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2014-04-24
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日本直送墨魚專賣店。很新鮮的墨魚和魚介。以客為本，性價比高。誠意推介。Japanese squid specialist.Excellent seafood.Great serivice, value for money.Recommended. Backgroundespite the rather tacky name, which sounded like a medical center or an aquarium ( Ika Senta= Squid Center), they actually have more than 20 branches in Japan. This is their first overseas branch.Decor:The moment you walk into the restaurant, you could already see a fish tank filled with living, swimming squids as well as tons of shellfishes.They had about about
很新鮮的墨魚和魚介。
以客為本，性價比高。
誠意推介。
Japanese squid specialist.
Excellent seafood.
Great serivice, value for money.
Recommended.
Background:
Despite the rather tacky name, which sounded like a medical center or an aquarium ( Ika Senta= Squid Center), they actually have more than 20 branches in Japan. This is their first overseas branch.
Decor:The moment you walk into the restaurant, you could already see a fish tank filled with living, swimming squids as well as tons of shellfishes.
They had about about 8 tables for 4 and about 12 seats facing the open kitchen, where the chefs were grilling, boiling, making sashimi, baking seafood...etc Quite a sight.
Menu:They only had seafood and some carbs, no meat but tons of seafood: sashimi, tempura, grilled fish, baked fish, shellfishes and their signature- the squid. The menus were in Chinese, Japanese and English.
The price range was between HK$40-400. All seafood was from Japan (they fly their seafood into Hong Kong almost daily).What I've ordered:
First of all, complimentary fried gobo (burdock) by the chef:
Tasty and crunchy. Perfect with my draught beer.
I was so keen on trying this place out that I came here alone. These were what I've ordered:
Their signature dish - squid sashimi. (I believe this is the Yari Ika, literally "spear" squid) Perfectly fresh, sweet and had a very nice, firm texture. Remember to dip it into the ginger shoyu sauce provided. The tentacles had a very different texture from the body. Very good.Perfect with sake.
The restaurant will deep fry whatever is left of the squid - in this case, the head. The result was very good. Flavourful, crunchy and good timing.
Ika shiokara:There is a "spicy" version and a "sweet" version. Naturally, I went for the spicy one.
The boss warned me that it would be very "spicy". However, I did not find it spicy at all, instead, it was extremely salty. I would recommend the "sweet version". Good with sochu.
Ika tempura:
Another signature dish. This was a bit oily but the light batter was very crispy. Again, the ika was very fresh. HK$98 for one whole Ika, which is quite reasonable. Worth a try.Ika sumi pasta:
Like what I've always told my friends, you've got to drink at Japanese and Korean places. That's how you gain street cred. (I must have had at least four glasses of sochu - Nikaido 二階堂（麥）and Kaido 海童-(芋）- and two glasses of draught.)
The Japanese boss, Kensaku san, must have been pleased about by alcohol consumption. He gave me a pasta sample.It's Japanese pasta mixed with squid ink in a ketchup base. I particularly liked the texture of this pasta: It's slight softer than "normal" Japanese pasta, which is usually a bit harder than al denté. This was good. It's all about the freshness of the ingredients.
Dashi maki:
Another complimentary dish. This time from the Hong Kong chef, Jacky san. He had been working in Japanese restaurants for more than 20 years, including Inagiku.This was an interterting twist to normal egg rolls. That had some seaweed (mozugu) rolled inside the egg roll. This combination was very interesting. It was pretty good. I understand it's very good for your health too.
Naga imo shoyu tsuke:
I ordered this to go with my sochu and the sake I got from the boss:
The naga imos were crunchy and had hints of shoyu. Went well with the grated wasabi. Worth a try.Melon:
Finally, another complimentary melon. Big, sweet and juicy. An excellent end to a wonder meal.Conclusion:
The bill came down to about HK$985 for all the stuff that I've had, which I think is quite reasonable. (The drinks must have accounted for about 30% of my bill.)
Everyone was extremely passionate and friendly.
Excellent food quality.
Try this out when you could still get a seat!
Recommended.
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