An eatery that rocks: Okra in Sai Ying Pun
Pin Lee
OKRA
110 Queen’s Road West, Sai Ying Pun, 2806 1038
Don't let the name deceive you into thinking this is a vegetarian restaurant. Okra - a modern Japanese restaurant - serves a variety of seafood and meat dishes.
Located near Sai Yin Pun MTR, its entrance is marked by a sliding door resembling a cross section of a cut okra. The restaurant rocks, literally, as it only plays hard rock music. The menu is divided into smaller bites and larger plates with an extensive sake list from Japan.
We started with the small plates of crispy Brussels sprouts fried with Xinjiang raisins and house-made XO sauce (HK$58) followed by yazu yellowtail topped with garlic oil and ponzu vinegar (HK$138). We also ordered the sashimi ume which featured three types of fish flown in daily from Fukuoka (HK$238).
We gave all three top marks. The crunchy Brussels sprouts have a slightly sweet, tangy flavour infused by the raisins. The yellowtail and raw fish were fresh and went down well with the mild and refreshing house sake - wakatakeya "Tani" (HK$388/bottle.)
Moving on to the larger plates and the unakyu foie gras (HK$238) featured house-made barbecued eel and honeyed duck liver. The unusual combination gave the dish a melt-in-your-mouth texture.
For something substantial, we opted for the smoked yuzu jam baby black ribs (HK$138) which was delicious. The meat, thick on the bone, was tender. Okra has yet to put dessert on the menu. By the end of the meal, the attentive service and the impressive food had won us over. Even the head-banging soundtracks seemed less distracting.
