With handwritten slips of paper listing the names of dishes hanging from the ceiling and on a transparent plastic sheet draped over the exterior, Kakuuchi looks like a Japanese dai pai dong.

Collapsible tables, wooden chopsticks and a DIY serving style (customers have to help themselves to drinking water and fetch seasonings from the central counter) further accentuate the casual Japanese dining vibe.

The restaurant offers a wide selection of food including tempura, sashimi and roasted skewers. There are about 20 choices for the tempura (priced from HK$12 to HK$32 apiece) which are deep-fried to order.

We ordered the white fish (HK$22) and scallop (HK$22) tempura, which was enjoyable because of the thin, crispy batter.

We also liked the deep-fried cheesecake (HK$32 for two pieces), which had a chewy texture and a strong cheese flavour. The deep-fried oysters (HK$18 for two pieces) were fresh and served with salad dressing and lemon.

Roasted kinki fish was a bargain at HK$68 – the fish is normally quite expensive – and the oily flesh tasted fresh and sweet.

There is also an extensive selection of oden skewers – a Japanese winter dish of various ingredients simmered in a light miso broth. The skewers (HK$15 apiece) included octopus, conch, fish cakes and sweet potato that had been cooked in the broth for a whole day before being served.