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2013-09-27
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正宗沖繩食品;有嶄新的沖繩雞菜式;比CWB分店大一點, 亦有戶外位;如在LFK可以一試。Okinawa Cuisine with LKF twist; Good place for drinks/snacks or dinner; Friendly service;Al fresco dining available; Worth a try. I’ve always been a big fan of Rakuen at Causeway Bay and En at TST. So I was very happy to join this tasting event. Décor: The central branch was almost double the size of the CWB branch. The CWB branch had a rustic, cozy feel to it but the central branch felt slightly more modern. (Instead of Okinawan music, we hear New D
有嶄新的沖繩雞菜式;
比CWB分店大一點, 亦有戶外位;
如在LFK可以一試。
Okinawa Cuisine with LKF twist;
Good place for drinks/snacks or dinner;
Friendly service;
Al fresco dining available;
Worth a try.
I’ve always been a big fan of Rakuen at Causeway Bay and En at TST. So I was very happy to join this tasting event.
Décor:
The central branch was almost double the size of the CWB branch. The CWB branch had a rustic, cozy feel to it but the central branch felt slightly more modern. (Instead of Okinawan music, we hear New Direction.)
Importantly, there was an al fresco bar area - excellent news for smokers. Menu: As you might already know, Rakuen, En and Bridge all do Okinawan food, such as many bitter gourd based cuisines, Taco rice, Okinawa soba…etc.
Our main purpose during this tasting was to try out their new “Okinawa Chicken” menu, which included tsukune, fried drum sticks, chicken wings, gizzards and chicken salad.
Chicken drumsticks with powdered Okinawan salt: ($88): This was very good. Succulent, tender & flavourful. I believe the Okinawan salt was the key to enhancing the taste of this whole dish. Recommended.
Okinawa chicken salad: Gastronomerr really liked it. We weren't able to find the chicken in the salad at first. We later discovered that the minced chicken meat was mixed with mayo and perhaps a bit of egg white. This went very well with the fresh veggies.
Fried Chicken chunks with tofu tartar sauce: Essentially a Chicken Karaage with a sweet and sour sauce. The chicken chunks were placed on a bed of “tofu tar tar sauce”. It was my first time trying this tofu tar tar sauce, it felt like mashed tofu mixed with a bit of cream cheese. Very interesting. Worth a try.
Chicken wings ($85): This smelled very good when it first arrived on our table. We had this after a while so it wasn’t as aromatic as I thought it would be. The wings were tender but could have more impact. The taste was on the light side.
Okinawa Jewel leaf (or Ice leaf): A very distinctive Okinawan dish. It’s almost like eating a very fresh piece of leave with morning dew on it. Very refreshing.
Sea Grapes (Umi Budou): In fact a type of coral picked straight from the sea. Our host David actually cultivates his own coral for eating. Amazing! Remember to dip it in the vinegar/ponzu mixture otherwise the seawater taste might be quite overwhelming for some.
Pork knuckle: Two small pieces. It was gone in a flash (before I had the chance to try it). Looks good.
Peanuts tofu: Another famous Okinawan dish. It’s chewier than normal Japanese tofu with a slight peanutsaftertaste. Definitely worth a try.
Goya Champuru: Okinawan bitter gourd is famous. It’s less bitter than the Chinese version. It’s fried with Okinawa firm tofu and pork slices. Remember to add a bit of shoyu when you eat it.
Sashimi: (Medium Platter - $450) It consisted of Salmon, Hamachi, Tai, Maguro, fresh scallops, some Salmon roes served with grated wasabi. No complaints about the freshness. I thought the scallops were pretty good but I didn’t touch the tuna.
Hamachi with salmon roes: Both were decent. However, I have to say the chemistry between these two wasn’t that obvious.
Fried rice with squid ink: The rice dishes at Rakuen and En are usually good. I usually have the konbu fried rice. This was pretty good too.
Lotus Root Chips: Lotus Roots thinly sliced and then fried. Excellent with beer.
The great thing about this tasting was that there wasn't a set menu. We could order whatever we wanted to as long as it's within a certain budget. What this means is that the restaurant didn’t know what we would order in advance and may thus be a better reflection of their default standard.
During my first visit here, I found that some of the dishes were smaller than the CWB branch (such as the fried calamari and the konbu fried rice). However, the portions this time was pretty generous. (We checked the size of the same dishes on other tables and they were the same.)
All in all, a good place to go to if you’re at LKF. The bill came down to about $400 per head (excluding drinks). Finally, I have to thank David for organizing this tasting and Food Craver for inviting me along.
Other Info. :
其實一向都有去CWB的【樂宴】 和 TST的【宴】。所以有食友邀請試吃便欣然答應。
CWB的Rakuen面積較小但很Cozy。中環的則較似LFK的酒吧。每間的感覺都截然不同。
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
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