Nishiki Japanese Restaurant     鳥燒居  

This was the second time my wife and I came here. This shop had apparently been established in TST east for at least 18 years.

We tried this the first time more than 1/2 a year ago in my quest to find Japanese restaurants which could cure home-sicknesses (for my wife) and could quell the urge for Izakaya (and sochu, for me.)

This shop did not disappoint.

The restaurant really made it easy for customers to order their signature yakitoris by having two dinner courses to choose from, namely, the simply named yet effective: 11 skewer set, and the equally concise: 12 skewer set. Priced at HK$300 and HK$330 respectively, accompanied by a simple vegetable salad, miso soup, Japanese rice and preserved vegetables.

A quick look at the simple menu confirmed that the set was indeed a bit, and I stress just a little bit, more value for money (about 8% cheaper with a salad, a bowl of rice, miso soup and a little bit of preserved vegetables).
The menu had some cold appetizers, many traditional cold dishes, a lot of yakitori (which was the main theme of the restaurant), some rice bowls (dons), a full page of alcohol and some udon and soba.

We ordered a 12 skewer set, other a la carte skewers, as well as a kawaponzu.

First came the salad and some beans. The salad was a standard vegetable salad with some Japanese vinegar dressing. The beans were marinated with white miso as well as a bit of pork. It's quite sweet and the taste was quite interesting. What's noteworthy was the plate of grated turnip placed next to the bean. So far, this is the only yakitori shop which I know served grated turnip.

The purpose of the grated turnip is for you to eat it together with the yakitori. Somewhat similar to the function of the grated turnip with the tempura, so it would be less hard on your throat the next day as it "reduces heat". A very good idea indeed. Then came the kawaponzu, which means chicken skin marinated in Japanese vinegar served with spring onion. It's about $40 or $50. The quantity was really small. It's refreshing but overpriced.

Then came the negima, which meant chicken meat grilled with leek. A typical Japanese Izakaya dish which could easily be overcooked and is perhaps not such an easy dish to do well, despite its simple appearance. The negima here was done very nicely. The chicken was tender and juicy and matched well with the slightly crispy leek: The cheese shyudou, shishito (green pepper) and the piman (green bell pepper) also arrived very shortly afterwards:The cheese shyudo, like other dishes meant to accompany beer, sake or sochu, was quite small and quite expensive.

The shishito, that is, green chilli pepper, was quite nice. Average standard so nothing to complaint about. By the way, I'd recommend ordering a shishito whenever you're having yakitori or a lot of fried food as it also helps to reduce your "body heat" according to Chinese medicine theory so you wouldn't have headaches or sore throat...etc. afterwards.

The piman, green bell pepper, was quite good. It was quite sweet and juicy. What distinguished the piman here from other yakitori shops was that they grilled it together with quite a lot of salt and as a result, it was quite refreshing. The sea salt mixed well with the liquorish taste of the piman.

The Negi, "Leek", was part of the dinner set and was perhaps served to stimulate the taste buds a bit ? I wouldn't go out of my way to order it though:

We also ordered grilled garlic and onions (tamanegi):and mushrooms, Pork Belly (Buta Bara), Chicken Kidney and Chicken Heart: The chicken kidney was a bit tough. The chicken heart was excellent. The heart was a bit small compared to what I sometimes have. The good point about the chicken hearts here were that they were completely cleaned and marinated so it tasted fresh as well.

The Pork Belly was pretty good. The pork belly had the right balance of fat and meat. The timing was good so it was crispy but not dried.

All these vegetables were nothing to complaint about. The onions was a bit oily though. When it comes to grilled vegetables, like shishito, piman, onions, garlic, sweet corn...etc., I find the yakitori shop "Jun" a lot better than most yakitori shops. The chicken kidney at Jun is also better. I am quite a fan of Bonjiri, "Chicken tail". Some may find it a bit fat but it feels like a fatter version of grilled pork cheek. Not many yakitori shops could do it well. The important point about bonjiri is to make sure it's grilled a bit longer than other chicken parts in order to reduce the excess fat and to make it crispier. It was nice and crispy here.

Then came the tsukune:This was apparently the signature dish of this restaurant. You could notice from the "antique" wooden menus hanging on the wall. The tsukune was "当店自慢" - which means "the shop's proud offering". I am a great fan of tsukune and I expect quite a lot from a restaurant. This was well done. The minced chicken meat must have been from a very good source. It had a very strong "chicken" taste, i.e. fresh. I believe the meat was a bit marinated in mirin, the Japanese sweet marination, and possibly with a bit of sake as well.

There were chicken cartilage inside. The chicken cartilage was just the right texture - not too hard nor too soft. Just crunchy enough to enhance the overall texture of the whole tsukune.

Definitely one of the best I've had, whether compared with those I had in Japan or in Hong Kong. Highly recommended. The Shiso Maki was not bad either. It was a bit of Shiso leaf wrapped with minced chicken meat. Both components were just as important. The Shiso leaf, which was a bit tangy, matched well with the slightly sweet (possibly also mirin marinated) mince chicken. This is also worth a try.

Since the chicken in this shop was of very good quality, we could not help but ordered another minced chicken themed dish. This time we ordered a minced chicken ball nabe. (I can't remember the Japanese name.). The cuttlefish which the other table ordered also looked good so we also ordered it as well.The cuttlefish was standard stuff. It was slightly tough. Nothing special.

The soup base of the nabe was standard dashi, fish broth. However, the minced chicken balls were nice and tender. It had a fresh chicken taste as well. Some chopped onions and pepper were also mixed into the chicken balls. At about $68 per pot, it's quite reasonable given the quality. This is also recommended.

To celebrate such a good meal, I've ordered a glass of sake - kubota senjyu (HK$90):That's the way I like it. This is called a masu cup. The waitress poured the sake in front of the customer until the sake glass inside the masu was completely filled up and then let it overflow. [Compare this to my review of "Sakaegawa" 榮川 and you'll see the difference.]

We've ordered three glasses of sochu and two draught beer (one Asahi and one Tsing Tao) for the night.

Conclusion:

The interior of the shop was a bit dated, like most Japanese restaurants in the TST East area. There was one or two fruit flies flying around at the end of the dinner and I suggest the shop get rid of those as soon as possible.

Nevertheless, the restaurant had a very comfortable and calm ambiance. The tables were placed wide apart. Most tables could see the streets of TST East as well. The counter seats were suitable for single diners as well. The ceiling was high and the ventilation was very good. It wasn't smokey at all despite the chefs constantly grilling something.

The staff and the chefs were all very friendly and polite. They were very attentive and most of them could speak Japanese and Cantonese. Even the Japanese boss, who was the main chef, seemed to be able to utter a few words in Cantonese.

The bill came down to about HK$500 per person (drinks inclusive). If you're not into drinking - not a lot anyway, you could get a very decent yakitori meal at about HK$330. All in all, other than the over priced dishes used to accompany alcohol, the chicken dishes were all reasonably priced and of great quality.

I'll return here again and again.

Highly recommended.

總評:

所有雞肉料理做得相當出色．相信貨源好，腌得入味．

除了佐酒小食偏貴外，價錢合理．

環境有點陳舊但坐得舒服，闊絡，又有街景．通風造得很好，幾乎完全沒有油煙味．

無論大廚及侍應都熱情有禮．

誠意推介!

This is one of my husband and my favourite "dating" restaurants.
The restaurant has been there forever and I think it's one of the best kept secrets in town. We love the casual atmosphere there. It's a great place to indulge in quality food without having to endure snobbish wait staff and a crazy hefty price tag. In fact, their wait staff are probably the friendliness ones I've met.
Also, you know you are in the right place for Japanese food when you see that half of their clients speak Japanese...
Everything is good here but I'd definitely recommend:
Raw egg chicken sausage - this is the best ever with their special sauce. There have been occasion where I ate two in one sitting
They have freshly imported sweet corn from Japan but I'm not sure I want to spend HK$120 for an ear of corn... But there are people who have them when we were there. The ear of corn comes natural with all its leaf wrappings before they go to the chef for grilling.
beeru! Nothing beats a good cold beer

One piece of advice though... a reservation is almost a must if you are heading there on Friday evenings. Book in advance to avoid disappointment or unnecessary wait at the door.

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APPETISER - They give you tea, a small appetiser and some daikon oroshi as palate cleanser. Like most Japanese Izakaya's and Yakitori shops, its compulsory to charge you around $20-30 per person. I have no problems with this, but some people do mind. Well, most Chinese restaurants charge similar for Chili Sauce/Mustard, Peanuts, Pickles. Even more in Hotpot restaurants.

BEER - They only have Draught Tsing Tao here, so I opted for bottled Asahi, the only other 1 or 2 alternatives.

CHICKEN WITH NEGI - This was great. Seasoned well with sauce and grilled perfectly, faint aromas of char-grilling. Chicken was tender and had some chicken taste.

NATTO & CHICKEN YAKI - This was great, wrapped by a piece of seaweed.

BEEF TONGUE - This was the 'thinner' type, but seasoned with cracked pepper and salt. Slightly crunchy but not chewy. I like this a lot. I also like thick versions, no preferences for any!

CHICKEN TSUKUNE - This is the minced chicken done in-house (most shops buy readily made ones), its dipped into a raw egg with a bit of sauce. Excellent! Couldn't find traces of much soft bones though.
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- The name of this shop is actually called '錦' - its a 鳥燒居.
　- Its within the Regal Hotel - but don't rely on the signages downstairs because they didn't reserve one for this tiny shop, but its definitely still there and operating!
- Come to think of it: I've actually heard about this shop even from overseas, as they're one of the shops which informs the new customers upfront that they don't serve Raw Fish.... Some people think this is 'arrogant', but u know what? The staff here are ultra friendly, they even asked me how I felt about them compared to the surrounding shops, such as 五味鳥, Hoka Hoka, Tonikaku, etc. The Japanese boss/chef is friendly, says thank you's, and him and the staff work like a family and joke around. It reminds me of a family run business in Japan side streets.
　- As a matter of fact, they actually DO serve raw fish here sometimes, if the fish they source is fresh enough to be eaten that way. You can also reserve for higher end fishes or wagyu's in advance - I saw some customers doing just that! Very flexible!
- Although most Yakitori shop menus are similar, I couldn't help but notice how 純燒鳥's menu is almost a replica of here, or is it the other way around?

REALLY LIKED THIS SHOP, FOOD WAS GREAT TOO! HIGH '4' to LOW '5'