Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Sushi Tokami, Hong Kong


Bu Pun Su

Recommended Posts

Like Singapore, Hong Kong has been blessed with numerous high quality Japanese restaurants. For the summer visit this year, I decided to have lunch at Sushi Tokami, tucked away inside an Ocean Centre – a bit unusual to find a top sushi-ya in the shopping mall. In Tokyo, Sushi Tokami is relatively new but quickly rising among the favorites in the past few years especially among the fans of ‘progressive’ edo mae style. Similar to the one in Tokyo, the HK branch also received the 1-star Michelin. This Sushi-ya is very famous for its maguro as the chef-owner’s family has been running a shop dedicated to tuna in Tsukiji market named Yamasachi for 2-3 generations. You can find their maguro in plenty of Tokyo’s elite sushi-yas

 

In addition to the ‘best’ maguro, to keep the high quality of the place … Sushi Tokami even paid particular attention to the water - only Japanese spring water was used to prepare for its shari (for better texture and rice flavor). The rice was none other than ‘Tanada-mai’ from Niigata that’s rich in minerals and seasoned with red vinegar that has been fermented with sake yeast. During this lunch, my Itamae was not Taga-san; the replacement looked quite young and has been working in Kyubey flagship restaurants for several years, thus actually a capable one – he handled nearly 10 guests with ease

 

I ordered the omakase menu consisting of 8 otsumami (including the maguro temaki) and 12 sushi (excluding tamago, tuna collagen soup and fruit dessert). For the appetizers, my favorite were:

-Chopped tuna neck handroll, the specialty of the house; generous, buttery and flavorful with crisp nori, wasabi and well-seasoned rice

-Steamed awabi and cooked tako often went together in any top sushi-ya. The mushi awabi was thick, tender (a bit bouncy) and delicious but the liver sauce was not as creamy & delicious as the one at Sushi Yoshitake. The tako was sweet, tasty and chewy – it took me a while to finish it, but an enjoyable ‘activity’ in the mouth

The rests were quite good but nothing memorable. The weakest ones were probably = the eggplant with miso sauce was not too impressive while the shiro ebi was fine but the sauce (made of the stomach of tai and snapper) was too overpowering, hence spoiled the enjoyment.

 

For sushi, anything with maguro (the usual trio and the soup) was indeed really good. My favorite one during lunch was arguably the Akamutsu; Rosy seabass has fatty flesh and oily that were nicely balanced with its red vinegar shari. Any (bafun) uni fans would love this place; in addition to its creamy and sweet uni, the ratio of uni vs shari in gunkan style was 3:1! Honestly, I barely tasted the rice … maybe trivial, but the nori used here was always crisp and delectable. Lastly, the tamago was more dense (& sticky) than “normal”, its texture was more like a cheesecake but still flavorful. You can see the others from the pictures below – not every piece was really refined / in perfection, it’s still a work in progress for this place.

 

The staffs spoke good English, Japanese and Cantonese. The service has been good and consistent; my hot ocha was pretty much hot most of the time. They also provided a cover for my camera and notes – a nice gesture. Despite its location, inside the dining room, the atmosphere was calm and peaceful with sufficient light. Another solo guest next to me (Japanese who keeps talking with the Itamae) seemed to love this place a lot. He probably consumed 20+ pieces as he asked for more and more including awabi sushi after he saw me eating the mushi awabi.

 

Pictures of the meal: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7124357@N03/albums/72157687537040494/with/37398599276/

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...