It was interesting because whilst I was trying out the Teppanyaki section of this newly opened Edo Japanese Restaurant, which hails from Macau, we saw a few recognizable faces of foodies eating outside and trying out their Kaiseki courses separately. So we sort of walked back and forth checking out each others food in-between dishes! The Hong Kong outlet has a Japanese Executive Chef on board to look after the food quality, and it’s definitely a bit higher grade than the Macanese quality just from reading the menu alone already.
Our Teppanyaki Chef, a Hong Kong Female Chef with many years experience cooking Teppanyaki –
Previously at 水車屋 Sui Sha Ya, one of the oldest Japanese Institutions in HK which has undergone many transformations, going from selling high end food decades ago to all-you-can-eat teppanyaki before they closed down finally. It used to be as famous as Ginza Japanese Restaurant and Arima 有馬日本料理, the latter pretty famous for always smuggling in real Kobe-Beef into Hong Kong. How the Japanese food scene has changed these years..
The Seafood Course today – $780 Per Person
With African Abalone, Hokkaido Scallops and Salmon
Starter Appetizers -
Sweet potato, Cabbage Pickles, and Cucumber with Wasabi mixed Rice, Beans and Wheat lees, similar in concept to Kinsanji Miso. Lovely. Also Kamaboko fish cakes with Wasabi and Rice lees, and Mentaiko cod roe. 7.5/10
The New Years Osechi - Additional $150
This is served during New Years in Japanese cuisine, each component symbolizing a positive meaning. *A friend’s order, didn’t get to try this.
Grilled Scallop with Butter and Pesto Sauce -
This was cooked well enough and not over, the sauce was not too over powering, it is a slightly westernized formula. The other day I had this interesting conversation with another experienced foodie and he said it seems like, in both Japanese and even French or Spanish restaurants nowadays, everyone is doing a seared & caramelized Hokkaido scallop. It’s true in Hong Kong for sure. ~ 7.5/10
Frying some Rosemary to Infuse with the Olive Oil,
for cooking the 1st Prawn dish ..
Teppanyaki King Prawn with Grilled Head, served with Himalayan Pink Salt and Calamansi -
Truth be told I think this is an easy dish to cook. As long as you have a griddle (basically same as a teppan), you can do these well so long as the temperature control is accurate, unlike for home cooking. However I liked the accuracy of both cooking and the sauce in this dish. I also can’t help but noticed that this didn’t use the normal combination of Butter and Soy Sauce and Mirin or Sake to cook the prawn, which is the norm. Instead they used Rosemary Olive Oil, which is actually a smart move, as it retains the prawn flavour more. ~ 8/10
Grilled Salmon in a Mushroom Ankake Sauce -
This is a Chuka style Chinese-Japanese sauce, slightly starchy and you see a lot of it in Western Japan. The Salmon was seared to crispy on 1 side. Probably no big surprises here but it was again cooked accurately. ~ 7/10
African Abalone served in its Own Cooked Shell,
served with it’s own Livers -
This is how you usually eat Shellfishes properly in Japan, especially for say Tsubugai and this. The raw abalone is usually dipped into its own livery sauce. Here both were teppan grilled. In fact this combination might be expected in Japan but for HK it is quite unique, so kudos to the chef for retaining the extra organ bits. ~ 8/10
Tofu with Sesame Dressing Salad -
Technically it cannot be faulted, although somehow I don’t mind something more complicated or unique for a salad. May be if it had some chirimen white baits or sakura prawns in it to keep the momentum going and interesting. ~ 6/10
Signature Drunken Prawn created by our Lady Iron Chef -
The above prawn dish was an imported King Prawn. This one here is local live 9 Sections Prawn which were made drunken in Hua Diao Jiu wine for around 30 minutes. Served with Crispy Prawn Legs, Prawn Meat with Shiso Flower, and Prawn Head 3 ways. This actually surprised me in 3 Different ways and not all of which are positive – the use of local Live Prawns and Hua Diao wine is kind of Chinese based. If someone who believes in traceability in food history cooked this dish, I would prefer the prawns to get drunken in some Ume Shu or Rice Sake or Aomori-Hokkaido Apple Wine instead to keep with the spirit. 2ndly and the positive news, I liked how the legs were fried separately as that’s where a lot of the crustacean flavours actually lie. 3rdly I was actually surprised at how much of the aromatic wine entered into the prawns body already as this bit really sang out…. Reason enough to experiment this technique for myself ! ~ 8/10
Salmon, Scallop and Egg Fried Rice -
I know this is a Seafood Teppanyaki Course, and ultimately although this was fried well enough I just wished there was some red meat snuggled in-between the courses? Or both Salmon and Scallops have already made an appearance above previously, and so did the Prawns twice. If I was cooking this for the customer I will probably throw in some diced Ankimo Monkfish Liver or Sakura Prawns to be exploratory, or even Japanese Dried Golden Oysters. Or even shave in some Karasumi dried mullet roe. But that is just me. I mean FINDS impressed me when they sprinkled some Dehydrated Scallop Roes back onto the scallop flesh itself to bring out the umami. The world’s possibilities are only at your own imagination.. ~ 7/10
Miso Soup and Pickles -
The Miso soup was definitely decent and flavourful. The Takuan yellow pickles were cut slightly unevenly though and by default it should be sliced thicker. The Goubo Burdock pickle is good and not over powering in comparison. From a Food Traditionalist’s point of view, the pickled dish also should have at least a 3rd component which is redder or purple, like Shibazuke or similar. Japanese cuisine is always balanced ranging from colours to taste.
Japanese Strawberries and Pear to round off the Teppanyaki Meal -
So ripe sweet as a finish indeed. Overall I found that some dishes here to be very thoughtful, I definitely think the Execution of the dishes here and the seasoning were spot-on. Some dishes had a bit of repetitive ingredients though but with the base cooking precision covered, that could be easily fixed !
Price: $780 + 10%
Food: ♕♕♕ 1/2 to ♕♕♕♕ 1/2
Address: 1/F, J Plus Hotel by Yoo,1-5 Irving Street, Causeway Bay
銅鑼灣伊榮街1-5號 J Plus Hotel by Yoo 1樓
Ph: 2643 3033
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