Andy Li, the chef of Maizuru, recognised me before I recognised him, although thankfully it wasn’t because he knew I was a food critic; rather, he knew of me as a customer from his old restaurant, Sushi Dokoro Hikari.

The new restaurant is small: about a dozen seats in front of the sushi counter, and three tables, each of which will accommodate a couple. As with the restaurant in Tai Hang, Maizuru isn’t just a sushi-ya – they also serve other dishes, but the raw fish is clearly the speciality.

The seasonal assorted sashimi (HK$780) was generous, delicious and beautifully presented. The helpful and knowledgeable waiter was able to name every type of seafood in the assortment, all of which were of very high quality. There was sweet, sticky botan ebi (shrimp), velvety and smooth chutoro (medium fatty tuna), gentle and subtle sayori (half beak), curled (indicating freshness) and crunchy pieces of tsubugai (whelk) and substantial and meaty slices of shima-aji (striped horse mackerel) and kinmedai (golden eyed snapper).

We had the starters after the sashimi, because they were more strongly flavoured and would have obliterated our ability to taste the subtle raw seafood. They had run out of the deep-fried sea eel gristle, so the waiter recommended the grilled dry sparking cuttlefish (HK$58). These are better known in English as firefly squid, and are usually served fermented in their own entrails. This dry version was unusual to us, but also very good; they had been flattened and grilled, giving them a smoky flavour and chewy texture. Pickled skipjack tuna entrails (HK$58) were served with cubes of mild cream cheese, balancing the strong, salty flavours of the fermented fish.

We needed something warm before heading out into the cold night air, so chose noodles. Snapper fish soup with inaniwa udon (the other choices are sanuki udon or soba, HK$108) was subtle and light, while the broth of the beef with sanuki udon (HK$108) was stronger and heavier, the meat of high quality, fatty, and thinly sliced.