Having just returned from Japan and craving curry, I knew it was about time that I try SAMA. After…read morea rigorous yoga session, we climbed up the steep steps to SAMA and to our delight, there were many tables available. Immediately after being seated, I took a look around the the interior, and spotted a Hitachino Nest Owl T-shirt! I asked and it costs HK$120. Quite pricey, hmm... But back to the food! You have option to choose your spice level, your curry soup base, and your meat / vegetable accompaniment. I ordered the level 5 coconut marathon chicken curry while my friend ordered a level 10 tomato-based hungry bear (with hamburger patty) curry. Both were SAMA-licious! I didn't need to order any extra veggies because the pepper, okra, eggplant, broccoli, carrot and half egg were pretty sufficient for me (a girl). If you're looking for quality curry, go to SAMA!

As a lover of all things Japanese and especially all things curry, I was super stoked to come check…read moreout SAMA, a legendary spot from Sapporo which made its way to HK only a few years ago. Located on the corner roundabout on Gough, this Sheung Wan hot spot (#1) has attracted quite a following to an otherwise quiet area of the neighborhood. Like most places in the city, SAMA is tiny. There are only a handful of tables to accommodate groups (which likely seat 20 at most), so I wouldn't be surprised if there were waits during good weather nights. The decor has a modern edge to it, along with the consistent corporate urbanized graphics one would expect from a Japanese chain. The staff speak English decently, but Canto is the way to go here. How the curry portion of the menu works: 1) Choose A Spice Level: Baby Bear (0-5), Adult Bear (6-15), Crazy Bear (16-30). 2) Choose A Soup Base: Tomato, Coconut, Prawn (Seafood flavor) 3) Choose A Curry Entreé: Chicken, Pork, Seafood, Vegetarian Options ranging $78-128 One can also choose additional toppings from extra meats (+$30), veggies (+$10), tempura (+$30), and eggs (+$10). The menu is available in English, Chinese, and Japanese. There is a nice selection of Asian craft beers as well as nice variety of sides. My group and I enjoyed a variety of curry dishes, with the most notable being the Oink Oink ($96) spice level 10 and Ocean Trophy ($108) spice level 15. There was one with the Vegetarian Bear ($78) but with a solid spice level of 20. The flavors are extremely potent and the spice is definitely no joke. I thought SE Asian curries gave me trouble, but the veggie curry had me feeling the sweat beads. I like the punishment. Our array of sides were also tasty. I enjoyed the Tempura add on, as well as the Curry Fries ($28), Shishitou Brussel Sprouts ($58), Hokkaido Spinach ($72), and Garlic Prawns ($72). I wasn't super crazy about the Spiced Chicken Karaage ($68), Hokkaido Corn Croquettes ($18), or their Nagoya Style Curry Wings ($28). A slight eyeroll to the gimmicky t-shirt and recipe books on display but I'm sure there are some serious fanboys / girls out there. Parking is limited but doable in this part of HK. They accept all credit cards and are open till just before midnight. ______________ (#1) Literally. No pun intended.

Popular Japanese lunch spot on Times Square. Highly recommend reservations as it can get pretty…read morecrowded. Their lunch sets are popular and come with rice, seaweed, rlgrated radish, miso soup and chawanmushi. You can also substitute the white rice for any special order rice for a nominal fee Ordered the beef sukiyaki and black cod. The cod was super tasty, but the beef was a bit tough. Overall, not a bad no frills place to get Japanese food as their menu is quite extensive.

In an office building in Hong Kong, Central…read more Portions are microscopic. Fairly expensive. Had a bowl of exceptional kimchi, green spinach with Black mushrooms and fresh Bonito flakes and a chirashi sashimi (sashimi don). Fish was fresh with one large prawn which tasted slightly borderline. The huge fish eggs (roe) was fabulous. Miso+rice were quality. Kind and polite service, spotless place and nice washrooms. This place serves some brilliant cooked dishes in karaage too.

Our elaborate meal had dim sum - of course! Fried rice for the child and mapo tofu. And some…read morewontons in sweet spicy chilli sauce. The dim sum was superb. Thin and translucent to the point of being almost entirely transparent. The fried rice was simple but tasted great. The mapo tofu didn't have that Sichuan spicy zing to it. We, nevertheless, polished it all off. With jasmine tea on the side. Certainly a place to visit with groups, but they have little low seated tables too, if you want a date meal. Fairly quick service and I know I mentioned the language, but our server spoke English. I know I'll be visiting here again. More photos and detail on the blog - vegetarianvoyager[dot]com. Link also in profile.

I can't help but make a face when my family invited me to vegetarian dim sum during my vacation in…read moreHong Kong, but it was surprising good. Restaurant is located on the 3rd floor of Coda Plaza, it is a good 10 minutes walk from the nearest MTR station, so plan ahead. Seems like advance reservation is recommended for the weekend, as I see lots of people coming during the peak lunch hours. While I do not know what ingredients they put into their dim sum, they were delicious and not filled with mock meat. However, it is a little bit on the pricey side. Cost for Dim Sum was roughly $200/people. This visit to Pure Veggie House definitely changed what I thought about Chinese Vegetarian restaurants. I would definitely recommend this to friends.

We come here for lunch regularly, probably once a week. It's such a great find in this part of…read moretown. The restaurant is tiny, located in the corner of the Regal Hotel (1/F), totally unexpected but will surprise you at how good it is. The food is consistently good and the restaurant is always packed. Their lunch specials are decently priced for this part of town where Japanese food usually costs around $200 HKD for ok places and over $300-500+ HKD for fancier and more elaborate places. There are only a few choices (~5 and a daily special) preset lunch choices that come with pickled veggies, main, side (usually soup or udon), tea and coffee at the end of your meal. My favorite is either the grilled fish or BBQ chicken skewers w/rice (particularly for the chicken meatball/sausage skewer). Always ask what the special of the day is and if you are lucky, it will be negi toro donburi day. You can also order a la carte (they do all sorts of skewers), but I recommend you stick to the lunch specials. At the end of your meal, you can choose iced or hot coffee, and make sure you try the creamy milk they serve with it - it really makes the coffee so decadent. I love all of the staff here, they are just so nice! The service here is always amazing; they are so kind, accommodating and funny. The food comes out fast and you are always attended to. They also make it easy when you pay in groups, somehow they remember what everyone ordered and can give each person their individual totals. But try not to come in a big group, the restaurant is pretty tiny. I would say four is the max. I only wish there was more ventilation because depending on where you sit, the grilling may make you smell a little BBQ-y when you leave. Highly recommended and my friends and I agree that someday when we don't live in HK, we will miss this place. The food and service are both soooo good.

The location of Nishiki may not be the best. It's on the first floor of the really old Regal Hotel…read morein T.S.T East. It doesn't look very inviting. Setting is very simple, the whole restaurant could use some renovation. Service is efficient, friendly and the staff very knowledgeable. Here it's all about great food! They concentrate on cooked, grilled and deep fried dishes, you will find a lot of different vegetables, fish and meat skewers. The food is excellent, all done nicely, very fresh. I especially liked the chicken roll with egg, deep fried potatoes with tomato salad, grilled corn, grilled sardines, cod and their deep fried chicken. They have a decent selection of different sake and you can bring your own bottle if you like. Great value for money!

If you have one meal in HK (and you're a sushi lover), it has to be to Tenzen! I was blown away by…read morethe two meals I had here. In my short trip I had limited meals but I had not eat here as many times as possible because it was just that good. Hands down the best Japanese food I've had, even better than all the meals I had in Japan. I'm definitely a sushi addict and was not expecting much, but Tenzen was literally to die for. The sashimi here is soooo fresh and the preparation is perfect. I think the fish and ingredients really shine and I never dunked anything into soy sauce because it really didn't need it. The star of the meal was the ikura and the toro. I've never had ikura that has the same pop or flavor as the ones here and the toro literally melts in your mouth. The sushi rice was fragrant and perfectly seasoned and the whole experience left me dreaming and drooling about sushi. They have a few robata items and other cooked items which were also delicious. I liked coming here was lunch more since they have sets than dinner where it's hard to gauge how much to order (if you're not doing omakase) but both occasions were great. The service is really friendly and the lunch sets are a decent deal for what you get. The restaurant itself is really small so I'd recommend coming early or late if you want to be sure to get seated. Sort of hard to find and pretty much impossible to stumble upon.

Omakase, yes way! An…read moreamazing meal consisting of over 20+ pieces plus dessert and fresh fruit from Japan. The chef is so entertaining and fun, he had us laughing all night and we were there for 4 hours. He's also accommodating and will ask up front if there's anything you don't eat (like uni, for me) and he will observe what you do you like. I tried things I never thought I'd try thanks to him! Freshest fish in town. Loved it and I will definitely return!

You ever get that feeling when you walk past a place and you're like "Whoa! I can't afford this!"…read more Kikusan is like that. First of all, it's in one of the most expensive malls in one of the most expensive districts in one of the most expensive places in the world (Landmark, Central, Hong Kong). Secondly, it's an amalgamation of some of the more pricey cuisines: Japanese and Tapas, or trendily known as Japas. Thirdly, it looks like a contemporary art museum. But, never would I have imagined that here, I can not only have an affordable meal, but get one of the best valued dishes I've ever had! The signature Kikusan roll: 8 pieces of tuna filled sushi roll, topped with a whole slab of uni, green onions, and lots of salmon roe. All of my favourite things in a generous quantity for HKD $68. According to today's exchange rate, that's CAD $10.94. You usually get 8 pieces of California roll at that price (Kikusan's California Roll is actually $88). The same amount of uni at a supermarket easily costs 2-3x as much. The roll itself is mild, but still flavourful. There aren't any crazy flavour bursts, but it all works together well. The uni didn't have as much uni flavour as I would've liked but hey...$68. Really. The green onions added sharpness to cut through the smooth tuna and the little exploding roe provided bursts of sweetness. The Kikusan Roll was all about balance. By contrast, the Chili Sesame & Peanut Soup Ramen with Minced Pork and Layered Pork Cutlet was very in-your-face flavour-wise, and delicious in a whole other way! The pork cutlet had a hint of sake and the spice was at a perfect level of heat. My theory is that the Kikusan Roll is one of those loss leader things because it definitely drew me to this restaurant. The strategy seems to be working well. At 12:10pm, the queue was making an S in front of the entrance. Everyone was ordering things that range from sushi to dim sum in this Asian fusion restaurant, with dishes on average ranging from $60 to well above $100. It's much easier to get in as a group of 2, so my advice would be to split up your big group if you don't mind sitting apart. They've also got a dim sum takeout counter for those not willing to battle the line. Would you come to Kikusan for the best Japanese food? No, not even close. But it's where you go when you want to impress your out-of-town, non-Japanese friends. It's where you go when you want to feel a little fancier without spending the kind of dollars you usually spend at Landmark. And most importantly, this is where you go if you want LOTS of uni for $68. (69/100) - 2017

This has become one of my new favourite spots in Hong Kong for dining…read more The space is beautiful and well-designed. I ordered the pork and vegetable dumplings. They were some of the best dumplings I'd ever had in my life - so good that I'm considering going back again just for those, and I'm thinking about them even the day after!! My friends ordered the eel on rice, veggie dumplings, assorted tempura, and salmon sashimi. The tempura, especially the kakiage, was great. The sashimi was very fresh & they give you nice thick pieces. I also had the Japanese mojito which was very refreshing. I took off 1 star because one of the servers got a little defensive when I told her she mixed up my order.

Went here for breakfast while we're waiting for our ferry. Great clean and bright place on the top…read morefloor. Staff are nice & friendly. Menu is easy to read since they have both in Chinese and English. Fast tuned around and the foods are good and yummy. All the condiments are in the draw underneath the table. Once done, you pay at the door before exit. Very nice and convenient.

Tai Hing is having a promotion on take out cha siu starting on March 28. Every person can get a…read morebox for $35. There is a small lineup when we got there, but the line moves quickly. The quality is very good consider of the pricing. The sauce fill up every piece of cha siu. I recommend to go give a try and take advantage of the promotion

The 2nd location of Kyo Hayashiya in Hong Kong…read more 京林屋 is originally from Kyoto and been in business since 1753. This location is not as busy as the Causeway Bay location at Hysan Place. When we visited, the restaurant was half full and we were seated promptly. Their dessert tea sets which I always order is good value for under HKD$100 and includes a drink. And of course I always go with their Matcha and Hōjicha ice cream parfait. Great option if you are in the neighbourhood and want to have a snack or meet up with your friends!