Sushi Ta-Ke first started operating in Hong Kong under the management by a Michelin Starred sushi restaurant from Tokyo. A few years after my last visit, they now have on board Chef Sato Taisuke, who has worked in many Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong and Japan and is now a veteran here, who can now speak fluent Cantonese! We or I took my Japanese Chef friend here for dinner because he wanted to eat the best quality seafood and having already taken him to places like Sushi Sase, Kosyu and numerous other places, I decided to come here because from our previous encounters I know Chef Sato loves fishing and distinguishing between various types of seafood, so it will always be educational for me too!
Shima Aji nigiri-zushi -
Lovely piece of fish and sliced beautifully to be shaped in a sexy shape (waiting for my hate mails for describing a nigiri sushi this way haha so many haters in this world). This shiny skinned fish is always crunchy yet oily during winter, one of my favourite fishes.
Hokkaido Scallop Sushi -
Although normal looking, the slight grated input of yellow Yuzu zest on top really enhanced the flavour. We noticed that the rice here is not too sticky either…
Aka Botan Ebi Prawn (Hokkaido) -
This has a bigger head than the normal Botan Ebi, it was super sweet and not mealy at all. Good start.
Aburi Kinmedai -
Oh my goodness this was good and so oily, to be honest I love Kinmedai but this piece really impressed me, but in fact this wasn’t even the best piece tonight..
Tsuri Kinki -
I usually love kinki, but surprisingly the above Kinmedai was so amazing it actually over-shadowed this piece on this visit. Especially when Kinmedai is much cheaper than Tsuri Kinki in cost…
Aburi Akamutsu (Nodoguro) -
I often think Akamutsu is over-rated for it’s fame. But far out this piece was so flavourful… if you ask my opinion and knowing all three successive pieces of fishes above do look slightly similar, I would have blind guessed this was the Kinki. But in fact, this was better than the above Kinmedai and Kinki in taste, and probably the only time I have been impressed by a Akamutsu all these years.
Wild Black Maguro Tuna - Akami cut
This was decent only. Somehow it was slightly missing that bold ‘akami’ slightly bloody flavour which I love.
Wild Black Maguro Otoro -
This was very good, with a good balance between meat and oiliness taste. Modern day fatty toro’s to me don’t always have a lot of taste, especially the ones you eat in HK. May be because they are semi-farmed with big trawlers in the sea? This was a really good piece. *I know Bluefin Tuna is endangered, so it always feels a bit guilty to eat it… although in a way I think it’s a supply and demand thing economically. One day, I think Bluefin Tuna and Eel will become so expensive no one will pay for it?
Aka Bafun Urchin from Hokkaido -
This is fished near the Russian waters. The name is slightly ambiguous, since this is not an Aka Uni, a different DNA strand. This is one of the top Urchins unique to the Hokkaido and Russian seas, super fresh and sweet. My Sushi Chef dining friend also pointed out that the seaweed they use here is of superb quality, it doesn’t have that usual green-fishiness but a much more sophisticated umami taste.
Negitoro Temaki hand-roll -
Here they do it the Edo-mae style which is cylindrical. This was very fatty but tasteful, and quite fresh. Good Negitoro is so hard to find in HK, because the best are scraped off bones and the skin, but in Hong Kong context they are usually just diced up as it is expensive to ship over the skin and bones. (Much like how lamb cuts in HK have their bones shortened to save shipping costs)
Tamago Yaki -
Unfortunately we came a bit late and they ran out of their more Castella style version with shrimps and whitebaits. This was still enjoyable nevertheless, but personally, slightly too sweet for me. Overall this Sushi Ya was pretty good with it’s seafood neta ingredients. I often become disappointed with high end sushi in HK because it is just so obviously missing the flavours in many places. I was actually thoroughly impressed by Sushi Ta-Ke once again, because I could actually taste each fish. The other place I recommend is Sushi Mori, which gives me the same feeling. My last visit to 1* Sushi Iwa had an half-half performance but that was for lunch, so that is not a foregone conclusion as yet! Sushi Sase is also lovely but my few times eating there, I seem to be getting the same fishes whether it was summer or winter.
Price: $880 + 10%
Food: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2 to ♕♕♕♕♕
Address: 12/F, Cubus, 1 Hoi Ping Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
銅鑼灣開平道一號Cubus 12樓
Ph: 25770611
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