An impromptu weekday lunch prompted by KC, we gathered @ 味+味(あじとみ,Aji-to-mi). Our target was clear: their famous釜めし(Kama-meshi,釜飯) which was made to order and took 30 minutes. KC always does his homework, so he already pre-ordered two sets of 鶏釜めし during reservation.

Unlike most of the Japanese restaurants which try to place the wide net and put everything from sushi, tempura, yakitori, to soba, ramen, tonkasu on to the menu, Ajitomi focuses on homemade styled cooking with options of yakitori. I personally prefer one thing done right rather than many things done on average level, so their focus on home cooking provided me with some confidence and reassurance to be honest. Specialization in one genre of cooking (like sushiya, sobaya, yakitoriya) is such a common practice in Japan, I just hope that this culture can be more widespread in Hong Kong.

Of course just 鶏釜めし was not going to satisfy these group of gluttons, so we also ordered some set lunches:

とん豚丼定食 (grilled pork on rice lunch set, 燒豬肉飯)
- withプチサラダ (salad), 漬物(つけもの, Tsukemono), 味十味みそ汁 (miso soup), ご飯 (rice).

I liked the fact that they included hijiki in their 漬物 which isn’t commonly found in local Japanese restaurants. The appearance of the pork belly was irresistible with alternating meat and fat layers glazed with a coating of grill sauce and then chargrilled to achieve a crispy surfaces. However, when tasted I personally found the slices a bit too dry and stringy especially the lean meat part. Fortunately the pork drippings (ok, pork fat) and the tare (燒汁) penetrated to the rice and made the pearl gems delicious and satisfying. Overall the set was tasted fine but I didn’t find any surprises from it.

串焼き盛り合わせ (yakitori moriawase, 雜錦串燒)
- with ねぎま nekima（たれ）, ハツ hatsu （塩）, 肝 reba（たれ）, ズリzuri（塩）,つくねkutsune（たれ）

This yakitori platter was quite disappointing in my opinion. While I did not taste all 6 skewers, which included chicken with scallion (with sauce, 汁燒), chicken heart (salt), liver (sauce), and chicken meatball (sauced), most of what I tasted was over-grilled and very dry. The organs were not moist and meat was not juicy at all. The only better one was the つくね(meatball) which was soft but certainly nothing to rave about. Because of this order I am now suspicious on how well they execute their yakitori at night.
　
温泉卵のせぶっかけ冷やしうどん (Bukkake Hiyashi Udon with Onsen Tamago, 溫泉蛋冷烏冬) with みそ汁小食

The udon was indeed cold and refreshing in hot weather. I have always loved noodles mixed with onsen tamago and this egg was cooked adequately to achieve the right semi fluid consistency. Unfortunately the udon was a bit too soft and turned a bit mushy. When mixed with the eggs and the toppings with was also wet, the mouthfeel was not optimized. The flavor with all the toppings was fine, but again, the overall dish was not perfected.

When the two much awaited 鶏釜めし arrived, no one could hold their patience! KC immediately helped us to mix and split the rice, and I must say that this kamameshi was what made this trip. The rice was cooked to excellent consistency – soft enough to swallow yet retain a slight chew. The pearl rice was like gems coated with subtle earthy seasoning from the vegetables and the chicken. With each bite you felt the immense sooth and warmth that you normally experienced at home. This is indeed what I called homestyle cuisine!

While not everything of the lunch was great, I think just the 鶏釜めしalone is worth a revisit. I also found a lot of Western styled fusion dishes (what they called Original cooking) on their menu which seem to have a lot of potential, and may return just to try them out.


You can also read KC’s review on:
http://gourmetkc.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post.html

Heard lots of good reviews about this restaurant. So, came to test it out with a dear girl friend. We ordered the Osaka Meatball, famous chicken wing, clams with saki and the famous onsen egg cold udon.

Osaka Meatball was great. Big and juicy. The clams was not bad too. At lease, it was clean and meaty. Cooked right and soaked all the flavour from the saki. The saki used in the cooking was strong. A bit too overpowering the sweetness of the clam meat.

The overrated part was on the famous items. Let's start with the chicken wing. The skin was grill to crispy with a coat of their special sauce on it. It was nice until you bit into the meat of the chicken wing. The meat was bland and tasted like frozen chicken. It was a bit disappointing.

The onsen egg cold udon was the second disappointments of the night. The five sides ingredients that was added to the udon didn't go that well together. The fusion taste of the udon was just odd. It was so unattractive that we didn't even finished the udon (with only two of us).

Overall, I really felt the 3.8 rating is overrated. Maybe the kamameshi that are high recommended by other commentaries will worth a second visit.

幾位圍內朋友約吃午飯，本欲往吃泰菜，但滿座，就轉了來這個第二選擇，吃日式住家飯。想起這裡，也只想起一味食物，就是這裡的釜飯，所以訂位時已經訂好兩煲。而本來因為路途遙遠而不想來的我，因為這個釜飯，也決定遲到早退也要趕一次。

地方仍然雅致，以木為主調的傢俬及暖色的設計，加上塌塌米地板，活像去了別人家裡的飯廳吃飯一般。

最早來的是燒豬肉飯，掃上燒汁的五花腩，多了一份香口。釜飯比另外兩個定食還要早來，新鮮煲起的日本米飯，軟熟煙韌，仍然值得推薦；串燒定食是簡單的幾款串燒加上味噌、前菜及飯等等，淺嚐就算。最後是溫泉蛋烏冬，蛋汁不夠多，個人而言，不太喜歡；

埋單每人70大元，想吃日式住家午膳，這裡也是選擇。

想看所有食物相片及足本食評，請參考下列網誌：

http://gourmetkc.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post.html

I enjoy Western styled dinners cooked by Japanese Chefs - despite them being not too authentic, they somehow manage to make them more appealable than Chinese chefs attempting the same dishes. AJITOMI is quite unique in a way and probably the only one of its kind in Hong Kong!! The main Japanese Lady chef cooks and understands food well and they carry 2 styles of cuisines on the singular menu. Half of it is Westernised mainly French items with a slight but probably unintended Japanese 'accent', the other half of the menu authentically Japanese based!

Personally, this approach should NOT be classified as Fusion Styled Food - put simply, it carries 2 separate food styles in one location, without merging them together. Perhaps the clue has always existed if one questions the Origin of the shop's name: 味 + 味 is the possible result of a 'word play' which the same 漢字, ’味’, is doubly pronounced in 2 different '讀音's' deliberately: one in normal Japanese 'Aji', and one is foreign based 'Mi'. The '+' pronounced as 'To' in the middle carefully separates the two words and styles to form Aji.To.Mi as a Dining Concept! To me, it defers slightly from the likes of 酒處 & 八海山 or Nobu, which all carry some newly invented items that combine ideas or ingredients from both Japanese and Western or Peruvian cuisines. Perhaps San San Trois comes closer but that's more Japanese oriented, whereas Sodeyama remains predominantly Japanese except their meat items.

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COMPULSORY STARTER -
Like most Jap or Chinese restaurants, they charge you for this. Here I was given a Cold Spaghetti appetiser with scallops, black olives, zucchini, carrots and onion slices. OK I guess. Probably costed around $20-30, can't remember.
OSAKA PORK TSUKUNE BALL -
This is suppose to be one of their signature Japanese Kushiyaki's. Its combined with some Onions and diced Konnyaku jelly cubes to give it a special texture! The sauce was very good, the grilling was perfect. I liked this a lot, especially the slightly fruity, sweet teriyaki sauce.
CHICKEN TSUKUNE SKEWER WITH CHEESE -
If there was anything Fusion that night, this was it! I've hardly had cheesy tsukune items before so was curious. The cheese wasn't great though and not gratinated as I'd expected. The sauce within however was authentically Japanese, definitely. Not aware of soft chicken bones within.
CHICKEN WITH CHEESE -
Similar but not minced unlike the above, I remember I ordered this deliberately as a comparison with the Chinese-chefs run Yakitori Houses' offers, where they always carry this item! This was aromatic and great with my beer. Its a bit different from the ones I have tried before too!
SEA URCHIN SPAGHETTI -
This is an Italian Dish but which sits equally well in a Japanese restaurant's menu in a sense, since both countries love Urchins. Real Italian ones are minerally and quite bitterly fishy, the one infront of me was more approachable and the sauce smooth creamy. I think the urchins were great but the sauce lacked the core ingredient's oceanic taste - there wasn't enough urchin essense to penetrate into the al dente but commercial pasta strands.... But having said that, most Japanese cooked urchin pastas taste like this. This is better than the SML version which I ate many weeks after this meal.
SLOW COOKED OX TONGUE -
Unlike the ubiquitous yakitori-grilled Ox Tongues which I love to death, its much rarer to find Japanese slow-cooked Ox Tongues locally, but in my past experiences with Jap cuisines they are always experts with this part of the cow, whereas Western or even Chinese cuisines slow cooked Beef Cheeks or Tails more. The only other shop I've eaten this at so far was 炭姫, since that shop offers Sendai cuisine, famous for Ox Tongue dishes. I remember eating this in Osaka as well somewhere? Note: I can't remember if the menu said this was slightly cooked in a French manner or not, or if the sauce on top was Miso based - since this was a while ago. I just remember it was cooked really well and I enjoyed it !
雞釜飯 (25 Min Wait) -
This is another dish that I haven't seen much elsewhere so I ordered this dish, considering its cooked-to-order I guess its suppose to be pretty edible! Interestingly, in lots of touristy HK 煲仔飯 restaurants, the Japanese translation is written as 釜めし(釜飯), so they're close relatives!! Where they differ is obviously the Claypot vs Cast Iron Pot, also Japanese 釜飯 is cooked in 'stock' with ingredients mixed into the rice already. Its just a higher end (五目)炊き込みご飯 in disguise I guess? The chicken stock based rice came with carrots, chicken, shiitake mushrooms and burdock roots (牛蒡), a typical combination. I found this version to be slightly salty that night, probably with MSG, but otherwise highly enjoyable for $75!

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SUMMARY - Really liked this restaurant and I liked the slightly feminine touch by the chef here, if anything, next time I eat here I will order Red or White Wine with my meal rather than Beers or Shochu's! Equally, you can visit here just for their Japanese Yakitori's and Onigiri's and some Sashimi's and completely disregard the Western '味-Mi' part of the 味 + 味 equation, I saw a Japanese gentleman doing just that and kept hogging the toilet after too many beers!

Ranging from around high '3' to low 5', depends what you order!

食左好多串燒~~ 好普通....唯一肉丸幾好食!!
雞皮卷入口幾香雞油味~
牛油蒸帶子好香但冇味
海帶豆腐沙律 好幾好食
咖喱牛尾飯好正常....
溫泉蛋soba差少少
叫左支sake...上善如水普通d~
overall ok 啦~ 好多日本人去食!

午餐$140+$5轉凍加一，$159.5
基本上不是不好吃，又不是完全很好吃到值$160…
原本係ok，但杯咖啡實在係太難飲啦，負分-_-lll

沙津
好多菜，而且用橙汁
有蝦同好似扇貝既野，但問題就係呢度，沙津d菜係凍，但d蝦個d野係熱..orz
調味都幾好，菜都靚

意粉
個汁真係好香，硯肉味，但個意粉好硬兼無乜料… XD
因為呢間野真係即煮…意粉卻是要煮好耐既野
得菜同見唔到樣既碎硯肉…

咖啡
我第一次飲到比一般即沖的咖啡還要orz幾倍的餐廳咖啡
又苦又辣又酸，好難飲呀！
因為呢杯咖啡實在太難飲所以要俾負>O<;;;
究意是用什麼可以沖到這麼難飲的咖啡呢…
有d UCC既奶同糖水，細細加幾個落去都改善唔到杯咖啡又苦又辣又酸既味…
飲茶算了

用餐日期...已忘了...

那天, 中午到達永光12樓, 一心去吃海葡萄, 但竟然未開!?

於是轉移陣地, 落7樓吃豬扒 ~

豬扒少油鬆脆, 份量對於我來說亦算很多...

吃得飽飽地離開 ~

This is no epitomic representation of a good Japanese homestyle fusion restaurant, but you don't find many of these in Hong Kong anyway and to be fair, some dishes were quite good. The stewed-pork meatballs for one were juicy, grilled with a flavourful teriyaki sauce and tasted like shanghainese "lion heads". Other grilled dishes were also decent but non-grilled meats were slightly disappointing. The pork chop was extremely tough, dry and tasteless, as was the orange duck which was only slightly better because it had a sauce. The fried gobou was also lacking in flavour, which was extra wasteful because of its overly large portion. Grilled nigiri was...well, not bad but not good - on the dry side. In conclusion you're probably better off ordering only grilled dishes, I'd expect the japanese style hamburg steaks to be alright too if that tickles your fancy, but otherwise don't come at all if you want other snacks to go with your japanese beer.

(8/1/09)錯盪地與上等朋友去銅鑼灣食晏。姊姊推介下,說這裡食燒物,又唔會有煙燻味,可以坐得舒適點。
店子雖小,一灌日本風味,簡潔、有禮 (確實起碼有兩日藉廚/staff；也有不少日本食客)增加「地道」。
order了一個今週lunch set$140、燒豚肉飯$70。share一齊食,分唔清咩野屬set範圍。anyway,藕片、青瓜片、蒜蓉汁菜絲、生雜菜麻醬豆腐沙律、來個餐前渙醒味雷。
燒豚肉飯裡的半肥肉片,燒得半乾,油份走了,真的一點也不覺肥膩!塗了燒汁的肉和飯,清簡得,雖然在吃肉,也很「襌」。
燒物兩串:豆腐雞肉粒&鮮菇(延續清淡)。白飯魚椰菜偏意粉,魚仔有點腥,同埋其實這兩材料與意粉唔太match,不過估唔到呢度會有意粉食,而且烹調得軟硬度適中添!
甜品:蘋果忌廉卷蛋,那些忌廉如天使蛋糕內的忌廉,香而不膩,我竟然把它完全幹掉!
蒸餾咖啡…..也ok!那一刻突然分辨到,蒸餾咖啡與磨咖啡的分別,前者較薄身,飲完無咁糊口啊。
p.s.有需要也建議去廁所「參觀」,很有日本「"步"屋」(heya)風味格調。

In my mind, few things in life are better than sharing a good meal with your friend, and to have a nice chat in a quiet and homely place. And that is exactly what I did today ! My friend and I came to this nice little Japanese restaurant for lunch and the result was totally heart warming to say the least The place was only half full when we arrived at around 12:50pm. We were promptly given a seat and greeted by the friendly and helpful wait staff. The place was quite small (only around 10-15 tables at most) and the minimalistic decor gave it a "homely" feel. Tables were adequately spaced out, and hence although the place was quite small, it did not have a "crampy" feeling. A quick survey of the surroundings also convinced me that this place must be authentic - coz we were literally "surrounded" by Japanese patrons !

We glanced over the menu and decided to have 2 set lunches. Mine was the chicken skewers set which came with a salad (very fresh and crispy cabbage shreds with a light sour dressing, which was very refreshing), miso soup (good but not particularly impressive), a bowl of rice (genuine Japanese rice used here - very nice), and 5 skewers featuring different parts of the chicken. Although I could not be sure, I think there was chicken liver (good), minced chicken meat (good), chicken meat balls (good), chicken skin ? with onion (good), and chicken knuckles marinated with honey (very good, I really liked this one !). All the skewers were cooked just right and the standard was high - at least on the same level, if not better than most other yakitori joints I have visited so far Likewise, my friend ordered a deep fried pork chop with rice set, which also came with fresh vegetables and rice. He was generous enough to share a piece of the fried pork with me, and it was also very good - I mean, perhaps not as good as the tonkasu shop at WTC, but still of very high standard. In contrary to what others think, we do not find the food portions to be particularly small. At the end I also ordered a cup of coffee, which was freshly brewed and very nice. The price was perfectly reasonable in my opinion. We had a most enjoyable experience at this joint, and I will definitely come back to try their other stuff like 釜飯 and 溫泉蛋 later. And for those who complain about the price and the food portion, maybe they really should go somewhere else to have their local -styled "jap food". This place is for real Jap food lovers only and hence I think there should not be a shortage of customers anyway.

十月十日, 又試新嘢! 之前無意中係網上搵到呢間上樓日本菜,
雖然知佢價錢貴啲, 但大家都有興趣嚟試吓!

嚟到打開餐牌, 原來啲嘢食真係幾貴, 我叫咗個比較平啲既「燒豚肉定食」($65),
嚟到個份量真係啲失望, 冇乜汁, 啲肉其實係豬腩肉, 冇乜特別,
個沙律得啲菜絲, 小食又係好普通, 個麵豉湯叫做 OK, 但又係冇特別,
冇飲品冇甜品, 咁就六十幾蚊再加一, 好似唔多抵食喎......

同事既「咖喱牛尾飯」($72) 反而算大碟, 試咗一啖都真係幾好味, 仲要明顯用牛尾煮,
個沙律又正啲, 係用凱撒沙津既菜做, 個汁都好味啲, 不過加埋一又係 $80, 好貴呀...

另一個同事既「燒雞扒定食」($65), 雖然鐵板上賣相幾得, 但份量真係好少,
男仕一定唔夠食啦! 啲沙律同小食又係我果啲, 冇得添飯...

啲雞扒雖然都煎得幾香幾好味, 但真係得好少架咋...

我哋見其他檯九成都係日本人, 睇嚟真係日本人先識欣嘗呢間嘢,
同埋佢哋仲有大閘蟹食, 比較細隻, 不過職員會即場幫你拆同剪開個殼, 又幾好服務喎~

至於佢既晚餐仲貴得嚇人, 成六百蚊一位, 嘩! 雖然食既嘢幾靚幾富豐, 但太貴啦!
Anyway, 我諗都冇乜機會再嚟幫襯喇.....

更詳細資料及圖片請看 : http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/joycewai616/article?mid=11410

對米飯的應用，日本人可說是高手，燒肉要配白飯，豐潤了壽司層次的醋飯，鐵板燒的「牛油」炒飯，還有是日為此而來釜飯。

晚市，氣氛仍Cozy，日籍女主理人也會出來跟客人交流分享；這裡的釜飯（七十五元）可以即場點，就安心地翻翻餐牌，隨心點些串燒及西日料理。

說是西日料理，一些禮節仍照足日本規矩，餐前會送來融入西方元素小品料理，凍意粉，帶點和風酸味，意粉軟熟，味道亦調得很好。

串燒方面，這裡稱得上是雞類專家，最普通的雞肉丸到另類雞心、雞肝、雞皮甚至雞尾一應俱全，奈何受三聚青胺事件影響，材料質素方面叫人慘不忍睹，有點敗興，材料不好但燒功卻是不錯，當中燒牛舌能做到外焦而芯位柔潤，很好。

她要的溫泉蛋，看樣子已知對辦，甜而帶木魚水鹹鮮，是純日式小品。

即點亦要等上近四十分鐘的正宗釜飯，廚房處理好後放在吧檯上慢火蒸成，以最基本方式烹煮成的小鍋釜飯，份量是一人份。打開釜蓋傳來陣陣菇香，熱騰騰又軟熟的日本米，不比韓式石頭鍋飯遜色，雞、菇作用純粹增添米飯的味道，飯才是主角，非用煮飯而是用雞湯，精華盡收於澱粉質豐盈的珍珠米中，口感軟熟亦帶著應有潤澤，身邊這位飯癡吃得笑逐顏開，連鍋邊的飯焦亦不錯，吃得半點不剩，要吃正宗釜飯這裡是必吃的，謝KC推介。

因不稱心燒物而烏了嘴的她，被一碗用心的釜飯逗得笑了，走前跟主理人打個招呼，亦分享到她與她的從食客及主理人身份出發的喜悅。

是晚與三位朋友相約到味+味慶祝生日, 這間店舖很細, 以日本客為主.沒料過這間餐廳價錢不便宜, 不過其中有幾款食物幾有特色. 首先是在食評中推介的大阪つくね ( 大阪豬肉丸), 友人話有啲似紅燒獅子頭. 我較喜歡那碟送酒小食: 豆腐の味噌漬け・枝豆・キムチ ( 枝豆+泡菜+腐乳 ), 味道真的不錯.

另外鶏釜めし (雞肉釜飯) 即叫即煮, 醬汁香濃, 配料除了有雞肉, 還有蒟蒻, 冬菇絲等. 最好味應該是啲飯焦, 煮雞肉釜飯要等二十分, 但不夠五分我們已狼吞虎嚥吃完, 也不知是太好味或是久等…

上次試過《備長》後，愛上這些一串串的爐端燒，找了這間《味十味》，我估計價兩者錢相約，所以想試一試這間作比較。

網民一致讚好，我留意到多數人都是中午光顧，照推斷應該晚間食物款式選擇更豐富更吸引。

早在一星期前已訂枱，我們專程來銅鑼灣吃這餐晚飯，當然捧著十分大的期望吃好的東西。

店子小小，環境舒適，客人不多。我們打開餐牌看看，有中日英對照，串燒以雞的類別最多，例如雞肉、雞內臟及雞皮等，海產類機乎稱得上沒有，無論串燒或和食的款式不多，要適合我們胃口的食物更加少。怪不得星期六晚飯時間都不滿座。

所有菜色“的骰”得可憐，而串燒的味道亦稱不上十分出色。相信一個正常人，起碼要吃三十串以上才覺有點東西到肚，但價錢亦不便宜呀。

我想點些飽肚食物，原來所有定食只限於午市供應，而其他飯類只有三款，冷麵都只有一至兩款，亦不見得吸引，選擇何其的少。

店員介紹他們獨有的大阪和風豬肉丸，我們認為可以說是將上海菜的獅子球用來燒再加上燒汁，這就是它的獨特之處嗎?

前菜$20 (每位)
和牛$80
燒雞腎$20, ok
大阪和風豬肉丸$22
芝士雞肉$20, 麻麻地, 無芝士味, 肉質爛bat bat
牛油燒帶子$50，太細小
燒飯糰$30, ok
燒豬頸肉$22, 好味
麵鼓醬燒雞翼$22, 好味
Jap Green Peppers $18, ok
Pleurotus Mushroom $18, ok
煮雜菜$55, 可以說是一人份量, 每種蔬菜只得3件
清酒煮蜆$70, 淡淡的酒味, 蜆肉細小及過熟
鵝肝$120, 是整餐晚飯最出色的，亦是唯一可以取得滿分的菜色。

雖然是開放式廚房, 廚師在燒烤時, 我也聞不到香味。而燒物亦用了大量牛油, 所以某些食物被牛油的味道蓋了。個人認為各款肉丸是最差的, 其他食物都ok。

最後結帳是七百多元，我仔細看清有無有將店員漏單的項目列在帳單上，才發現該店的服務費是13.5%？百思不得其解，為何要收取這麼貴的服務費，雖然招呼都不差，又不是最好的；例如上菜時侍應不會告訴我們現在送上什麼菜式，我們也難以確認是否我們點的食物，要問她才答；所謂的服務只是加水次數較密些罷了。這樣的收費完全不合理。

離開時一點飽肚的感覺也沒有，我還要到樓下的潮式麵店吃魚蛋粉＋油菜＋炸魚皮。

失望而回～～～

我以後一定不會再來光顧！

Ajitomi has definitely become one of my favorite Japanese restaurants! It was an awesome meal and my boyfriend and I had a great time.

I totally love the quiet environment and the attentiveness of the waitresses. It's quite a small place with few tables, so it might be a good idea to reserve a table.

The following are our orders, all of which were delicious and each was better than the previous!

麵豉湯: one of the best I have had in HK, none of those just-add-hot-water crap
雜錦串燒: they came in 醬燒 and 鹽燒, both delicious
溫泉蛋冷烏冬: good quality udon and egg, highly recommended
明太子意粉: best dish of the night, just try it, it's worth it!

Very satisfying meal, indeed. Will definitely go back!