Sushi Hakucho: why this Kyushu-style omakase restaurant holds its own in Hong Kong

The short road that is Minden Avenue is strewn with Japanese restaurants, the latest being this Kyushu-style omakase restaurant, next door to its sister restaurant, the popular Kido yakitori. Sushi Hakucho bills itself as affordable omakase, with dinner menus ranging from HK$980 to HK$1,580. We tried the latter with its generous 20 courses.

What is different about this omakase restaurant is that chef Harada Makoto uses fish from his hometown of Kyushu, and so it serves up some unique sushi courses. Highlights include the chef signature, ika and quail egg yolk sushi – a sweet fresh squid topped with a quail egg yolk, which was popular with our dining group. Another enjoyable signature creation was grilled sanma. The smoky and rich flavour of the fish was reminiscent of that renowned Scottish dish, kippers.

We sat at the counter so that we could interact with the chef and watch him prepare our sushi and enjoy a few “kampai” with our sake – of which we tried the Yamagata Gohyakumangoku and daiginjo.

We started our meal with sliced abalone with abalone liver sauce followed by sea urchin. The sashimi included striped jack, bonito and Kumamoto A4 Wagyu Emperor beef. Our sushi rolls included kinmedai topped with yuzu pepper paste, seared aka muji, jumbo scallop, ika and salmon roe, botan ebi, three types of tuna and a sea urchin hand-roll.

The last savoury dish was a miso soup with Amakusa shortneck clams, which was deliciously warming. The meal ended with seasonal fruits.

Although still in its soft opening, the restaurant was packed with local diners. Sushi Hakucho is separated from its rather rowdy sister, Kido, by a partition, so do not expect the usual quiet ambience found in many sushi restaurants. This certainly did not spoil the atmosphere, which was jovial and fun, especially after a few rounds of sake.