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Soya-pickled chu toro, Hokkaido uni sushi, grilled hamo, torched kimetai and soya-pickled gobo at La Bombance, V Point, Causeway Bay.

Newly opened La Bombance in Causeway Bay – a Tokyo import with great views

Kaiseki menu that changes monthly is replete with fresh ingredients and interesting and innovative combinations

Hong Kong has long had a love affair with all things Japanese, especially food, and the latest Japanese restaurant to open in the city is La Bombance from Nishi-Azabu in Tokyo.

On the 30th floor of the new V Point building, across the street from Soundwill Plaza II – Midtown, in Causeway Bay, the restaurant has great views for sunset shots.

The dining room at La Bombance in Causeway Bay.

Chef/owner Makoto Okamoto has had training in French and Japanese cuisines and the menu changes each month. When we visited recently, the dishes of the nine-course kaiseki menu were more Japanese in style.

The first course was a riot of colour – red, orange, green and white. The refreshing fruit tomato and ginger vinegar jelly with grilled eggplant and simmered abalone woke up the taste buds.

Teriyaki foie gras rice ball, Parma ham wrapped Miyazaki mango, deep-fried whitebait with yuba, deep-fried biwako ayu, ponzu soaked mitsuba and kinome.

The highlight of the second course was an interesting combination of teriyaki foie gras with Japanese sushi rice, while Parma ham was wrapped around Miyazaki mango.

Next came a selection of seafood prepared in various ways, grilled, torched and pickled. A chef came to prepare the uni and chu toro sushi in front of us.

Wagyu beef sukiyaki served with shiso leaf-wrapped sesame tofu.
Black truffle rice.

The following course of grilled scabbard fish was perfectly cooked and tender, followed by succulent wagyu beef sukiyaki paired with a shiso leaf wrapped around sesame tofu before being deep fried. The latter was very unusual but executed beautifully, soft inside, with a crunchy exterior that wasn’t too oily.

We loved the seventh dish – charcoal grilled eel hotpot, with gluten, leek and mizuna seasoned with sansho, or small Japanese pepper buds. The best part of the dish was the broth, which had a wonderful umami flavour.

Forest berries tiramisu and black sesame sorbet.

The final savoury dish was black truffle kamameshi. The smell of the freshly shaved truffles was divine, but the earthy scent seemed to have evaporated by the time we ate them together with the steamed rice.

The meal ended with a refreshing forest berry tiramisu that was more like a creamy custard with berry sauce, and a scoop of black sesame sorbet. Chef de cuisine Koya Takayuki personally presented us with bowls of freshly prepared matcha to aid with digestion, though we were perfectly sated, and not overstuffed.

Be aware that when booking a table, staff will ask for your credit card number to ensure payment – the kitchen needs to know how many people are coming so they can buy and prepare the correct amount of food.

La Bombance, 30/F, V Point, 18 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay, tel: 3188 3326

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