Hamadaya

[FDE]

Just came back recently from our few months travel in Asia and Australia. As usual, we visited many top rated restaurants during our journey.

Maybe because of the spacious private tatami room overlooking a traditional garden, or the flawless service adhering to the strict Japanese etiquette, or the beautiful work of art on each plate, or simply tasty food, Hamadaya was THE restaurant of our trip!

We went there for lunch as they sometimes charge a room hiring fee for dinner. It is an all-private-room restaurant.

This colourful masterpiece composed of six types of jelly: prawn, lily bulb, okra (ladyfinger), wakame seaweed with herring roe, egg custard, and foie gras.

Top-notch sea urchin with eggplant!

Sashimi plate:

“Melt-on-the-tongue” braised pork with miso paste… Impressive stuff!

Disappointed about the Michelin downgrade (now 2*), but I think it still worth a journey!

Full Report Here:

www.finediningexplorer.com/Asia

[Hiroyuki]

Thanks for sharing all those impressive photos!

I'm amused to see a picture in a frame on the wall in a space that seems to be a tokonoma (alcove).

Sashimi plate: Was the wasabi real wasabi, or was it made from powdered wasabi (I mean, horse radish)?

(I, for one, was a little disappoited to see no tuna in the plate.)

Do you remember what brand of sake you had?

The uni looks fresh, but it also looks slightly out of shape. It may be not as fresh as the fresh uni that I previously had. No intention to offend you in any way; I just wanted you to see one of the freshest uni you can have.

[FDE]

Thanks for the comments. Yes, it was fresh wasabi. It was milder with a bit of fine fibrous texture than the usual powdered wasabi.

Sake, yes, I did request them to write down the name in English. It is from the region Gifu, Kozaemon junmai ginjo.

No offense taken... for uni… during winter season in London, I do buy fresh sea urchin from Borough Market and cut them open myself, but it tasted nothing like the uni in any Japanese restaurant. The uni at Hamadaya was superb already in comparison, but no, it definitely wasn’t the best uni we ever had! But it is on par with the expensive uni I had in Grand Hyatt Hong Kong (about USD$30 per piece) two years ago!

Our Japanese colleagues mentioned the best Uni are from Hokkaido, which we may be visiting this year.