Food review: Orba Japanese Restaurant in Causeway Bay
As with all good Japanese, attention to detail is an integral part of the experience at this Causeway Bay restaurant, writes Susan Jung
The restaurant is izakaya-style, and the food is meant to go with drinks, so we had the house sake (HK$156).
As with many izakaya, the service is warm and friendly. The waitress - the only server - was lovely and helpful. She recommended we leave the menu up to the chef, explaining that the omakase meal (literally: I'll leave it to you) could be tailored to what we liked. But, as it was our first visit, we decided to choose the meal ourselves.
With an embarrassed laugh she handed over the English and Japanese menu, saying it was "about 20 years old". The list of dishes was fairly up-to-date - but all the prices had blank stickers over them, so we had to figure out how much everything was by cross-checking with the Chinese menu.
Botan ebi sashimi (HK$136 for two) was excellent. The shrimp meat was sticky and firm, and the grilled heads had a nice charred texture when we pulled them apart and sucked out the juicy innards. Uni nigiri (HK$110 for two) and kani miso nigiri (made from the innards of the crab, HK$56 for two) were smooth and rich.
Grilled ox tongue (HK$25 per skewer) was disappointing because it was too thin and slightly chewy. But the chicken kidney (HK$16 per skewer) was lovely for its firm bite, while the chicken liver (HK$18 each), coated with a light teri sauce, was creamy and tender.
Grilled prawn with uni (HK$118) was well-cooked and moist, although it proved again that cooked sea urchin isn't nearly as delicious as raw sea urchin. We enjoyed the juicy, firm and nicely charred meat of the grilled mackerel pike (HK$68). Homemade dumplings (HK$48 for four), recommended by the waitress, had a moist, slightly spicy filling.
One of the chefs surprised us at the end of the meal by bringing over free bowls of seafood udon, which we hadn't ordered, but which the waitress wanted us to try. This turned out to be one of the best dishes of the night. The broth was milky coloured and light in texture but deeply flavoured. The noodles were toothsome, and the vegetables, which included slivers of mushroom, julienned cabbage and (Japanese leek) were plentiful.
The food came at a reasonable pace, and, although we were the last diners, we didn't feel we had to rush out the door.
