Nishiki Yakitori (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★★

All of a sudden, I found myself craving for yakitori after my most recent visit to Yardbird. But after all, I am not living in Tokyo, so good yakitori places are tough to come by. Then I read about Nishiki on a magazine. 

Nishiki has been around for more than 20 years but remains one of the best kept secrets in the culinary scene of Hong Kong. Hidden in the 1/F arcade of the Regal Hotel Kowloon in Tsim Sha Tsui East, Nishiki is primarily a robatayaki (literally "fireside-cooking") restaurant where different types of skewers are grilled right in front of you in a theatrical style.



I love to sit at the bar area because it's a very interactive process. You get to see the star chefs in action and how each skewer is prepared.



I was really starving so before taking on any skewers, a nice bowl of fried sweet bean curd udon with soup first. That bean curd was so sweet (6/10)~



Onto the "main courses" we go, first up - minced chicken meat roll with shiso. I haven't had shiso for ages and this provided flashbacks to some of the best dishes I had from the past.

As always, it's difficult to describe the taste of shiso (taste like herbs, citrus and/or mint combined???). But who cares as long as it meshed well with the minced chicken (8/10).



I had the beef tongue next and it was fairly tender and juicy. For a moment, I thought I was having pork belly (6.5/10).



This was probably not what my doctor would have ordered for me - super high cholesterol but it was one of my all-time favorites. Unfortunately it was slightly off the mark and I thought it could use a little improvement (4/10).



I was really looking forward to their minced chicken meat sausage, one of the house specialties  here and it certainly lived up to expectation. The minced chicken sausage has great texture but even better was the "House Special" sauce made with secret recipe (7.5/10).



But the star of the night had to be their oyster bacon roll, another house specialty. Although a little oily, it was every bit as good as advertised.

The oysters were roasted to perfect golden colors and enriched by the crispy bacon wrapping around them. Absolutely mouthwatering. It just couldn't get any better than this (10/10)!








Food Rating: 7/10

Price: $$

Address: 1/F, Regal Kowloon Hotel, 71 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2723-8660




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