My crave for yakitori dishes brought us back to this joint in Causeway Bay, a place that we used to come regularly but haven’t been for quite some time. And glad to see their old chef Ben back working behind the open kitchen with all the familiar staff working in the front of the house at this small, hole-in-the-wall place in the building with the entrance inside a quiet dark alley.
Always love the speakeasy vibe at this casual restaurant, with the typical izakaya décor with sake label collage lined the wall on all sides. Not as crowded as they used to be as restaurant business is still recovering from the slowdown, but it did fill to the capacity now allowed under government rules. The menu didn’t change much from what we remembered, with good selection of meat and vegetables prepared in skewers on the grill plus some other hot dishes, all prepared inside the open kitchen at the far end of the restaurant.
We went for "the usual", and they were as good as we remembered. Ox tongue was always our favorite, served in thick cut, well seasoned and the slightly charred top. All it needed was a dab of punchy mustard for the perfect dish to go with alcohol. I have had better tsukune (minced chicken meatballs) elsewhere but I love their tare sauce here mixed with egg yolk which goes well with the meat mixed with cartilage for the extra crunchy texture. I didn’t remember chicken oyster being offered on their menu before and they were tasty with good amount of fat and slightly bounty texture, dipped into the sauce before served on the bamboo skewers.
Other grilled dishes we had included the chicken liver, chicken wings, quail eggs and eels and they were all very decent. So were the small bites of deep-fried Japanese cheese mochi. A bit bummed when we were told our favorite dish of udon in fish broth was not available, but the onigiri was just fine as our final course, grilled with a generous basting of the sauce and served with crispy nori and pickles on the side. We should have brought our own bottle of sake but the simple one from their drink menu was just fine. A small bottle Junmai from the snow country of Niigata served cold, easy-going, light and slightly sweet.
When? September 25 2020
Where? Yakitori Sumi, 9/F, Evernew House, 485 Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay
Menu Highlights? Grilled Ox Tongue
Drink? Koshiji Fubuki Ginjo - Takano Shuzo, Niigata Prefecture
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