Magosaburo 燒肉孫三郎 (Hong Kong) - ♕♕♕♕

Magosaburo (Magosaburou) is a Yakiniku-ya originally found in Kyushu in Japan,  but they have now expanded their Yakiniku operations into Hong Kong and now serving Korean-Japanese styled grill meats in this imported shop in Mongkok.    The staff team running the show here have arrived from another famous Japanese Group operated restaurant locally and are very well experienced.  Working hand-in-hand with the new Japanese branded group, together they are working to recreate as much of an authentic Japanese experience as possible.   There were some slight changes along the way however to satisfy the local customers’ expectations.    The meat nowadays are less marinated and also less sweet,  although the marinating sauce remained still a little too thin and too sweet to our likings despite the presence of some fruits in the formulae.     During the early opening days the quality of the meat at Magosaburo was said to be quite decent but somewhere after that other reviewers have noticed the meat quality had dropped off significantly,  which it managed to scare a few customers away with its darkly bruised meat quality.    As a newish shop I think it is inevitable that it will undergo its ups and downs and inconsistencies, and so it will take us a few visits to monitor its true performance.     Part of this visit was as an invited meal to promote their Valentine’s Day Special Meat Set on 14th Feb 2012,  which at $438 per person, is  reasonable for the dishes quality and it includes a free glass of Plum Wine, or a glass of White or Red in the final price.    

 

 

Valentines Menu Preview -
Quite reasonable for that Special Date.

 

Green Tea -

 

 

 

Gochujang and Shichimi -
One is Korean based and chili-miso like,  the other is a thicker version of a 7 spices blend.  Decent.

 

 

Umeshu -  Japanese Plum Wine
This is a better-than-Choya version,
less sugary and more fresh fruity…   ~  9/10

 

 

 

Some Dishes to Start Off with.
The 2 Courses on top,  are separately ordered items and daily specials,
calculated separately..

 

Wine Marinated Beef Tataki – $Price to be advised
This is interesting as the Beef Tataki is wine marinated for more than 1 day then slightly poached instead of seared as per usual,  a variation to the formula!   Eaten with slivers of onions and dipping into either one of Miso based sauce or Yuzu Koushou pepper.   Pretty interesting outcome and winey with the beef ~  8/10

 

キムチ。ナムル　四点 -  Pickles Valentine’s Set
This is a very Korean dish with Japanese influence,  with both Cabbage kimchi and Cucumber kimchi,  a Daikon namuru,  and a Zenmai (薇) which is like a Japanese 金針 and a popular mountain vegetable,  and sometimes also found in Tensho 天勝.

 

 

Bacon Caesar Salad -
The bacon were more like cooked pork bits,  the dressing definitely Japanese in flavour.  This was a refreshing salad with more peppers and tomatos added than usual,  also less cheesy and anchovy like than Western versions.  ~ 6/10

 

リブロース 焼きシャブ US Ribeye Beef,  with Sesame Dare sauce -  $195
Around 4 pieces totaling 180g of US beef,  this had more beef flavour than expected.  The other highlight was the sesame sauce which was thick and not too vinegary like the cheap bottles you buy in 100 Yen shops.    ~  8/10

 

 

 

海の幸セット -  Seafood Set with Hamaguri Clams, Prawns, Scallops and Squid
The clams were quite fresh and once they pop open, grill them just a tad longer and eat them.  Pretty sweet.  The prawns were ok and deveined properly.  Scallops were a little thing,  and the squid is probably just cut a tad too thick.   Half good and half average,  but fresh enough  ~  7/10

 

 

Pot of Asahi Draft Beer -  $TBA
Grilling meat without a beer is sinful,  and we ordered one to help balance the meal and meat greasiness. 

 

 

特選肉盛り合わせ – Special Meat Platter
This is for 2 people, like the above seafood platter.   It consists of Negi-Shio Beef Tongue with spring onion,  which was surprisingly meaty and nice.  The Chicken Meat caramelised quite well and stayed moisted due to good marination.   The Karubi beef looked marbled but was a little bland, which was disappointing.   The Harami Skirt made up with a stronger flavour and was very tender,  and came from the best of the 3 cuts available which can make a harami with slightly gamey flavours.   The highlight was always going to be the 黑樺牛 Wagyu, cut from the Chuck Rib and nicely marbled and dripping with mono-unsaturated fat!  Yum.   The Pork Neck was evenly marbled and tasted good.    ~   8/10

 

 

肩ロース – Chuck Rosu just in front of the Rib Eye Muscles
This is a favourite cut in Japanese Yakiniku,  as it is slightly cheaper than the primest cuts but can be rather evenly marbled and satisfying..

Harami Cut -
2-3 cuts can make the cut (pun intended!) to be classified as one,  this is using one of the best cuts and hence the tenderness and slightly organs taste.

 

Thin Beef Tongue with Salt and Spring Onion -
Cook one side first then spread the ‘pesto’ paste on the cooked side.   Serving it separately made this easier to achieve than in many Japan-Yakiniku shops where the paste is already spread on top of the raw tongue.  I like the hygienic method here better.  Quite flavourful and meaty.

 

Grilled Chicken -
This was nicely marinated and the slightly sugary coating caramelizes well on the grill.  Decent.  

 

 

黑樺牛 -
A specially grown Wagyu bred from Kyushu,
where the shop originates from before opening their first branch in Hong Kong.

 

 

冷麵 Cold Noodles with Beef Tongue　-
This is a Japanese cold Morioka Reimen,  but served in a more Korean Naengmyeon style without fruits,  but served with tender beef tongue instead.  A bit of a hybrid dish as usual,  as both have the same Korean origin.  Quite chewy and served cold,  this would be a good summer dish.   ~   7/10

 

 

 

Tomato Cheese Bibimbap in Dolsot - 
This is also more of a Japanese-Korean hybrid dish,  with cleaner flavours but the addition of a tomato-cheesy sauce.  It was cooked a bit wet tonight,  dowsed with too much sauce.   The cheese flavour also wasn’t so apparent.   I think this is an interesting dish to serve,  but you can’t mix in too much sauces at the beginning.   ~   3/10

 

 

 

Almond and Coffee Pudding - 
This looked decent.  I thought the top layer of coffee jelly was slightly bitter on approach but turned out ok in the end,  but the bottom layer had very weak almond flavours and was set a little too strong.   This polarised the table,  some thought it ok but others thought it was a bit weak overall.   Not bad from my perspective but greatly missing the almond flavouring layer.   ~  6.5/10

 

 

 

Price:  $438 Valentines Set for 1 Person,  excluding Beer and Other Add on Items
Food:  ♕♕♕♕ to ♕♕♕♕ 1/2   (Part of this meal was an invited Valentine’s Day preview visit.  The quality was decent vs the price,  hope you also receive the same experience in the end. )

Opening Hours -
Mon to Sun -   12:00-15:00pm
                        18:00 - 00:00pm

Address:  旺角西洋菜南街138號福苑大廈1樓
1/F, Fortune Crest, 138 Sai Yeung Choi Street South , Mong Kok, Hong Kong.
Ph: (03) 9078 5992