ones are also around every corner.  But locally and despite the hundreds of yakitori shops within this city, many can’t seem to get the grill timing and seasoning very right.  The majority of shops owned by locals picked up their grilling techniques whilst working at Nanban Tei 南蛮亭, the tell-tale signs being their plagiarising of crudites veggie sticks & miso dip, also that overly garlicky salt powder they use.   On the other hand, even a few shops owned by Japanese Chefs don’t always prepare the sticks perfectly either.  Nishiki takes their food seriously, although like most shops they use an electric rather than charcoal grill.  Surprisingly they don’t encourage Photo Taking and Online Reviews.  But at least they are polite about it when mentioning the issue and the wait staff and owner always carry the warmest smiles…

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In an unnamed corner of a run down hotel…

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チーズ酒盜 (酒肴) -
Cream Cheese with Salt-Fermented Shiokara Tuna innards are very good here ~
9/10

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鳥とチーズの春巻き -
Chicken and Cheese Spring Roll was served with Tomato Sauce,
done very well here and recommended by the friendly Wait Staff ~ 9/10
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Meltingly addictive and not a bit of oil intact. Fried very well.

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牛タン -
Beef Tongue is exquisite, charred but tender, flavoursome.
This is the Thin variety, wish they also make a Thick version to compare  ~ 8/10

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はさみ -
Chicken grilled together with Japanese Leeks, this is the item you rate a Yakitori shop on, and here it passed with flying colours ~  10/10

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しそ巻き -
Green Shiso leaf wrapped around Chicken nugget, perfectly timed ~ 9/10

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手羽先 -
Grilled Chicken Wing might sound clichéd, but many shops either over or under grill it, but Not Here.  It retains moisture but also has a good crunchy skin and charry taste ~ 9/10

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納豆巻き -
Natto fermented beans wrapped with Seaweed, this goes well with beers ~
8/10

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つくね -
The version here doesn’t have innards, but it has some soft bones but not much.
To be eaten dipped into the egg, this was very well balanced ~ 8/10

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つみれ -
Shiitake mushroom stuffed with chicken mince, hence the name,
this was cooked to the exact degree of timing. Moist, yet grilled enough to bring out the mushroom’s aroma ~  9/10

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トマト ベーコン巻き -
Cherry tomatoes wrapped around by Bacon. Well timed again ~ 8/10

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漬物盛り合わせ -
白菜, 沢庵, 牛蒡, 山菜, なす, 赤かぶ ~ 9/10

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焼きおにぎり -
Grilled Rice Balls with radish pickles was ok-good,
at least not internally too wet ~  7/10

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Some of their Menu Items, but in Japanese writing mostly.

 

Price: $260 per person + 10%
Score: ★★

Opening Hours:
Monday to Sunday  -  12:00-22:30

Address:
尖沙咀麼地道71號富豪九龍酒店1樓
(1/F, Regal Kowloon Hotel, 71 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui)
Ph: 2723 8660

1 comment:

  1. I've tried a couple of other yakitori here in HK and been nothing but disappointed but even on the pictures this looks like a cut above (and little grilled sticks are hard to photograph!).

    Excellent, I can't wait to go

    ReplyDelete

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