Wineshark Mystery Restaurant - Siu Siu

This Japanese izakaya restaurant is in The Strand at Sheung Wan, taking over the previous space from the former Enishi and retaining the teppanyaki station, but now offering modern Japanese dishes with also the creativity from Censu, as Chef Sato and his team are from the sister restaurant.

The layout did not change from Enishi, and we were seated at the teppan counter, with the chef working in front of us. Apart from the cozy counter seats, there were also a few tables for bigger groups as well as seats facing the street from the large window. After asking for some recommendations from the staff, our dinner duly began.

Drunken Prawn ($138) was two large red prawn that had been marinated in Shaoxing wine and then dressed in consommé, together with a bit of coriander. The prawn was sweet in taste, with the savoury notes of the Shaoxing wine infused into the meat, fragrant and not excessive to cause bitterness. A signature of the restaurant.

Warm Oden ($98) was an assortment of food served in the broth, with daikon, tomato, shiitake, sweet peas, and mochi kinchaku. The vegetables were of good quality, sweet in taste and flavourful. The mochi kinchaku had the chewy rice cake stuffed inside the deep-fried tofu pouch. The broth was nice too, so I finished it all.

Karaage Aroma Tamago ($138) was deep-fried chicken, with teriyaki sauce and sesame on top, some angel hair chili, together with a half-boiled egg, served on top of mizuna, the Japanese mustard green salad. The meaty chicken was moist and not totally dried out, and the batter was thin, not making one feel eating a lump of crust.

Hamachi ($138) were slices of fresh raw Japanese yellowtail, with the fish having nice fattiness, buttery in texture. The chef had prepared some grilled leek miso on the side as condiment, instead of the usual wasabi and shoyu, which added a dimension of sweetness to the taste, together with some wakame to cleanse the palate.

Whole Threadfin ($238) featured the local fish beautifully pan-fried on teppan, with a golden crisp skin, moist and flavourful meat. Paired with a green coriander miso, there were also pomelo pieces, leek and other mixed herbs on top, to add to the fragrance and complexity in taste. Another signature which we both liked very much.

Crab Cup Udon ($138) was truly a fun dish, served in a cup noodle bowl. Instead of noodle, it was udon though, added with a lot of snow crab meat, with also some crab miso to enhance the flavours. Good to share among two, the al dente texture of the udon was appealing. A good dish to wrap up and fill the stomach.

For dessert, I had Siu Siu Parfait ($98). Nicely presented, the parfait was made of different layers, on top were mixed berries, with corn flakes and cream, sandwiched with some strawberry puree and vanilla ice cream. On the bottom were some chewy dango, the sweet rice flour dumplings, and custard. Delicious.

Ivy had Shiso Sorbet ($88) instead, with the refreshing sorbet having a very nice shiso taste but not excessively herbaceous. Underneath was some green tea crumble, and on the side were Siu Siu sake jelly. For me, this one was the more pleasant among the two desserts, particularly if you prefer to have a lighter one.

Service was good, with the staff friendly but they did miss out one of my orders in the beginning. The bill on the night was $1,329 including a few beverages. This is a place to enjoy some good vibe with friends in a casual environment, having some nice beverages to chill out, with the chef also paying attention to the food as well.