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.

Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - The Steak House Winebar + Grill

This restaurant is located in InterContinental Hong Kong, famous for offering some of the finest meat in town, and grilling over the only charcoal grill in Hong Kong. The day was the Winter Solstice, and in our practice to avoid the crowds, we generally would go for the Chinese restaurant in Western festivals, while like today, going to a Western restaurant in this big Chinese festival, together with my parents.

The four of us were seated at the window side, and even though not directly facing the harbour we did get a good spot to enjoy the views of the Art Centre while enjoying our meal. To celebrate the festival I ordered a bottle of Smoking Gun Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 from Napa Valley ($2180). The wine is fully-bodied, with a nice black fruit note and as its name implies, also got a smoky oak and vanilla aroma. It also got a nice tannin which was a great complement to the meat and fat of the steak. A nice recommendation from the sommelier.

We decided to go for a soup before our main course, with two of us going for the Creamy Cep Mushroom Chestnut Soup ($195) and the rest for the Boston Lobster Bisque ($195). I had the mushroom soup and it was very rich and highly fragrant, and even before arriving I could smell the intense truffle note. It was very nice indeed, first it was served very hot, and that was one of the important criteria. Second I could detect some cognac added to enhance the flavors. Creamy and there was some small mushroom slides to give a bite too. A great soup!

For the main course we each had something different. My wife had the Super Jumbo King Prawns ($825), consisting of two really huge prawns. They were beautifully grilled, and you could not find the blackened shell commonly found in other steak houses. We also ordered a Creamy Corn, a Garlic Broccoli and Grilled Asparagus as our side dishes ($98 each).

My father decided to have the 12oz Rib Eye Steak ($648), while my mother going for Welsh Rack of Lamb ($820). As she could not finish all she gave a portion to me. The lamb was pink in colour, nicely grilled to perfection, and the flesh was so juicy and tender that it was one of the best quality lamb rack I tasted for a long while.

Adding some of the signature exotic rock salts further brought forward the flavors. This readily demonstrated that with a good quality meat, the right time on a grill, without fancy seasoning the meat would still be terrific.

I had the Spanish Iberico Pork Rack ($680) as I generally do not eat beef if there is choice. The pork rack was thick in size, but grilled perfectly with a whitish pink inside when cutting open, with the juice oozing profusely. Honestly the portion was just too big (16oz) that I could barely finish. And since it took a while to finish, by the time the meat was cooled down and making it less enjoyable. It might not be a bad idea if the restaurant could offer smaller sizes.

Even though we were full, we ordered some dessert for share. I had the Cheese Platter ($268) which had Brie, Comte and Roquefort. All of them were good but personally I like the Roquefort the most. Apart from the cheese there were some dried apricot, and preserved cherries and prune to pair, offering the sweetness to balance the saltiness. Maybe I am used to the large varieties offered in good French restaurants, the choice here was just a bit too few.

The other dessert was Black Cherry and Almond Clafoutis ($138). It was good but by now we were simply too full so I could not sample it and left it to my mother and wife to finish them.

The services, as expected, were good with the staff attentive and offering some friendly interactions. But I noticed that they had much more attention to some customers whom I believed were regulars here. While this is not a big issue, it would not be good for your customers to notice it clearly how you serve differently.

The total bill was $6957, and if taking out the wine the price might not be too bad considering the ambiance, environment and food quality. A bit of more attention to the service and maybe right-sizing some of the meat portion would make the restaurant go even further in my opinion. 

Grilled Chicken with Lime Sauce

Ingredients (for 4):

• Chicken steak - 4 
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Garlic finely - 1 tsp
• Black pepper finely - 1/4 tsp
• Mixed herbs - 1/2 tsp
• Butter - 1/2 oz
• Shallot finely - 1.5 tsp
• Onion finely - 4 oz
• Red wine - 2 oz
• Lime - 1
• Wasabi - 1 tsp
• Gravy - 8 oz
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Whipping cream - 2 oz

Procedures:

1. Marinate the chicken with salt, garlic, black pepper and mixed herbs for 30 minutes.

2. Cook the shallot with butter, and then add the onion.

3. Add the red wine, gravy, lime juice and wasabi, then season with salt. Mixed with whipping cream.

4. Grill the chicken in oven for 30 minutes under 240 deg heat. 

Crepes a la Princess

Ingredients (for 4):

• Plain flour - 4 oz
• Egg - 2
• Water - 6 oz
• Milk - 2 oz
• Butter - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• White pepper powder - dashes
• Mixed herbs - 1/2 tsp
• Cooking oil - 1/4 oz
• Chicken fillet - 1/2 lb
• Asparagus - 1/2 pack

Procedures:

1. Mix the flour, egg, butter, salt and white pepper powder together. And then gradually add water and milk, using the whisk to mix well. Then add the mixed herbs and cooking oil.

2. Heat the pan and wipe with some cooking oil with a kitchen paper. Then apply a ladle of the mix and cook for a while before the edges peel up.

3. Flip the pancake to the other side, and cook for a short while. Remove.

4. Prepare the blond sauce.

5. Cut the chicken fillet into dices. Then poach in boiling water until well-cooked. Remove and drip dry.

6. Cut the asparagus into short sections. Also poach in boiling water for a while. Remove and drip dry.

7. Cook the chicken dices and asparagus with some blond sauce. 

8. Wrap the chicken and asparagus with the pancake. 

Parisienne Potatoes

Ingredients (for 4):

• Potatoes - 1 lb
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• White pepper powder - dashes
• Gravy - 1 tbsp

Procedures:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into cubes.

2. Poach the potatoes in boiling water for a short while. Then remove and drip dry.

3. Pan-fry the potatoes with some oil, then put in a baking tray, season with salt, white pepper powder and gravy, and then bake for 20 minutes under 220 deg heat.

Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Kam's Roast Goose

This restaurant has got the Michelin 1-star status since 2015, located in Wanchai very near to my office. But throughout the years I did not come here for lunch or dinner, not because I heard the food was not food, but simply that every time I went by the queue waiting was too long, and for an impatient person like myself it is not bearable.

With the Michelin award for 2019 just published the restaurant was still on the list. And tonight I decided to try my luck. Coming very early at 6pm, the queue was just horrible but I said to myself I would wait. In the end it took 80 minutes before we got our table. Yes, it was long but at least the staff had organized the registration nicely and so it was well-managed and fair.

The story of the restaurant was well documented, so I did not repeat here. Instead I would focus on the food and dining experience. When we were queuing the staff smartly asked us the portion of roast goose we prefer, and we figured out that they wanted to ensure that there were sufficient goose for the people waiting, as there are quite a lot of takeaways too. In this respect they are really thoughtful.

We ordered half a Roast Goose ($280) and it was served still hot. While the skin might not be as crispy as some other restaurants in town, I found the flesh very tender, juicy and flavorful. The goose was not too fat also. In fact I honestly say this is one of the best roast goose I had in HK, and certainly better than the couple of restaurants in my neighborhood in Sham Tseng. Also, with its fame the price is still very reasonable. I give them high marks on all these and understand how they earned the Michelin status all these years.

We also ordered the Marinated Goose Liver ($55). The portion was big and there are many pieces, cooked perfectly to the right softness and marinated sufficiently to impart the flavors of the sauce while not making it excessively salty. I detected some Chinese 'Rose Spirit' bringing the signature fragrance. While it might not be healthy, this is certainly tasty.

To balance a bit the evilness of consuming so much cholesterol, we also had the Poached Vegetable ($33). The choi sum was tender and without fibrous remains, also nicely done not to overcook making it too soft while not undercook to make it tough to bite. Another testimony to the quality of the restaurant and attention they pay to the most common and simple dish.

I saw on social media many people complained about the service of this restaurant. And here I would in fact like to provide my opinion. While the staff did have some rough edges, they are not rude or providing bad service. It was so busy that sometimes they might not be able to respond to orders promptly. We had some small talks with the staff and to me they are genuine and honest, and maybe not used to 'dress up' on how they communicate. It was not a fine dining restaurant so we should not expect that level of service. I overheard they apologized to customers who did not have what they want because it was sold out.

With two bowls of rice, and rice noodle, plus two cans of soft drink, the total bill was $493. A very reasonable price indeed. Considering the quality of food and its fame, they would still be as busy if they decided to increase the price but I can feel the owner (who worked in the restaurant) was not just looking at money. I applaud him for his effort and the spirit to follow the principles and values laid down by his grandfather, and hope they could continue this for more generations to come. 

Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Sushi Hiro

This sushi restaurant has been one of the iconic Japanese eatery in town, first opening in 2002, and now having a number of outlets in the group. Having visited their tempura restaurant a month ago, this time I came to their main outlet at Henry House in Causeway Bay. The setting is decent with a sushi bar having 12 seats, plus a number of tables. We were the first customers arriving, and seated in the middle of the sushi bar, tonight it was Chef Lai who catered for us.

We ordered the omakase menu ($1300 each). The three appetizers included Tofu with Salmon Roes, Tuna Cube with Glass Noodles and Green House Tomatoes. All of them were delicious, full of flavours and served as great starter of the meal. Among them I particularly like the tomato as I found the chef had smartly sprinkled some yuzu salt to give an extra fragrance to the tomato while also creating a mixture of different taste of sour, sweet and salty. Very interesting yet tasty at the same time.

There were a total of six different sashimi. The first was the seasonal Female Snow Crab. I recalled the first time I had this crab was during my visit to Kanazawa and the taste was truly exceptional. While this one was also good, with plenty of crab roes and yolk, it was still not as good as the ones I had in Japan from my memory. Probably not a fair comparison, I still applauded the restaurant for bringing them in, and allowing HK customers a glimpse of this wonderful delicacy.

The second sashimi was File Fish, or 'skinned fish'. The texture was great with a good bite and chewiness, and the chef had provided some chives which added a nice complement to the light flavor of the fish. In addition, the liver of the fish was used to prepare a sauce which greatly enhanced the overall enjoyment of the fish. A great way to eat this fish.

The third sashimi was Japanese Amberjack and Yellowtail. The amberjack was rich with fatty oil, intense on flavors. To reduce the fattiness, the chef had added some radish mashes. The yellowtail was equally impressive.

The fourth sashimi was the Arkshell and Geoduck. Seeing the junior chef busy opening the arkshell and cleaning the meat, they could not be any fresher. There was a sweetness and crunchy texture which honestly outshone the geoduck, which was also good, fresh and sweet, but for us probably we were more familiar, as frequently we had good ones prepared raw while having hotpot.

The fifth sashimi was something new for us. The chef first prepared the Japanese Yam to mash, creating that mucous substance. Then it was added to the marinated tuna cubes, which had been dipped in soy sauce for a while (but not too long) to season.  The whole experience was very interesting, as well as tasty. One of our favorites in the meal.

The sixth sashimi was Kinki and Rosy Sea Bass. The two pieces of fish were both torched on the skin, to give a slight char. The burning of the fatty oil making the aromas powerful and mouthwatering. While the flavors were certainly great, I found both being a bit too rubbery on texture. Probably because of the cut being too thick?

Transitioning now to sushi, the first we had was the Hokkaido Sea Urchin. It was so creamy and fresh that obviously they were of the highest quality, and there were also a generous portion of the sea urchin. My only comment was that the dried seaweed wrap did stole away some of the enjoyment as it was not crispy enough in my opinion.

The second sushi was one that I had never eaten before. Made from Small White Shrimps, the chef had skillfully prepared the sushi using the shiso leaf, as the small shrimps were too tiny. The shrimps were very sweet and had a soft texture, and when we asked the chef showed us some of those, and I could not stop awestruck by how much effort the team would need to work on to remove the shell and prepare them. It was the most memorable of the food I had on the evening.

The third sushi was Fresh Scallop, and it was truly the freshest you could get, seeing the chef breaking open the shell and getting the scallops out, cleaning it and removing the sides before wrapping it to the sushi. And it was also wonderfully tasty, with the rich flavors permeating on every bite. Another of my favorite in the evening.

The fourth sushi was Shimaagi, prepared with a thick cut. This fish is a premium type, famous for the mild taste but having a great crunchy texture and sweetness. This one also delivered the promise and we all enjoyed it very much.

The fifth sushi was Salmon Roes, with the roes marinated beautifully with soy sauce to give the saltiness to highlight the flavours, while not over doing that. Nice!

The sixth sushi was Grilled Eel, with the eel still hot in temperature, freshly prepared from the oven. The dipping sauce was nice in taste too. The only reminder was that the eel was just a bit too burning if you opted to eat in one bite, and the chef might be better off letting the eel cooled down a bit before preparing the sushi.

The seventh sushi was also the last one, the Toro sushi was rich in fish oil, and biting down you could feel the sense of eating a highly flavored, soft and tender, piece of the prized tuna. Swallowing it was like an explosion of taste in my mouth and it was beautiful. I also ate the same from my wife who was not a big fan of the fatty tuna so I got the fortune to finish hers too.

Concluding the meal I had the Miso Clam Soup. It had a great taste, with the sea kelp, spring onion, mushroom and clam also contributing to the intense aromas and flavors, and by now we were full and the soup served as a good wrap up to the evening.

For dessert we had the Melon, juicy and sweet, and also served to cleanse our palate. I thought the fruit might be a bit too chilled which affected the texture quite a bit.

The last dessert was Sesame Ice-cream, and this one was specially prepared for us, with the chef asking us a few times whether we had enough food. When telling him we were full, he again offered the ice-cream and so I opted for the sesame. Nothing extraordinary but this was a good way to finish our evening.

The services were fairly good, with the staff attentive and came frequently to change our plates or refill our tea. The chef was also proficient in creating small talks to arouse the atmosphere with the diners.

The bill on the night was $2970, quite a bit on the high side but considering the quality of food, service and other elements I would say it was not extravagant.