This sushi restaurant is located in Sheung Wan Bridges Street, and unless you have visited before it is quite difficult to find, as the entrance is showing no sign, with only a wooden door and a whitewashed wall, on the ground floor of an old building.
Coming inside you will be greeted by Mori san and his team. There are only eight seats around the sushi counter, so throughout the meal there are a lot of close interactions you can have with Mori san, who is talkative and fun.
The Omakase menu ($2,600) got one of the most number of dishes in town, with a lot of special ingredients, testimony to the exceptional connection Mori san has with the buyers in Japan. There are a total of 28 dishes when I countered. The sake I started with was Eiko Fuji Junmai Daiginjo Mori-no-Kumansan Kumataro Unfiltered Nama Genshu 榮光富士 純米大吟醸 愛山 無濾過生原酒 ($380).
The first one is Filefish, or
馬面剥. The chef has thinly sliced the fish and rolled it, before putting in the dish and adding the homemade sauce from the fish liver and chives. The fish is delicate and got a sweetness in taste, complemented greatly by the sauce and I like the chives bringing out the fragrance to another level.
The second is Marbled Flounder Sushi, or
真子鰈. The chef has prepared the engawa of the fish and put on top of the flesh of the sushi, before brushing with a bit of soy sauce and citrus juice to enhance the freshness. The texture is simply fantastic.
The third is one of Mori san's specialty. Mori san first prepares the sardines and then place on a crisp nori sheet, then add abundant of chives and yellow pickles, wrapping it tightly before cutting into slices. The Sardine Roll is frankly one of my favorites and no wonder I saw a painting from a customer as a gift to Mori san.
The fourth is Broad Squid Sushi, or 白烏賊. Mori san lightly cut the surface of the squid to break up the fiber to make it easy to chew. After brushing with some soy sauce, a bit of the pickled squid roes are put on top, both as a nice decoration and complement in flavors. Tender and soft, it was as if the squid is melting in mouth.
Quickly finishing my last sake, I asked Mori san to recommend something less sweet and he proposed Kokuryu Daiginjo Ryu 黒龍 大吟醸 龍 ($480). Well-balanced and elegant, this one is a much more refined sake than the last one and my preference on the two.
The fifth course is again something special and not commonly available in HK. The Steamed Egg with Softshell Turtle might look simple, but in fact the softshell turtle is one of the most prized seafood. The egg is soft and full of wonderful flavors, with the jelly-like turtle shell smooth and and meat also sweet and tasty. For some it might be gruesome, but this is one of the true delicacies.
The sixth course is a rare and premium fish, often recognized as one of the best for sushi. Japanese Bluefish, or Kuromutsu 黒鯥. The fat of the fish permeates a fantastic taste of joy and happiness and making me want to ask for another piece right after.
The seventh course is Purple Sea Urchin, served live, with us using the spoon to scoop the creamy sea urchin from the shell. Very fresh and while not as sweet in taste, it got the clean and delicate note and the experience of eating sea urchin direct from the shell is also interesting.
The eighth course is Japanese Horse Mackerel, or 真鯵. This silvery fish has been cured by the chef, with the meat full of flavors and would be one to try if you like the taste of the fish to be more intense.
The ninth course is Grilled Surf Clam, or 北寄貝. The clam is large in size, and grill to perfection making the meat cooked but not rubbery. There was no seasoning needed, as the seawater inside the clam provided the best salt to enhance the sweet taste of the clam.
Going for another sake, Mori san this time recommended me to try something special. Noguchi Naohiko Sake Institute 農口尚彦研究所 春のしぼりたて 無濾過原酒 五百万石 おりがらみ ($380) is really fresh as it was made only in Mar 2020, this spring limited edition sake has a high alcohol level as it has not been filtered and diluted. Potent and nice, it would probably be difficult to find this out on your own.
The tenth course is again something special, a first time for me having Japanese Cockle, or 鳥貝. Frankly when the sushi was served it did remind me of the chicken, with a clear head showing beak and an eye. It was very fresh, still bouncy when Mori san clapped his hand on it. The taste is sweet and definitely one of my favorites sushi ever.
Before the eleventh course is served there was a bit of commotion, with every customer taking their phones to take photos. A big dish with two different types of prawns are shown, still lively and energetic. Both were foreign to me, one calling Mosa Shrimp, or 猛者蝦. The texture of the flesh is firmer than amaebi but equally sweet in taste. The other type is rarely seen, called Ibaramoebi, or 棘藻蝦 / 鬼蝦. The look is hideous with lots of serrated shell, but the taste is phenomenal. The chef provided a bit of his homemade shrimp roe paste which is a bomb of flavors but the shrimp on its own is already beyond imagination. In my opinion this is the highlight for the evening.
The twelve course is an aged Splendid Alfonsino, or 金目鯛. The reason why the fish needs to be aged is to bring out the flavors in a more intense manner, and this is a great example how it is done right, with the flesh full of rich taste and the texture also becomes softer. A great piece of sushi.
The thirteenth course is Monkfish Liver with Vinegared Water Melon, or 鮟肝西瓜漬. Very rich in taste, the monkfish liver is prepared in a more creamy style together with the sauce from the vinegared water melon, creating an interesting contrast in texture. It also added a nice acidity to make the dish refreshing and not heavy at all.
Now coming to the fourteen course. It is Horsehair Crab, or 毛蟹. Chef Mori san had finely shredded the crab meat and then mixed it well with the sushi rice, along with some finely chopped chives to add fragrance and colour, with a special sauce to blend everything together in a nice feast of flavors. Another great rendition of something one would find in a lot of Japanese restaurant offering omakase, but this one is of a different level of sophistication and finesse.
Perhaps it is the good food, but I did drink quite a lot on the night. Going for my fourth serving of sake Chef Mori recommended another special one, Tengumai Chu Saburo Daiginjo 天狗舞 中三郎 大吟醸生酒 ($380). It was fresh and delicate, but probably by the time I was a bit drunk to really appreciate the sake.
The fifteen course is Largehead Hairtail, or 太刀魚. A fairly large piece of the fish is skewered and then put to the charcoal grill, so that the skin is charred to a nice golden sheen, with the flesh still soft and moist. Amazed by how well the chef is able to control the temperature of the stove and the amount of time the fish is being put there, this is another great example of bringing the true flavors and quality of the ingredients to the extreme.
Having earlier tasted kuromutsu, the sixteen course is Blackthroat Seaperch, or 赤鯥 . Another premium type of fish which is only available at the most high-end restaurant in Japan, the fatty fish oil provided a great and intense taste, and since the fish is not farmed and only caught wild, it is becoming more scarce every year and I hope this great fish would not disappear so soon.
The seventeen course is another seasonal delicacy. The Firefly Squid or 蛍烏賊. Coming from Toyama Bay, the small squid has been chopped up and marinated with miso to provide a great savory and umami taste, which I found a great complementary food with beer. Probably a bit too luxurious to do so, but it would be perfect to enjoy such with ice-cold beer with some good friends chatting with each other.
The eighteen course is Mackerel Roll or 鯖魚, with Chef Mori cutting a slide of the fish which has been marinated with vinegar, before putting some sushi rice and pickles in the middle to roll it up, then wrapped with nori sheet. Even though this fish might be perceived as low-end and fishy in taste, but again if prepare right it can turn into a wonderful ingredient like what we had experienced on the night.
The nineteen course is something I have not tried before. Greeneyes, or 目光魚, is a deep-sea fish with the signature large eyes, and this one has been prepared using the technique of himono, drying for one day under the sun. The chef then grilled the dried fish on the charcoal stove for a while, to heat up the fish oil, intensifying both the aromas and flavors, which is a great dish again to accompany with beer. The greeneyes has a tender flesh unlike the more commonly seen dried mackerel or sardines.
The twenty course is Chutoro, the meaty middle section of the tuna fish, and is my favorite cut of the bluefin tuna. A generous cut of this super premium fish, I like the well-balanced flavors of the tuna with the fat, as I generally regarded the more prized and flavorsome otoro too fatty, and the leaner akami lacking the intense taste coming from the fish oil. This one is just right on all aspects and truly a great piece of tuna in many respect.
The twenty-one course is another of my favorites. The Abalone and Octopus have been cooked perfectly, with an amazing soft texture which offers a good bite but not rubbery at all. The octopus has a great taste thanks to the broth that was used, and the abalone is paired with a sauce made from the insides of the abalone, giving a rich, creamy complement and intense taste.
The twenty-two course is Bafun Sea Urchin, or 馬糞海胆 . Seeing the chef first took out the box of bright orange sea urchin already prompted all the customers gave a round of applause, and then seeing him generously scooped a good portion to put into the sushi roll, then brushing a bit of soy sauce on top, I could not help but picking up and swallowed in one go. The sea urchin is sweet and really good.
Coming to the end of the meal, we were served the Tamogoyaki, or 玉子焼. It was soft, with a rich taste of the egg, and also seeping a nice umami note, which I believe came from the broth used to mix with the egg. A great tradition to finish a sushi dinner, this one is often overlooked and I am happy to see how Mori san was not compromising on the quality for this 'simple' one.
A Fish Soup is then served to warm our stomach. White in color, the soup has a nice intense taste, steaming hot in temperature, and after drinking got me a great feeling of completeness and satisfaction.
For dessert, it was a nice slice of Melon. Very sweet and juicy, it was a wonderful conclusion to a great meal and I was very full and contented. It was not easy to have such great consistency in quality for all the different ingredients and courses served but Mori san certainly delivered it with flying colours.
The services throughout the meal was very good, and Mori san was also very friendly and interacted a lot, even though we were not his frequent customers. I would imagine on days when most other customers are his regular customers the newcomers might feel a bit left out, but I did not see this being arrogance or anything intentional from Mori san.
The bill was $6,820 and mainly was due to the four servings of sake, totaling $1,620. But in view of the quality and uniqueness of the ingredients, plus the overall dining experience, this one is top notch in my opinion.
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