My Favourite Restaurants

For what it's worth, below is a list of my favourite restaurants, in no specific order of preference. My key criteria are that it should represent a memorable meal, and that it would be a place that I like to re-visit again and again.

1. Peter Luger's in Brooklyn - I haven't been to this place for ages, but a TV program just reminded me of my love for the "steak for two" (steak for one somehow just doesn't taste the same). More cholesterol? Yes please.
2. Hugo's at the Hyatt Regency Hotel (now torn down) in Tsim Sha Tsui. In my mind, nothing beats its prime rib. Too bad my favourite fantango bread was long gone before the restaurant was closed. I am looking forward to going back when the new Hyatt opens (whenever that may be, given the current economic climate).
3. Sushi Ichi in Tokyo - refined sushi at its contemporary best.
4. A tempura joint next to exit B3, Kamiyacho metro station, Tokyo. This 12-seat family-run restaurant is my favourite lunch spot but I don't know its name! At the price of 1,300 yen for a tempura teishoku, they use fresh ingredients, proper sesame seed oil and quality sea salt. Thinner batter definitely exists in Tokyo, but I think nothing beats its bang for the buck.
5. Cal Pep in Barcelona - simply the best tapas ever. I remember having the sweetest and most succulent green peppers there, and I don't even like green peppers much.
6. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon - Tokyo branch. My 2nd favourite lunch spot. I always have the steak tartare with frites, and the dish looks the same year after year after year - I appreciate the reliability and consistency.
7. "Fung Lum" Restaurant (楓林小館) in Shatin, Hong Kong. An institution for me since childhood - salt and pepper shrimp, pigeon, braised bean curd, "yeung chow" style fried rice.
8. Toscana at the Ritz Carlton (also torn down), Hong Kong. I love its authenticity, and hope to see the talented Chef Bombana resurface soon.
9. Kahala - Osaka, Japan. Wonderful creativity and diversity from a chef who claimed to have not been out of Japan.

It is getting late, maybe I will come back and think of my 10th place after some snoozing.

My Sushi Journey: from Yamato to Itching for Sushi Ichi

My first recollection of sampling Japanese food was at Yamato, a long-gone restaurant on the 1st floor of a commercial building next to Eldorado Watch Co., Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong. As a 5-year-old, I remembered how I never liked the tonkatsu rice much but yearned always for the tamago (I still do).

Then came the day and age when the also-defunct Benkay at the Landmark was all the rage: miso cod fish, california maki's, toro, hamachi and salmon sushi became staples of my formative growth years.

The world of sushi was much larger of course, as I gradually discovered sans-familie in my food exploits from Causeway Bay to Ginza. Credit to Sushi Hiro for realizing the fickle palette of Hong Kong people, and introducing me to different fish with names unheard of before. I have since become far less fond of toro, in favour of seasonal white fish preferred by the Japanese.
(a nice piece of kimedai from Sushi Hiro)

It was, however, my first visit to Kybei in Ginza many years ago that cemented my current foundation views of what a great sushi-ya should be like - in terms of ambience, chefs' skills, the lack of fish in front of you except for what you are eating, and the quality of the all-important freshly steamed tamago.

Sushi-hopping became a new hobby, the first meal of each trip to Tokyo had to be a quality sushi dinner at some exotic, hard-to-find sushi-ya. Of all the first class joints in Tokyo, Sushi Ichi is my current favourite. It offers refinement with a contemporary twist, and its relatively casual setting had none of the stiffness sometimes associated with comparable competitors.

Importantly, the chefs understood that less is sometimes more: fatty fish served in a large portion might taste overly oily, but slicing it thinner or cubing it would allow better texture and flavour to come through actually.
(Grilled saba at Sushi Ichi)(Negi toro sushi with a twist at Sushi Ichi)
(Freshly steamed tamago with fish at Sushi Ichi)

I am yearning to go back to Sushi Ichi soon, but life is not always about new favourites. I suppose progression should be balanced by remembering your roots. For a taste of old times, I find Sagano's traditional fare serves me just fine.

Sushi Hiro: 10/F New Henry House, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. T: 2882 8752
Kyubei: http://www.kyubey.jp/index_e.html
Sushi Ichi: http://www.3567-0014.com/english/sushi/sushi.html
Sagano: 1/F Nikko Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. T: 2313 4215