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2017-04-02
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Finally it is Friday night; work is all done this week and I planned to eat out alone and search for some good food. Without a plan, life always give you one out of the blue and I need not to be alone for food, thanks to the call from my friend. Coming up with a plan to eat Japanese food and drink a bit of alcohol, we decided to go to Tsim Sha Tsui together for some noodles and skewers in any Izakaya (居酒屋)--place for Japanese wine, beer and food.Goshaku (五勺) , a newly opened Izakaya in Knutsford
Goshaku (五勺) , a newly opened Izakaya in Knutsford Steps in Tsim Sha Tsui, is one of very few Izakayas providing a great deal of sake in Hong Kong.
Located at the sixth floor and closest building to the Mira Mall, it is quite easy to get to this Izakaya. As mentioned earlier, we decided to come at the very last moment, so we were concerned too whether this place was full tonight. Walking alongside the corridor, we were quite impressed by the authentic Japanese design--reusing
the Sake labels to decorate the wall and arranging the sake bottles on the shelves, as well as deem light, all of
which gave us such a nice decor and mood for food talk!
With luck, a table was arranged to us, given that we finished our meal by 8:30 p.m! (Get chilled immediately, then!)
And the inner space of the Izakaya was much authentic and clean than we expected!Tables, chairs, wall, ceiling... every detail of the Izakaya was fully rendered in this restaurant.
Having a table at the corner, my friend and I first looked at the menu, before looking up the sake on the fridge, specifically used for storing sake. As we can see from the below, we were happy to identify quite a number of
vegetarian dishes, for my friend used to eat vegetables, instead of meat.
Very friendly, while we were upon to make up our call, the waitress delivered hot tower for us to clean our hands.Small details, however, contributed to part of our dining experiences, especially for someone like me who was so
consciousness about dirt on my hands.
Eventually, we ordered six dishes, mostly vegetarian dishes, except my call for the Chicken Kamameshi, a Japanese dish featuring rice and meat cooked together in the small casserole. After food had been ordered,
we then went to the 'Sake Corridor' for our wine pick!
To be frank, I was less familiar with sake brand, than Red and White, but there were a few tips that we could share for the pick:1) As reminded by the notice on the fridge, Japanese sake is distinct in its character, namely, full or light body,
dry or sweet, aromatic or fruity, etc. With the colour labels in mind, one could easily look at the labels on the wine
bottle for making their decisions upon one's taste.
2) The second tip is to reflect on the manner of drinking and choice of food ordered. As sake can be served hot, warm or cold, the taste of the wine and food would affect one another, so one might consider the mix-and-match
with what has been ordered.
3) The third tip is to look at the fine grinding ratio (精米步合) to see how fine the Genmai (玄米) is grained into
white rice, which affects heavily the brewing process, in turn, purity and taste of sake. In short, the lower the
ratio, the more pure the sake tastes, for example, if 50% of the Genmai shell is grinded into white rice for brewing,
this would be classified as Junmao Daiginjo (純米大吟釀)! As I spot out one of the very fine bottle, with a ratio
of 45%, I made up my mind to try that bottle!
4) The final tip, of course, is to ask the waitress to offer help! Generally speaking, the service was good, so do not hesitate and ask, if one could not make up your mind! One thing important to mention here is that, the price of the sake is charged by glass; price per glass is clearly marked on the bottle of each sake.
KID (紀土) Sake
$60
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It is also worth mentioning the variety of rice used for brewing the wine, namely Yamada Nishiki (山田錦),
which is known as the best variety of rice specifically for brewing fine sake! Using the red cup to measure
two portions, the waiter helped us transfer the sake into our glasses.
I could still recalled the flowery smell of the sake! Not so much alcohol can be smelled, but the slightly yeasty and subtle fragrance can be detected. The first cold touch on my tongue gave me the strong impression of purity and sweetness that one would not feel thirsty after finishing the sweet wine! Also, it felt smooth on my tongue and was certainly not the kind of thin wine, which just slipped over. Both two of us were much impressed by the tasteand thickness of this KID sake! Moreover, we found it went well with grilled skewered vegetables, including the asparagus ($28) and okra ($22).
The Grilled Asparagus ($28) was light in taste with charred flavour on the body! Goes well with the sake. Recommended: 5/5
As Grilled Okra ($22) was rarely found outside this place, we decided to give it a try!It tasted a bit sweet as it grilled together with some sweet soy sauce, and the texture is a bit dry on the skin,
yet juicy inside. Of course, the okra still gave us its distinctive texture on your tongue! Recommended: 5/5
Then, our scallop grilled on its shell with miso ($78) arrived along with the pretty kit for heating up.
Helpfully, the waiter helped us to toss it slightly to avoid it get burned, as my friend and I were too busy inchatting and drinking >.< （A big thank you!)
It took about ten minutes to get the meat half-cooked/warmed through! Along the scallop, there were Japanese leek (negi; 韭蔥) and Honshimeji (本菇) as side ingredients, plus white miso and cooking wine as the sauce for cooking the scallops and the rest. Tasted sweet and touch for saltiness, the miso brought much layers of taste to the tender, sweet Japanese scallop. Delicious! The vegetables tasted good, too, which was evident in their freshness.
Recommended: 5/5
The next dish we had was Grilled Ayu ($58), a kind of Japanese fish which was small in size and distinctive sweetness among other fish.
In general, ayu is considered as luxurious fish in Japan, so we found it not so expensive to order, given a price of $58. Tasted as good as it looked, the skin was perfectly dried and grilled crisply, while the flesh tasted beautifully sweet. However, personally, I preferred a bit more salt on the skin to bring out the taste of the fish fully.Anyhow, it tasted good enough with itself and a touch of lime on side. Recommended: 4.5/5
After the fish, we had both the Inaniwa udon with vegetables (稻庭烏冬) --$68 and Chicken Kamameshi (雞肉釜飯) -- $88.
As Japanese udon lovers, we were disappointed by this dish because the udon was slightly overcooked; a bit starchy, lacking the transparent, al dente texture of this specific kind of Inaiwada udon. Also, I felt like the lack of transparency of this udon indicated the quality of the source was not very good. On the other hand, the broth was too light that we could neither taste the dashi (bonito fish broth) flavour or vegetables. Nevertheless, as a vegetarian dish, it was good if we had ordered something heavy in taste for balancing. One could also extra seasoning, like Japanese chili powder, upon request! Recommended: 2.5/5
Last but not least, there arrived the Chicken Kamameshi ($88). Covered with a lid, we found excited to see what's inside!!!
The smell of mushroom and bonito broth was so good, which convinced us that we made a nice authentic pick.And indeed, it tasted as good as it looked, with the well-balanced and absorbed flavour of chicken, mushroom and bonito broth inside every grain of rice! The rice was also cooked perfectly: nice control of water content, resulting in firm grain of rice! I enjoyed very much of the lightness and warmness of this dish, which made me recall what I once had in Japan. Highly recommended this dish! Recommended: 5/5
Overall, the dining experience was pretty amazing and satisfactory! Both the designs of the restaurant and menu were quite authentic, not to mention their taste! It's indeed one of very few Izakaya in town providing good food and sake, with overall reasonable price. Highly recommended this place to sake lovers! Would definitely come again
張貼
