Friends Meet-up

Not planning for anything in particular, but I ended up meeting with a few friends from Hong Kong during my week in Shanghai. 

Yakitori in the hood

One evening we decided to check out a new izakaya in our neighborhood with a heavy shade of doubts. Decent dining establishments have been few and far between near our home, let alone a Japanese restaurant, but turned out the place was far better than we expected.

Unagi and Izakaya

We have long anticipated the opening of Uza, the new concept by our friend Anthony with the name a combination of Unagi and Izakaya which also described what this establishment does - a casual Japanese pub (izakaya) specializing in eel cuisine (Unagi). He first tested this at a pop-up event 2 years ago (which I enjoyed) and finally managed to open its doors after some delays (partly because of Covid) and my friends and I went to visit recently. 

CENSU

Censu has been on my list of restaurants to visit for a while. Technically I have never been but I did try Chef Shun's cooking at a pop-up event a couple years ago right before the restaurant's opening. 

First Night Out

"So, where are you going for dinner on April 21?" became a common question to ask as we were finally allowed back into restaurants for dinner after a long 3-month ban. For us, the choice was Torisho, the yakitori specialist in Central which opened its door about a year ago but we have never been. 

Unagi Part 1: Sumiya on Gough

Mid-summer is customarily the time to eat Unagi, or freshwater eel, thanks to the tradition of “Doyo no Ushi no Hi” day which falls in late July this year, so the other day we made a quick stop at Sumiya on Gough Street to enjoy a bowl of Unagi-don at this restaurant specialized in this classic Japanese dish. 

The New "In" Place

ODDS seems to be a rather odd name for a Japanese restaurant, but turned out that's the only thing that seems out of place about this new venue in Central, opened only a few weeks ago. 

Oyster Hut

I saw on Facebook about the opening of a Japanese restaurant specializing in oyster dishes and was curious to give it a try the other night with my friends S and J. There’s no lack of oyster bars around town but I couldn’t recall one in an izakaya setting and focuses on ingredients directly imported from Japan. 

Chicken Lunch

I have not been back to Yardbird for years – not since they moved from their original location up near Soho to their much expanded space in Sheung Wan. Not that we didn’t like their food but waiting for 60 minutes plus for a table have never been our thing and there’s always choices elsewhere, but with them now accepting reservations in advance, we didn’t hesitate to make one to eat there this past weekend. 

Late Night Yakitori

I almost forgot my booking at Toritama until a few days ago before the meal when I received their message reminder. With they still going strong when business got tough elsewhere, I made a reservation for one of the nights in July almost a month ago and it has since slipped through my mind. My craving for yakitori has somewhat satisfied by another meal I had in late June, but of course I didn’t mind another yakitori meal at arguably one of the best specialist restaurant in town. 

Yakitori in Tai Hang

We came across this izakaya while wandering in this Tai Hang neighborhood looking for a place to eat. What caught our eyes first was this place seems to be relatively packed while most other places looked like half deserted, so we figured that's a good indication of the food quality.

Izakaya With a Bang

It seems like an oxymoron when they decided to name their Japanese Izakaya style restaurant “Silencio” (after a Latin jazz song apparently – just FYI), but then one might argue it’s somewhat appropriate given they do have a jazz band performing live at the dining room every evening. That’s just part of what made this new place in Lan Kwai Fong unique and fun as a place to hang out, eat and drink.

Birdie

I have been itching to check out this new yakitori place named Birdie at a new building that seemed to have sprout up out of nowhere in the middle of Central. A few friends have eaten there and liked the food, so we finally managed to get a booking to go one late evening on a weeknight.

Okinawa Short Trip: Initial Impression

“You are going to love it as long as you don’t think of it as Japan”… my friend JP gave me this piece of advice on Okinawa. To be honest, we never thought of this remote Japanese prefecture in the Pacific as an interesting destination worth visiting, thinking the place is more suited for parents with kids rather than serious travellers, but JP assured me that’s just a common misconception and there were plenty of nice places to go. So one day when we saw the air ticket promotion to Okinawa, we took advantage of it and made a short trip there.

Kushikatsu Dinner

We came across this little izakaya in Causeway Bay specializing in Kushikatsu, when we were looking for a casual bite in the area on a Friday evening. When we found out there’s no space at the yakitori joint we frequented in the area, we made a call to this restaurant called JunG39 with short notice and asked them to save two spots at the counter for us while we made our way over.

Izakaya Dinner Near Airport

Of course, one might argue that just because the restaurant is close to the fish market doesn’t guarantee the best quality of ingredients nor the finest seafood cuisine being served, but no doubt they have the geographical advantage of having access to some of the freshest. To tourists and shopaholics, the area near to Osaka’s Kansai Airport is probably better known for the Rinku Outlet Town for those wanting to fetch a bargain, but the Izumisano Fish Market was also just as famous, for being the major trading spot for fresh seafood in the region, and as an extension, home to many restaurants that offer decent seafood dishes.

Bar Crossover

A few days ago I dropped by Okra in the afternoon for a sneak preview of the upcoming collaboration dinner menu featuring dishes by Chef Max Levy and drinks by Yuta Inagaki of Bar Butler in TST. The full menu was a 10-course long meal completed with 9 different cocktails but this time we had the abbreviated menu with 6 of those dishes.

On My Day Off: Izakaya Dinner

A long story why I ended up on this side of harbor after spending a good afternoon browsing through exhibits at the Art Basel on the other side (alright, for me it’s more about the champagne at the VIP lounge than the art pieces, I admit), but anyway, since we were around this neighborhood (TST, that is), I thought it's a good idea to check out this new Japanese izakaya nearby that I always meant to try. Goshaku sat on the sixth floor of a commercial building on Knutsford Terrace and behind the restaurant was the same team which operates Keyaki near LKF and a handful of other Japanese casual diners around town.

Okinawa x Yardbird

For two evenings in mid-December, pork, instead of chicken, became the major theme of Yardbird as they were running a special menu inspired by Okinawa cuisine. I left office on the dot to be at the restaurant, trying to beat the crowd and joined the group for an early drink/dinner at this ever-popular izakaya/yakitori joint in Sheung Wan.

Unusual Thanksgiving Dinner

We celebrated this year’s Thanksgiving at an unusual venue of a Japanese-style Izakaya. I have been to Okra in Sai Ying Pun headed by New Orleans chef Max when it first opened earlier this year and loved some of the dishes there, and over Thanksgiving they were doing a special menu for “Friends and Families” to celebrate “Thank Immigrants Day”, as he called it.