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Bernice Chan

There’s been a rash of omakase restaurant openings in Hong Kong in the past year, as local diners’ appetite for Japanese food shows no signs of waning.
Omakase restaurants, where the chef decides for you what to eat, may not be cheap but they offer top quality ingredients flown in from Japan. Here are five that have impressed us.
Sushi Tsubomi
22/F, V Point, 2-22 Tung Lung Street, Causeway Bay, tel: 2339 1899
Opened in June, this omakase restaurant has amazing views of Causeway Bay and beyond, though here you’ll want to focus more on the food in front of you.
Head chef Michael Chan was trained by Toshio Matsudo, who was the chef for former Japanese prime minister Hashimoto Ryutaro. These credentials and Chan’s connections with Tsukiji fish market ensure top quality seafood.
Guests sit around the chef, who presents a delectable menu of seasonal ingredients. Sakura omakase (HK$1,688) includes lightly seared Nagasaki toro with caviar and yuzu miso sauce, king crab tempura and grilled toro cheek with yuzu soy sauce.
There’s also a matsu or vegetarian omakase at HK$750, and lunch menus from HK$180.
 Sushi Ono
9/F, 11 Stanley Street, Central, tel: 2521 0008
This place on Wellington Street in Central is a good alternative for those looking for relatively cheap omakase from HK$880 (two other menus are HK$1,080 and HK$1,280).
We’ve been here twice, and most diners seem to show up from 7.30pm, so arrive early if you have not made a reservation. There are 24 seats around the three-sided sushi counter.
Chefs prepare the dishes using seasonal ingredients in front of guests and the hands-down favourites are the uni sushi, topped with lots of fresh sea urchin, and a generous slice of otoro (fatty tuna) wrapped in nori.
 Tempura Taki
8/F, The Loop, 33 Wellington Street, Central, tel: 2881 0033
This place focuses on tempura omakase. Thirteen guests can sit around the counter as chef Eric Chan prepares the tempura pieces.
With more than 14 years as a tempura chef, Chan invites diners to taste the tempura fresh, without the traditional sauce and turnip purée. Instead guests can eat the tempura and then indulge in as much turnip purée as they want. Customers can choose six-course (HK$880), eight-course (HK$1,180) or a 10-course meal at HK$1,480 that includes Miyazaki A5 Wagyu beef. Lunch sets start from HK$188.
There’s various kinds of tempura, from prawn including the head, eel and crab topped with fresh uni. Towards the end of the meal guests can choose from noodles or fried rice.
 Sushi Masataka
The Oakhill, 18 Wood Road, Wan Chai, tel: 2574 1333
In April, Sushi Rozan was renamed Sushi Masataka after executive chef Masataka Fujisawa in the Cross Lane dining area in Wan Chai. The restaurant had some minor renovations and seats eight guests along the sushi bar.
Be prepared for a feast that can cost HK$2,080 for 14 courses or HK$2,980 for 18. Customers need to eat at the chef’s pace, which can be fast for a meal you’d like to savour, but the quality is excellent.
His signature dish is the three thin slices of toro wrapped over rice that melts in the mouth, and other standouts are the ankimo or monkfish liver, and akagai or ark shell clam.
Umi
Shop 3, 159-163 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan, tel: 2956 3177
Umi’s chef, Yukio Kimijima, is a fourth-generation sushi chef with more than five decades of experience in Edomae sushi, referring to the traditional form of the dish from Edo, or modern-day Tokyo. When freshly caught fish was not able to be refrigerated, it had to be served almost immediately. Edo sushi is said to have been the first to combine raw fish with rice and wasabi for the plant’s antibacterial qualities.
Ten guests can be seated in the restaurant, and the omakase menu at HK$1,588 per person features starters, nigiri, maki, miso soup and desserts. Some highlights are kawahagi of thread-sail filefish, which is finished with a delicate slice of fish liver, and hirame or halibut garnished with fresh sudachi juice, a citrus fruit.






Five of the best new Hong Kong omakase restaurants – highest quality assured

Whether sashimi, sushi, tempura or Wagyu beef, chefs at these restaurants will not compromise on quality as they serve the best ingredients flown in from Japan; expect to pay from HK$880 to HK$2,980 a head, with drinks on top

This handout image shows Uma's sushi kawahagi or thread-sail filefish in Sheung Wan. Photo: HANDOUT [03SEPTEMBER2017 FEATURES FOOD OMAKASE ONLINE]

Masataka Fujisawa (chef Masa), makes Toro (Fatty Tuna) sushi at Rozan in Wan Chai. 19FEB16 [2016 FEATURES GOOD EATING] SCMP/Bruce Yan

This handout image shows an interiors of Sushi Ono in Central. Photo: HANDOUT [02JUNE2017 FEATURES FIRST SERVED]

This image shows a interiors of Tempura Taki at 33 Wellington Street in Central. 10AUG17 SCMP / Edward Wong [18AUGUST2017 FEATURES FIRST SERVED]

The deluxe tempura set by Tempura Taki in Wellington Street, Central. Photo: Edward Wong

OMG omakase - our three best meals at Hong Kong Japanese restaurants

Eating the chef’s selection menu at a top Japanese restaurant is a pricey pleasure, but usually worth the expense. These were our three favourite Hong Kong omakase moments of the past 12 months

"Akaza Ebi Sashimi" at Japanese restaurant Sushi Tokami Ocean Centre, Ocean Terminal, in Tsim Sha Tsui. 23MAR16 [RESTAURANT REVIEW] SCMP/Edmond So

Tako with ground sesame seeds sushi by Mikasaya Sushi Restaurant, 2/F Cameron Plaza, 23-25A Cameron Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. 11NOV15 [LIFE RESTAURANT REVIEW]

Sanma sushi by Mikasaya Sushi Restaurant, 2/F Cameron Plaza, 23-25A Cameron Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. 11NOV15 [LIFE RESTAURANT REVIEW]

Octopus & tuna wrapped in daikon with flower petals from Sushi Gin at Causeway Bay. 28JUN16 [2016 FEATURES] SCMP/ K. Y. Cheng

"Tuna sushi-all three" (L to R) Maguro Zuke, Chutoro and Otoro" at Japanese restaurant Sushi Tokami Ocean Centre, Ocean Terminal, in Tsim Sha Tsui. 23MAR16 [RESTAURANT REVIEW] SCMP/Edmond So

The tempura course with ayu and sea urchin spring roll, giant clam coated with rice and fried fig at Sushi Gin, Causeway Bay. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Whether sashimi, sushi, tempura or Wagyu beef, chefs at these restaurants will not compromise on quality as they serve the best ingredients flown in from Japan; expect to pay from HK$880 to HK$2,980 a head, with drinks on top
