Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Teppanyaki Sanka

This teppanyaki restaurant is located in Stanley Street, Central, and managed by executive chef Yamashita Yasunobu, renowned for combining the Japanese teppanyaki experience with French classical techniques. Arriving on time at 6:30pm, we were greeted warmly by the staff and seated at the middle of the counter, and served by a Japanese chef as Yamashita san was serving one of his regular customers.

I decided to go for the Sanka Special Course ($1750) while my wife opted for a la carte. My appetizer was a Steamed Egg with Truffle, with the egg silky smooth and flavorful, while the truffle had added strong fragrance to the egg. I found the egg a bit too watery and prefer to be a bit firmer without losing the silkiness.

The Tomato Salad ($150) my wife ordered was fresh, with the cherry tomatoes all being sweet and rich in flaovrs, and after seasoned with some dill and olive oil it had a nice appealing look and flavors, Even though it looked simple, it was a great starter.

My next course was Sanka Style Sashimi. Plated in a beautiful style reminiscent of French cuisine, it included squid seasoned with a tiny bit of dill, snapper with coriander, and tuna with chive. The sashimi are all fresh and unlike the traditional way to use soy sauce to complement, this contemporary style offered an innovative way to enjoy the seafood which is quite smart and provided a new twist.

The next course was Live Homard Lobster, and my wife also ordered the same ($380). The chef prepared lobster carefully, cooking it skillfully so that it was cooked to perfection. Seasoned beautifully, the lobster was served with a lobster sauce which is rich and enhanced the delicate taste. The chef also grilled a piece of zucchini to accompany. The staff also provided a piece of bread for us to dip the sauce. This is my favorite on the night.

Then it was the Sauteed Horsehead Fish. This one I had tasted in some other restaurants before and remembered well how they kept the scales of the fish, and deep-frying it to give a crispy texture. Here it was grilled on teppanyaki and still able to recreate the same crispy texture on the skin and scales, while the fish flesh was cooked nicely, moist and juicy. It was served in a tasty clear broth with herbs, along with some radish pieces. Although the fish was rather light in taste on its own, it was overall flavorful, with the broth soaking the fish to impart an extra dimension.

Next was the Aomori Abalone, and my wife also ordered one too ($550). The abalone was still alive and wriggling when presented, and the chef first clean it and then apply some seaweed on it. Covered with some sea kelp, it was further submerged in a lot of sea salt, before covering with lid to bake. When it was fully cooked, the chef removed the flesh from the shell, before serving with a butter and seaweed sauce. The texture was tender with a nice bite and not rubbery at all.

The staff asked whether I prefer to upgrade the beef, and so I had the Premium Kobe Wagyu Beef, which would need an additional $400. Cooked to medium rare, the beef was good with a nice spread of fat in the meat but as I am not a big fan of beef I could not say I enjoyed it very much. There were some shredded onion on the side, with a vinegar sauce to dip, and some garlic slices too to accompany. We also ordered a Potato ($90) on the side which was decent.

Wrapping up was the Garlic Rice, Miso Soup and Pickles, while my wife ordered a White Rice, Miso Soup and Pickles ($70). The rice was meticulously prepared, with the garlic first sauteed and left to cool down, before adding to the rice and continue to cook on the teppanyaki, and finally seeing the chef applied some soy sauce on the plate, pushing the rice over the burnt soy sauce to take up the aroma and taste without the saltiness. A nice touch. The pickles were very good too and I guess it was made in-house.

The dessert was Teppan Fresh Strawberries with Vanilla Ice-cream. Seeing the chef prepared the dessert on the teppan was interesting, first cooking some sauce before adding the strawberries, followed by the strawberry liqueur, before serving with a scoop of ice-cream on top. With the right level of sweetness, the dessert demonstrated again how the restaurant had combined the French cooking techniques in a Japanese setting.

The service was good with the staff attentive and the chef checking with us along the way frequently. With a bottle of water, a bottle of sake, the total bill on the night was $4136. Fairly expensive but considering the quality of the ingredients and the teppanyaki is always expensive in HK, I would say it is not too unreasonable.