Located on 1/F of The Otto Hotel in TST, Sushiyoshi is the HK branch of Chef Hiroki Nakanoue’s Michelin 2-star restaurant in Osaka. We have made reservation on the night to experience his signature Hairy Crab Omakase, served by Chef Hiroki himself, at $3,480 each.
After a short wait outside, the restaurant opens sharp at 6:30pm, and we are seated in a side room, where Chef Hiroki is busy in preparation. With familiar modern sushiya deco, good lighting, hinoki sushi table and beautiful wooden carvings, the place is neat and comfortable.
The sou chef shows us the hairy crab we are having for the night, with six of them to share among the four customers. Each of the crab also has its own identification tag to allow traceability and assurance of authenticity of its origin.
Presented beautifully with an autumn leaf and grain on top, the first course features Kegani. On the bottom are pieces of eggplant, with Hokkaido horsehair crab meat and butter in the middle, before Chef Hiroki adds some salmon roes and shiso flowers, and finally caviar on top. Different texture and flavours create a feast of delight in this appetizer. A wonderful start.
The second course features Ankimo, the monkfish liver comes from Dalian in China, an effort of Chef Hiroki to explore ingredients from different parts of the world. Paired with a homemade tofu sauce and slices of grape, the quality of the monkfish liver is good, and I find it a bit more delicate in taste than the Japan ones, with good complement of the fragrance of tofu and hints of acid from the grape.
Another beautifully presented dish, after removing the chrysanthemum on top the third course is Shirako. Together with the silky creamy cod milt is Ganmodoki, a fried tofu fritter made with vegetables, as well as mushroom and chili pepper, served in a thick sauce made with crab meat and butter, with many chrysanthemum petals to give colour and aromas. Very delicious.
The fourth course is another creative dish. The Soba Maki has soba to replace shari, with hairy crab butter and tamago as fillings. A walnut sauce is provided instead of soy sauce, and there is also a paste made with yam and spring onion to go along. The rich taste of crab butter is perfect with soba, and the walnut sauce adds nutty flavours, with the yam helps to integrate everything together.
The fifth course features two different sushi format. Sasazushi is sushi wrapped in bamboo leaf, while oshizushi is another form made using wooden mould. The shari of Kisu Sasazushi has a stickier texture, almost like rice cake, with good acidity and a bamboo fragrance to pair with the lighter flavour of Japanese whiting, while the Aji Oshizushi is generous in the proportion of Japanese horse mackerel to shari. It is a good opportunity to learn more about sushi.
Then comes the sashimi, featuring three types of fish. The seasonal Sanma has a beautiful silvery sheen, very fresh and delicious, with the condiment of ginger and spring onion the perfect condiments of the Pacific saury. The Buri has been paired with mashed radish, with the yellowtail good on fat level and taste. The Nodoguro wraps up, being the fattest among the three, with Chef Hiroki lightly grilling the skin of the blackthroat seaperch to vitalize the fish oil, to showcase its great flavours.
The seventh course comes to the Hairy Crab. Putting some shari on the crab shell, Chef Hiroki puts an abundance of hairy crab meat and butter in, together with Uni, with the sou chef making a soy sauce foam from kombu to put on top, resembling how the crab will ooze out of water. The combination of crab butter and sea urchin has a magical harmony of flavours. Really wonderful.
Then the sou chef brings out two large Awabi, with the abalone coming from Shimane. Chef Hiroki has prepared a pan-fried sesame tofu, and then put the abalone liver paste on top. He also adds some hairy crab butter to go with the tender abalone. Every bite is pure luxury, with wonderful umami seeping out, the rich and buttery liver paste adding to the flavours, and the tofu great in taste too.
The ninth course is a Cucumber Boat with Hairy Crab, with the chef using a pickled cucumber to hold the different parts of the crab, including the meat, butter, pincers, and claws. Paired with a cucumber sauce, with nice acidity serving for the same purpose as vinegar to go with the crab, eating the hairy crab without having to spend any effort of picking the meat is a real treat. Fantastic.
The tenth course continues to feature Hairy Crab in Chawanmushi. Another creative dish, the chef has used a hollowed radish as container to hold the steamed egg custard, and then adding salmon roes and crab butter on top. Around the radish the chef pours in a thick sauce, made from crab meat and butter, which adds flavours to the radish. While the egg custard is a bit too runny, the taste is very delicious and showcasing Chef Hiroki’s innovative prowess.
Coming to the sushi section, the Maguro Sushi is very large in size, almost to the point of impossible to finish in one go. The tuna is tender, with a good acidity, full of the delicate irony taste of the flesh. Very good.
The next one is Female Mud Crab Sushi, with Chef Hiroki making a ‘double-decker’, putting the mud crab meat on the shari, and then adding hairy crab butter on top. It is simply gorgeous, with each bite provides great enjoyment. Fantastic.
The third one is Anago Sushi. Chef Hiroki has been cooking the conger eel in the broth on the side for a while, and when ready, taking it out to cut, with each eel making into two sushi, a very generous portion. Wrapping in a crispy nori sheet, with the nitsume sauce and sansho leaf to season, it is another great piece.
Thinking that it is the end, Chef Hiroki surprisingly tells us there are still another three more sushi. Next is Chu-Toro Sushi, with the aged medium-fatty tuna exhibiting wonderful umami and a nice acidity to balance the fat. A nice one.
Seeing the box of sea urchin, we know next is Uni Gunkan. The sea urchin, coming from Hokkaido, has a creamy texture, sweet and without any weird note on the taste. From this point we notice that Chef Hiroki is asking his sou chef to prepare all the sushi, while he supervises and advises. Good way to train and bring his team ready to run the show.
The last piece of sushi is Unagi Handroll. Getting the grilled eel from the kitchen, the sou chef prepares the handroll, adding the nitsume sauce and some shichimi powder to season. Another nice piece and by now, even for a big eater like me, I cannot have anymore.
The Fish Soup provides stomach-warming comfort, with its rich flavours undoubtedly coming from lots of fish bones and fish heads. The hen-of-the-woods and enoki mushroom further adds fragrance and a nice bite to the soup.
Dessert is the Homemade Matcha Chocolate with Vanilla Ice-Cream. Dusting with some premium matcha powder on top, the chocolate is rich, appropriate in sweetness and a perfect match with the slight bitterness of green tea. The ice-cream is also wonderful in taste, with the vanilla seeds highlighting Chef Hiroki’s belief in using the best ingredients to make his dishes. Fantastic.
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