Hana Sakazuki Japanese Restaurant 花盃日本料理 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

The pandemic has really taken its toll on friendships. It's been more than a year since my buddy V and I got together for a meal. A fortnight ago, I finally got a ping from him and we talked about having dinner together before Chinese New Year. I got curious and went back to my archive to check when we last met up and it turned out, it was September 2021 for his birthday. That's 16 months in between!

I always love dining with V cuz he would come up with these places that I've never been to before. And that was the case again tonight – Hana Sakazuki Japanese Restaurant (花盃日本料理).

I arrived at our dinner venue slightly ahead of schedule and thought I was smart to set myself up at the sushi counter. But as I later found out V, got everything all sorted out already. 

The restaurant manager escorted me slowly towards the end of the hallway until we finally reached our private room. Speaking of privacy, I think only the cleaning lady would hear us behind those doors. 😊

This is not a recording but V got everything sorted out for us already. First up, a small green salad with cherry tomato to kick off an epic dinner.

Sashimi platter was next. I haven't had such good quality of chu-toro and clams for years.

Hokkaido scallops with a bit of dashi. Very nice.

Prawns from the teppanyaki sprinkled with the roes on top. So good (and addictive)!

Thin slices of beef from Miyazaki finished from the grill. Just perfect texture.

Super tender.

The two of us managed to finish two bottles of sake with V leading the charge of course. It was an incredible night of great food, fun and laughter. As it was getting a little late, I signaled V to split the bill but like everything before this, V said he already got everything all sorted out, the bill included. 

Many thanks to my buddy for taking care of everything tonight. Looking back, I really missed our heart-to-heart talks over the last 16 months. Hopefully, we don't have to wait another 16 months for the next gathering.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: 2/F, China Tai Ping Tower, Phase II, 8 Sunning Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay

Tel: +852 2577-9799

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 11:00pm daily

La Patisserie Bazi 百子 洋菓子 & 燒菓子專賣店 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

After work, I continued with my exploration journey in Wanchai checking out some new faces in the area. This one was not a random find but one handpicked from my online research last week when photos of their gorgeous pastries caught my eyes. The pastry shop is called La Patisserie Bazi (百子 洋菓子&燒菓子專賣店), located right across the street from the famous Southorn Playground (修頓球場).

They offer a small selection of pastries, but all beautifully crafted.

Vanilla chestnut mousse cake (香草栗子慕士蛋糕) – I am a big fan of anything that came with chestnut in it (just like mom). So not surprisingly, I've had my fair amount of Mont Blanc cakes in the last few months when chestnut was in-season. but this one I haven't seen much in the local market .....chestnut mousse cake. 

The silky smooth chestnut mousse was really delicate with small chunks of chestnuts in the middle providing some extra bite. And those were sandwiched by a layer of vanilla mousse bringing together a mix of nice, contrasting flavors and textures. Pretty nicely done.

I haven't seen a small neighborhood pastry shop with this kind of caliber since I discovered La Patisserie des Idees in Lai Chi Kok many years ago. I am pretty sure I'll be back for more very very soon.

Food Rating: 6.3/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop A1 & A2, 87 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai

Tel: +852 6320-2060

Website: www.bazi-hk.com

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm daily

Trattoria Kagawa by Mihara (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Two weeks since we came back from Osaka, I finally got the chance to try something new.

Trattoria Kagawa by Mihara is a newcomer at the everchanging dining scene of Ship Street in Wanchai. The counter table certainly looks like the perfect place to be, as it provides a front row seat to Japanese chef Terufumi Mihara's open kitchen. The chef's trattoria concept is a simple yet sophisticated one. At his new trattoria, he aims to bring the art of teppanyaki, fresh produce of his hometown Kagawa and Italian traditional flavors all together in harmony.

Set lunch starts at $158 which isn't a bad price at all for a competitive market like Wanchai.

I was first started off with a small piece of bread that looks like a focaccia.

I chose a small salad over soup cuz we had just enough soup on our Osaka trip already.

Last but not least, a chawanmushi (or Japanese steamed egg custard) with a bit of black truffles on top to spice things up.



We had a choice of pasta or risotto before our main event and this was a pretty easy choice for me – pasta with shrimps tossed with shrimp bisque. I wish there were more sauce in there but the pasta was pretty solid with close to perfectly al dente texture.

I have the olive chicken for my main dish. To be honest, I only started to hear about olive beef on my recent trip to Osaka (the cattle was raised eating olive growing up) so I will assume this is more or less the same deal except it's chicken this time around. 

Not sure if this is supposed to be a "La Peperonata" with stewed peppers and vegetables. But this I know, the chicken was really tender and flavorful thanks to the tomato-based sauce.

After the parade of dishes, I still got room for dessert and was happy to drop a few extra bucks for a slice of tiramisu. This was a little more firm than I would like but nevertheless a lovely sweet end to the meal (I also haven't had a tiramisu for months). 

Lunch here was obviously meant to be simple but I have heard a lot of great things about their dinner menu with lobster, Japanese abalone and wagyu beef Rossini making the headlines. Perhaps I should pick a time to come back for dinner some time.

Food Rating: 5.7/10

Price: $$$

Address: 18 Ship Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai

Tel: +852 5394-3690

Website: www.facebook.com/trattoria.kagawa

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 11:45pm daily