KOKO by Kee Club (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Something rare just happened this afternoon. I arrived at my dinner gathering an hour and a half early (It's gotta be a record!) but thankfully, I was in Central so I knew I got enough nice places to spend my spare time.

It was around 5:30pm and most places would probably be preparing for dinner service right at this hour except for KOKO, the contemporary Japanese Izakaya brought to us by the folks at Kee Club.



Former Japanese football icon Hidetoshi Nakata (中田英壽) is supposed to be a partner of this restaurant but I have never run into him during the few times that I've been here.



What everybody likes about KOKO is its unique chill-out vibe. I can probably grab a drink and easily spend a few hours with my friends over here.



Koko-licious ($75) - I'm starting things off with one of their mocktails with fresh grapefruit juice, lemon, honey and soda.



I really didn't want to get myself too full at this point coz after all, I will be having dinner in a little more than an hour. So just some snacks to ease my food craving.

Deep-fried chicken wings and lime ($88) - This was a dish that came highly recommended by my server. The "single bone" wings were marinated with miso (味噌) and deep fried with a light batter. Who could resist deep fried chicken wings that came hot out of the kitchen? These were pretty decent but I thought a little over the top with the seasoning.



Tsukune ($98) - I thought these minced chicken would come on skewers but they managed to surprise me with a bit of contemporary twist on this one. The minced chicken balls were actually served on spoons with soft egg, nori and special soy sauce on the side.



Interestingly, they have placed a small piece of crispy chicken skin on top of each chicken ball to give it a little more bite.



Soy sauce with soft poached egg, the usual partner for tsukune (Japanese chicken meat balls).



Foie gras and figs tempura ($168) - Easily the best dish out of the three. The Japanese figs and sliced foie gras were deep-fried to perfection with a super thin batter.



I love the fact that they have wrapped the foie gras around with shiso leaf to give it something extra in both flavor and texture. That was slickly done.



Now that I'm half full, it's time to settle the bill and head over to my gathering.

Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 5/F, 77 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central
Tel: +852 2109-1777
Website: www.kokohk.com