Cuisine: Japanese with modern, western touches.

Ambience: Glitzy, stylish and feminine, the restaurant is divided into several sections, each with different furnishings. The main section has semi-private booths and partitions; the sushi bar has its own waterfall. There's a separate sake bar and lounge, and a private room.

Price: About $250 per person, without alcohol.

Pros: Great decor and cool atmosphere. The food is beautifully presented and the service is unobtrusive.

Cons: Try to avoid being seated in the lounge area near the entrance, where the tables and seats are too low for tall diners to sit comfortably. It's also near the walkway, so there's less privacy. The restaurant's lighting is low. Portions are relatively small. The sirloin steak rice bowl ($95) had too much black pepper and spices, making it impossible to taste the beef. And the black pork with black miso hotpot ($42) was ordinary and bland.

Recommended dishes: The otsumami (small dishes) menu lists more than 60 selections. The pomelo oyster shooters ($45 for two, far left), enhanced with sake and wasabi, were delicious and invigorating. We enjoyed the Inaniwa noodles with prawn tempura. The tempura was served on the side, so it didn't get soggy, which let us really taste the simple goodness of the udon. Assorted sushi ($180 for eight pieces) included fresh, delectable fish, and the egg roll sea urchin ($46) had rich, creamy roe. Desserts are imaginative. Magic mousse with tea cubes ($48, left) mixes western cooking techniques with Asian ingredients.

What else? This is a MAX Concepts restaurant. There's another branch in Jardine House, Central. It's smoke-free.