Hello, Udatsu Sushi at FWD House 1881 in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

by   •   Food
 

My trip to Hong Kong was split into two “segments.” For the first portion, I went to restaurants and did tourist activities together with friends. We didn’t literally travel together—we took separate flights and stayed in different hotels—but after we all arrived in Hong Kong, we spent a lot of our time together. For the second portion, my friends left for mainland China while I stayed behind to continue exploring Hong Kong before flying directly back to the United States.

Several years ago, I selected Marriott as my hotel brand of choice due to the large number of brands under their portfolio, the reliability of finding a Marriott-family hotel pretty much anywhere and even out in the middle of nowhere, and the fact that the highest tier of their elite status seemed better than other hotel chains. However, my friends are not quite as loyal to a singular brand as I am, so they select hotels on a case-by-case basis. For their stay in Hong Kong, they selected the Langham.

Shortly before leaving, one of my friends told me that she saw signs around her hotel about a Michelin-starred restaurant nearby and asked me to try it out and review it. I personally don’t care much about the Michelin Guide, and if anything, I often avoid Michelin-starred restaurants because earning the star often prompts restaurants to attract more customers and raise their pricing up accordingly. That’s great, but sometimes, restaurants cannot scale up their service offering proportionally, so I’ve noticed that Michelin-starred restaurants are too often a hit or miss.

With that being said, because my friend specifically requested that I try out the restaurant near her hotel, I decided to use the search feature on Michelin’s website for the first time ever. Unfortunately, that did not go well, because their default sorting options are not very conducive to actually finding the restaurants that have stars on the first try. If you fiddle around with the filters, you can eventually figure it out, but if you don’t have a prior knowledge of the different kinds of distinctions, then it can get tricky.

After struggling with the website for a bit, I managed to finally get it to zoom in near where her hotel was. However, I did not know this at the time, but there was a limit on the number of results, and that filter did not prioritize showing the top-awarded restaurants first. In fact, I have no idea how it selects which restaurants to show, but it does not show all the pins when you first go to an area, and you have to scroll through the results or narrow it down yourself to curate your own results.

So as to not drag on the story for too long, I will spoil it: The restaurant she wanted me to try was a Michelin 3-star Cantonese restaurant called T’ang Court. It wasn’t just near her hotel; it was in her hotel. Comically, this restaurant was not in the first page of results when searching for restaurants near the Langham.

Instead, the only pin that showed up near the Langham was Udatsu Sushi. Because there were literally no other results within a few blocks of the Langham on the first page of results (even though I had zoomed in pretty tight around the Langham), I assumed that Udatsu was the restaurant she was referring to. The best part is that Udatsu doesn’t even have a Michelin star; it was simply Michelin-selected. I didn’t know that at the time though. I booked a reservation and tried their omakase dining experience.

So now with that long story explaining how I ended up at Udatsu wrapped up, here is what my dinner was like.

There were two omakase seatings available, which is normal for omakase restaurants—they often do one early in the evening when they open (usually around 5 PM), and then another one later on at night (usually around 8 PM). However, the unusual thing about Udatsu was that their two seats were at… 7:00 PM and 7:30 PM.

This is the first time I have ever seen a staggered seating system like this at an omakase or chef’s tasting menu restaurant before. Staggering people’s meals like this seems like it would cause undue hassle on the chef and kitchen staff due to not being able to complete each course in its entirety before moving onto the next. Half the customers are always going to be behind, which means that they can never fully “wrap up” a course one-by-one before moving onto the next.

The only thing I can think of is that this system might relieve entry pressure, i.e., the wait staff getting everyone seated and getting drink orders in all at the same time. With that being said, making the entire remainder of the dinner service more difficult just in exchange for releasing a bit of stress right at the beginning seems inefficient to me.

The omakase was prepared by Head Chef Hiroki Nakamura. He leads operations in the Hong Kong location, while Chef Hisashi Udatsu is primarily stationed in Tokyo, Japan. The restaurant’s website says that Chef Udatsu visits Hong Kong often, but it seems like he was not in town during my visit, as I did not see him at the restaurant.

Not long after being seated, I received a piece of seasonal herb roll as the opener.

Next was an abalone and bamboo shoot spring roll. This one has an interesting story to go along with it…

I am usually a very diligent chewer. I think chewing your food thoroughly and for a long time is an important part in extracting as much flavor as possible from the dish. Sometimes, certain dishes have interesting phenomena where the dominant taste in the flavor profile slowly changes as you chew for longer.

A side effect of chewing a lot is that big chunks of food don’t often get past you. However, a piece of abalone in this spring roll somehow managed to dodge my teeth without me knowing. When I went to swallow, the abalone got stuck in my throat where only half of it went down. For the medical or culinary enthusiasts out there who are more familiar with the biological mechanics of consuming food, the exact thing that happened was that my upper esophageal sphincter closed on the piece of abalone.

I tried getting it down by drinking some water, but that did not help. I kept trying to gulp it down, but it was very securely stuck in my throat. For a good minute or so, I kept on struggling with it, and it wasn’t going anywhere. By this point, the waitresses noticed that something might be going on.

The abalone had been stuck for so long at this point that I think my body was starting to send more urgent signals telling me to do something about it faster. I started having a small coughing fit, but that still didn’t help.

The waitresses were getting more worried now, but there was a communication barrier. They asked me if I was okay in English, to which I of course gave the most literal possible answer of “not really, there is abalone stuck in my throat.” Then they started asking me something in Cantonese, but I don’t understand Cantonese; in a desperate attempt to get through to me, they started speaking to me in Japanese, but I don’t understand Japanese either.

I realized that I wasn’t going to solve this elegantly, so I just decided to take drastic action. I grabbed my handkerchief, prepared my stomach, and then made as dramatic of a gagging motion as possible. That, of course, also made me make a gagging sound, but it worked. My esophageal sphincter released and pushed the abalone back into my mouth. I calmly finished chewing it, swallowed it again, and was fine. I quietly sat waiting for my next dish.

The waitresses seemed incredibly confused that I literally just looked like I was about to die, and then I was suddenly sitting there as if nothing had happened.

Anyway, this was a good spring roll. It was very lightly fried, and the abalone had a good flavor that was enhanced very well by the salt and wasabi.

Next was smoked fatty tuna. This came out in a little glass container with the smoke trapped in, and the lid was opened at my seat.

For some reason, I thought this was smoked wagyu, even though it clearly said it was smoked fatty tuna on my course list. That made for an interesting surprise when biting into it because I was expecting a beef flavor and got tuna instead, but otherwise, this was delicious.

While we were eating the previous two dishes, Chef Nakamura was busy preparing the slices of fish for our nigiri.

Before nigiri service started, we received a vegetable hand roll.

The first small set of nigiri consisted of baby snapper…

… gurnard…

… and golden eye snapper.

We took a quick break from nigiri to have uni (sea urchin) gunkan.

Next up was a specialty dish: Itoshima’s shungiku and tiger prawn mochi cake.

Afterwards, nigiri service continued with lean tuna…

… medium-fatty tuna…

… and seared fatty tuna.

To break up the nigiri again, we received Japanese trout and sakura leaf soup. The fish was incredibly tender and basically fell apart in my mouth just by gently rustling around my tongue a little bit.

Our second-to-last piece of nigiri was what the course list called “double shrimp” nigiri. The outside was kuruma ebi (Japanese tiger prawn), but there was also a small piece of amaebi (sweet shrimp) tucked inside between the top layer and the rice.

I have obviously had a lot of kuruma ebi and amaebi before, but only separately; this is the first time that I ate it together. I wouldn’t say that it was a completely new flavor profile or anything, but the best way for me to describe it was that it was “high impact” shrimp, i.e., it was very shrimp.

Following the “double shrimp” methodology, next was “double sea urchin” with seaweed tempura. I guess this is technically still considered nigiri, as all of it was served atop a pillow of rice.

This was my favorite item of the dinner.

Sea urchin my favorite food, so it was amazing getting this big of a portion of high-quality sea urchin at once. It had a high amount of natural sweetness to it, and I was actually able to tell apart the taste difference between the two different kinds of sea urchin.

The seaweed tempura also added a nice depth of flavor and texture to the piece. It was fried to the perfect level such that it was firm on the outside, but the original seaweed was thick enough in layers that it had a satisfying bite to it and it didn’t just crumble apart.

The final main dish of the omakase was tuna futomaki. The chef basically made a roll filled with a ton of different kinds of tuna all at once.

The roll was then cut in half, and each half was intended to serve one couple. Because I was dining alone, the chef asked me whether I wanted the larger piece or the smaller piece; I of course picked the larger portion.

At this point, I realized that the “special thing” that this sushi restaurant does is mix together very high-end cuts of certain fish in slightly different varieties as combination dishes—they did it with tuna too after having done it with shrimp and sea urchin. Futomaki in general is already supposed to be a thick roll, but it is usually primarily centered around one kind of fish or meat with the other components being vegetables and toppings.

I think most other Japanese restaurants want to preserve minimalism and purity in their dish preparation, so I don’t recall something like this ever having been done at other high-end sushi restaurants. With that being said, I like restaurants that innovate and create unique culinary experiences, so I’m glad I had an opportunity to try out these “double” and combo dishes.

There was such a wide variety of tuna in this that it was a bit more difficult to pinpoint each different type like it was possible with the double shrimp and double sea urchin nigiri. I don’t think there is a better way to describe this apart from saying it is very tuna.

At the time of eating this, I didn’t know what the greens were, but I expected them to be a little bit bitter, presumably because it looked like grass. However, after I bit into them, they had a very clean and mild flavor that I really liked. Later, I did some research and discovered that it is likely menegi, or young green onion shoots, which is common to use to garnish highly fatty fish.

After those three wilder dishes, we toned it down with some simple and straightforward miso soup.

Remember how I said that each futomaki is cut in half, and each couple receives one half to split between themselves? Because I was dining alone, I didn’t have anyone to share the futomaki with. When I was asked whether I wanted the bigger or smaller portion, I assumed that the other piece would be served to a staff member in the kitchen or something.

However, while I was sipping on my miso soup, the chef asked if I wanted the other portion of my half of the futomaki as well. Of course, I said yes, so I ended up with a second piece of the tuna futomaki.

The second to last item, which served as a transition from the main entrées to the dessert, was tamagoyaki.

And finally, to conclude the meal, I was served a plate with three small desserts.

I liked the funny anthropomorphism art that was around the dining area. Somehow, this blended in with the walls enough that I didn’t notice it at first, but once I did see it, it was one of those things that you just cannot unsee. It was very uncharacteristic of and very amusing to see in a high-end dining establishment, and I found it very enjoyable.

Here are some photographs taken outside. Udatsu Sushi is part of FWD House 1881, a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.

OmakaseHK$ 2,380.00
Service charge (10%)HK$   238.00
Unknown chargeHK$    86.00
TotalHK$ 2,704.00
Converted to USDUS$   345.32
The table to the right shows how much I paid.

I did not receive an itemized receipt for my meal, and instead, was just given a total amount to pay. Because of that, I didn’t realize that I had been overcharged an extra HK$86 until I had already left and did some calculations after-the-fact. I didn’t order any supplements, so my guess is that the extra fee was for the cost of glass-bottled water, as I noticed that many high-end restaurants in Hong Kong don’t serve regular water and their still water is bottled water only.

The meal was great overall, and I especially liked the unique combination items. However, I think the value for money wasn’t quite there. Even with being able to eat both halves of the abalone spring roll and both halves of the tuna futomaki due to dining alone, it still didn’t feel like a satisfyingly filling meal. Some omakase restaurants will ask if you want some extra scoops of sushi rice at the end in case you are still hungry and want to fill yourself up a bit more before leaving, but I was not offered that at Udatsu.

Interestingly, there is an Udatsu Sushi in Los Angeles too, and it is quite a bit cheaper than the Hong Kong equivalent—US$225.00 base for the omakase, a 20% service charge of US$45.00 in lieu of gratuity, and 9.75% combined California state and Los Angeles county sales tax of US$21.94, for a total of US$291.94. Los Angeles isn’t exactly known for being cheap, and the cost of living in Hong Kong isn’t exactly considered to be low, but still, I found this difference to be surprising.

If money is not an issue for you, then I think Udatsu Sushi Hong Kong will make for a peaceful, soothing, traditional Edomae-style omakase dining experience that still adds in a couple fun twists with the menu. However, if you are budget-conscious, then I think you’ll be able to find some luck getting a comparable experience at some other omakase restaurants too for a lower price.

 

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Hello, Hong Kong Flower Show 2026 at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay

by   •   Tourism
 

I have some friends who like to hotel hop when going on vacation. This means that they check into a hotel, enjoy the amenities, spend the night there, pack up and check out in the morning, bring all their stuff along with them while on tourist activities, then show up at their next hotel and check in after their day is over. There are obviously some refinements you can make to this, such as only swapping hotels every few days, or only bringing luggage if you have a rental car and otherwise leaving it with the bell desk so you don’t have to carry it all around everywhere. Regardless, this is a way to optimize for having more experiences in a new city, including their lodging.

Although full-blown hotel hopping is a bit too intense for me, I did a very mild variant of it during my trip to Hong Kong. Upon first arriving, I stayed at the JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong connected to the Pacific Place mall in Admiralty. Part-way through my stay, I transferred hotels to The Park Lane Hong Kong, Autograph Collection in Causeway Bay. I picked these two hotels not only because they were under the Marriott brand so I could get the most out of my loyalty perks, but also because they were in very different neighborhoods with very different hotel themes and vibes.

On the day that I transferred to The Park Lane, the area in front of my new hotel was extraordinarily congested. It was packed enough that I barely even had room to pull my carry-on luggage with me without constantly bumping it into other people around me. At that time, I couldn’t really tell whether this neighborhood was just substantially busier than I had originally realized, or if there was a special event going on.

After doing some research online, I found out that the Hong Kong Flower Show was taking place at Victoria Park across the street from my hotel. I actually had the great fortune of having an east-facing view from my high-floor hotel room, so I was able to clearly see the entire Flower Show from my window. Because this is a seasonal event and it looked like an interesting place to sightsee, I went downstairs, crossed the street, and checked it out in-person.

I think this might have potentially been the most densely-packed tourist activity I’ve ever done. I was almost shoulder-to-shoulder with other people for some portions of it. To make things worse, everyone was busy taking selfies, so the crowd was stagnant and not really moving. I didn’t want to contribute to the problem, so you’ll notice that a majority of the pictures I took have lots of other people in them; I didn’t want to “wait my turn” for others to clear out of the area like other people were doing. I partially regret compounding this issue by also going in the middle of the day on a weekend, but I guess this was part of the Hong Kong experience.

The event itself (at least what I could see of it) was pretty nice. There was a lot to see, and some of the flower arrangements were actually quite impressive. Here is a somewhat random assortment of photographs that I took throughout my visit:

 

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Hello, One Harbour Road at Grand Hyatt in Wan Chai, Hong Kong

by   •   Food
 

While on my trip to Hong Kong, I wanted to try as many authentic Cantonese or Cantonese-fusion restaurants as possible. After doing some research, I found a restaurant called One Harbour Road at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong that was highly-rated and frequently recommended online. They seemed to have a decent number of reservation slots open, so I was able to get a short-notice booking for a dinner on one of the days when I didn’t already have plans.

As my reservation was approaching, I got on the MTR and rode a train over to Wan Chai. From there, it was a quick half-kilometer walk up north towards Victoria Harbour before reaching the correct building. Afterwards, it took a bit of searching, as there are multiple entrances and multiple different establishments in the same structure, but after asking a few staff members for some instructions, I was able to find my way to the Hyatt.

Upon arrival, I was promptly greeted and seated at a small table in a very private and peaceful area of the restaurant. I was given two menus—one for food and one for drinks. I was also provided with a small bowl of candied walnuts to snack on while I was making my decisions on what I wanted to eat that day.

I am a fan of tasting menus because I like the idea of someone who knows food better than I do (i.e., the chef) building a multi-course meal for me. Thus, I specifically wanted to try either the seasonal set menu or the signature menu.

The seasonal set menu was appealing to me because I like trying limited-edition dishes, while the signature menu was appealing because it was named after the restaurant and namesake items are usually the restaurant’s best offerings. I ultimately went for the One Harbour Road signature menu.

A little bit earlier, I mentioned how I was in a very private area of the restaurant. There was a structural pillar near me, and the only other table in this area was a large family-style dining table with a glass revolving server in the center. I was very pleased to be in this corner because I wouldn’t have to interface with other diners, and I also knew that my intense photographing of all my food wouldn’t be disruptive to others.

With that being said, later on, I realized that there might be a different reason I was seated in the corner. This restaurant had a “smart casual” dress code, but it seemed like everyone else in the restaurant had voluntarily dressed up much more than smart casual. I traveled to Hong Kong with only plain black t-shirts, so I didn’t have a collared shirt to wear.

Smart casual can be flexible, especially in a place where tourism is high, so I figured I would just give it a shot and wear my regular black t-shirt without going shopping for more clothing. On top of that, my appearance definitely looked more intentional. There were no graphics on my t-shirt, I had dark black pants that looked like a mix between jeans and dress pants, I was wearing black leather boots, and everything was form-fitting. My outfit looked specifically as if I was purposely going for a smart extra-casual all-black look.

With that being said, in comparison to other diners, I definitely looked underdressed. I had a very funny after-the-fact realization that maybe the hostess seated me in this far back corner in order to quarantine me away from the well-dressed patrons and try to stop my t-shirt from being an eyesore in their dining experience.

That is completely reasonable, and I am glad that they seated me anyway and didn’t even make me rent a dress jacket from them in order to meet the dress code. If this really was why I was put in the corner, I also appreciate their social awareness and their efforts in preserving the higher-class dining experience of other customers. As I mentioned before, it fortunately ended up being a win-win situation for the both of us.

My point is, if you also plan on dining at One Harbour Road, I definitely recommend dressing up a little bit and not wearing a t-shirt like I did…

My seat had an amazing view of Victoria Harbour, the Tsim Sha Tsui skyline, and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

In addition to the One Harbour Road signature menu, I also added on a non-alcoholic beverage pairing.

My first drink, which accompanied the appetizers, was Lyre’s Classico Grande, Glera from New South Wales, Australia.

While the deluxe appetizers were coming out, I was served a small bite as the amuse-bouche. I don’t remember what this was, but it had a moist, spongy texture to it.

The first appetizer was preserved egg with young ginger.

Next was crispy suckling pig topped with foie gras mousse and caviar (pictured on the left) and crispy Spanish quail leg with spicy pepper salt (pictured on the right).

By this point, I wasn’t impressed. I think it was because of the extra crispy and fried nature of the items, but this didn’t really taste gourmet. I liked the flavor of the suckling pig, but the quail leg basically felt like I was eating a slightly more premium fried chicken cooked extra-crispy.

Next up on the non-alcoholic beverage pairing was LYSEGRØN Sparkling Tea, with notes of sencha, green tea, and citrus, from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Next up was the lobster course. This had two components to it: deep-fried Boston lobster claw with shrimp mousse and spicy pepper salt (pictured on the left) and braised Boston lobster with minced pork, egg, and spicy-sour sauce (pictured on the right).

This was strange. Again, because the lobster claw was fried, it didn’t really taste gourmet. The braised lobster was covered in so much sauce that I could barely tell that the lobster was there at all, and it was almost like I was just eating spaghetti’s cousin.

This is a bit sad to say, but my favorite component of this dish was the broccoli, due to it being the only part that wasn’t fried or overseasoned.

After the lobster, I had double-boiled chicken and pork shank soup with matsutake mushrooms and bamboo pith, all served inside a young coconut.

This is where things were improving. This soup had a deep, rich flavor that relied primarily on the ingredients to shine, and less so on external seasoning or flavoring.

I also liked the fact that it was served inside a coconut, and I think that added a subtle enhancement to the flavor of the soup. By the time I was done, the soup had softened the coconut, so I gently scraped some of it off the outer shell and enjoyed a small layer of the coconut flesh as well.

The menu said that there was an upsell to get this with fish maw as a supplement; I did not go for that option, and just got the regular preparation of the soup.

By this point, I got to watch the sun set and it was getting darker.

Next on my non-alcoholic beverage pairing menu, selected to go along with all the main entrées, was van Nahmen premium cherry juice from Germany.

The next dish was steamed giant garoupa fillet with cordycep flowers and Sichuan peppercorn atop soy sauce.

This was my favorite dish of the dinner. It had a clean, straightforward flavor. The vegetables were refreshing, and the soy sauce was diluted enough that it added a tasty soy sauce flavor without making the overall dish too salty. I also really enjoy the type of spice that comes along with Sichuan peppercorn, so in addition to submerging it in the soy sauce and under the fish to extract as much of the flavor as possible, I also took little nibbles of it to add a sharp kick to every other bite of fish.

After the fish came out a braised whole South African premium dried abalone with vegetables, pomelo peel, and oyster sauce.

Unlike the soy sauce, the oyster sauce was not well-diluted. I have a feeling that I would’ve enjoyed this abalone, but I couldn’t really taste it because of the sauce. I think if they had provided the sauce as a drizzle on top (rather than as a sauce bath), the abalone would be able to speak for itself and serve as a great dish.

Finally, the last main entrée of the meal was fried rice with scallops, barbecued pork, beetroot, green beans, egg, and preserved vegetables.

This was an extremely premium-tasting fried rice. I don’t know if this is just me, but I often associated fried rice with just throwing together a bunch of different leftovers before they go bad so that you don’t have to waste food. However, this fried rice tasted like it was made with high-quality ingredients and was crafted as gourmet fried rice.

One thing that I found particularly notable about it was the pork flavor. I am not really a fan of bacon; I think it is just very low-quality meat, and its high saturated fat content directly conflicts with my efforts at consuming a heart-healthy diet to counteract my hereditary high cholesterol. With that being said, this fried rice tasted like it had ultra-premium bacon in it, even though it was just regular barbecued pork. I think the way it was prepared extracted a bacon-like flavor from it without adding in the other negative aspects of bacon.

The final beverage of the non-alcoholic pairing was a house special—homemade cold brew dried rose bud and jasmine dragon pearl tea.

The previous three drinks in the beverage pairing were decent, but none of them really stood out as perfectly complementing any of the dishes. This cold brew tea, however, fit extremely well together with the dessert courses. The plain, unsweetened flavor of the tea synergized well with the sweetness of the desserts.

The first dessert was chilled mango pudding.

The next two desserts were deep fried fermented beancurd pastry with lotus paste (pictured on the left) and baked pineapple puff pastry with milk custard (pictured on the right).

I was already feeling pretty full by this point. I am guessing that this had something to do with the fact that an unusually high number of items I was served at this restaurant were intensely fried. I can eat a lot of food if it is prepared with refreshing ingredients and minimal seasoning, but once things get too fried or too salty, it’s as if my stomach sort of tries to block out any more from entering and signals that it is too full.

Both of these were heavily fried again. I did end up finishing both, but it became a bit of a struggle near the end.

By the end of my meal, it had gotten dark, so I was able to see the buildings lit up in the distance.

Here are some photographs I captured of some other areas of the interior of the restaurant:

And this is what the elevator lobby looked like:

One Harbour Road signature menuHK$ 1,738.00
Non-alcoholic beverage pairingHK$   400.00
Evian glass-bottled water (750 mL)HK$    95.00
Service charge (10%)HK$   223.30
Restore with ZFPA Fund (1%)HK$    22.33
TotalHK$ 2,478.63
Converted to United States dollarUS$   328.68
The table to the right shows how much I paid.

Overall, I thought that this meal was not worth the money I paid. If I’m paying a base price of over US$200.00 for a meal, I expect that meal to be very high-quality or otherwise have some degree of novelty or innovation to make it stand out. Unfortunately, the dishes at One Harbour Road were a hit or miss, and it had too many “miss” dishes in my opinion to justify a high price point.

Furthermore, I don’t know if this makes it better or worse, but I feel like a lot of these dishes would’ve turned out great if only they had just slightly adjusted a small component of the preparation process (e.g., braising or grilling instead of frying, reducing the amount of sauce, etc.).

In case you are curious, if I had gotten the seasonal menu instead of the signature menu, this is what I would have been served instead:

  • Smoked threadfin with ginger and spring onion sauce
  • Honey-barbecued pork
  • Braised sliced pumpkin, taro, winter melon, caramelized pineapple, and strawberry in hawthorn sauce
  • Braised fish maw and fish head soup
  • Steamed blue cod fillet wrapped in lotus leaf, shredded Iberico pork, and preserved vegetables in soy sauce
  • Steamed Australian scallop, prawn, and crab meat in sea urchin sauce and egg whites
  • Braised e-fu noodles with sliced abalone, black mushroom, and vegetables
  • Lotus seed cream with dried longans and sago

Looking back, I definitely should’ve gotten the seasonal menu instead, as it seems like there is nothing in there that is fried. On top of that, the seasonal menu was cheaper: HK$1,428 instead of HK$1,738. I don’t know what my thought process was at the time that I made the decision to get the signature menu (or if there was even a thought process at all), but I assume I just wanted the namesake tasting menu and put all my trust in the chef to prepare something excellent.

Based solely on my experience at this particular dining session, I cannot recommend One Harbour Road’s signature menu at its current preparation style and price point. I think they might also be charging extra-premium pricing, not only because it is part of a Grand Hyatt and they want to portray themselves as luxurious, but also because they have been designated by Michelin as a selected restaurant.

With that being said, it’s very possible that a different tasting menu would be much better, which is why I clarified that I can’t recommend the signature menu, rather than not recommending the entire restaurant.

 

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Hello, STARLUX Airlines flights 1 and 233 from Los Angeles to Taoyuan to Hong Kong

by   •   Flights
 

I mentioned in my most recent previous blog posts that I was in Los Angeles County in preparation for an international trip departing from Los Angeles International Airport, but I never clarified to where. As of today, I am back from my trip and am revealing the destination: Hong Kong.

Similar to the trip that I took to Japan in November 2025, I took a break from blogging while I was in Hong Kong; this is contrary to how I often try to publish blog posts in real time while traveling. I opted to gather all these for after I returned to the United States because, not only were they not time-sensitive, but I also wanted to maximize the amount of time I had going out and being a tourist, as opposed to spending time sitting indoors editing photos and writing.

So, it would make sense to start at the beginning: my outbound flight. Like usual for international trips, I decided to fly out of Los Angeles instead of from my home airport of Harry Reid International Airport in the Las Vegas Valley due to pricing from LAX being more competitive. With that being said, even though I had some good non-stop options to Hong Kong International Airport, I booked a flight with a layover.

I am someone who highly recommends taking non-stop flights to your destination, even if it is a little bit more expensive or requires you to fly to an alternative nearby airport. Going straight to where you want to go will help reduce the number of opportunities for things to go wrong, such as missing a connecting flight due to a delay in your first leg, or having the airline make a mistake during your baggage transfer and losing your luggage. However, for this trip, I chose not to take my own advice, though I think it was for a good reason.

Ever since I saw YouTubers reviewing Starlux Airlines when it first started flying in 2020, I’ve always wanted to try it out. I liked how unique it was with its futuristic styling and full commitment to the space theme. At first, this trip to Hong Kong might not seem like the optimal route to try out Starlux, but if you think more about it, I would argue that it’s actually better. If I’m flying an airline specifically to experience the service and amenities, it would make more sense to fly more segments in your itinerary so you can spend more time on the plane and see different aircraft types. In addition, if I’m going to take a layover, I’d rather that layover fall in the middle of a personal leisure trip, rather than a business trip where I need to actually make sure I get to my destination on time.

With that in mind, I passed on the available non-stop on Cathay Pacific (though Cathay is definitely also an airline that I’d like to try out in the future). I also passed on a non-stop on United Airlines, which is actually extra funny because I had friends who were flying on United with whom I coordinated overlapping days on my trip, yet I literally abandoned them to fly Starlux instead.

The best available route on Starlux Airlines that I was able to find started with a late night departure from Los Angeles International Airport. Because Starlux isn’t part of an airline alliance and doesn’t have their own lounge in Los Angeles, business class passengers were instead directed to use Starlux’s partner airport lounge owned by the Australian Qantas Airways, the Los Angeles Business Lounge.

The lounge was decently large. The food options weren’t spectacular, but still satisfactory. One thing that stood out to me was that it felt like each section of the lounge was “themed” differently. The style of furniture in each area was different enough that it felt like the lounge was a collection of about four different miniature rooms merged together into a lounge. It was surprisingly busy when I first arrived so I ended up finding a seat in a distant spot far away in the corner, but as the night went on, more people left to catch their flights and it became less packed.

I noticed that my boarding gate was in the western building of the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Getting there from the Qantas lounge involves quite a bit of walking, so with plenty of time to spare, I headed out and started marching my way over to the 200 Gates.

Upon boarding, I received a small glass of juice as my pre-departure beverage.

One of the things I found particularly memorable about flying with All Nippon Airways was their collaboration with Pokémon and the integration of Pokémon characters in their pre-flight safety briefing. It was nice to see that Starlux had their own special collaboration too—some characters from Peanuts were waiting for me on my in-flight entertainment screen.

On this Airbus A350-900, I opted for Seat 2K.

If you’ve read some of my previous flight reviews, you might remember that I usually prefer securing a window seat in the final row of the rear business class cabin. The reason I didn’t do that on Starlux’s version of the Airbus A350-900 is because the “rear business class cabin” section is actually occupied by a small premium economy section, and then the entire remainder of the plane is filled with economy seats.

Unfortunately, due to the placement of the lavatories, sitting in the final row of the front section of the business class cabin will mean that people will constantly be walking past you and sometimes standing and hovering over you while they wait for the bathroom to vacate. I instead took the front-most available business class seat in the front corner of the aircraft that does not have a bathroom by it (Row 1 is a miniature first class section, so I was not eligible to pick Seat 1K instead).

One thing I found unusual about Starlux’s business class cabin was the lack of overhead bins in the center of the aircraft. I personally didn’t like this because it introduces two inconveniences.

First, everyone, including people with inner seats, has to use the overhead bins above the window seats to store their luggage. We had issues finding space for everyone’s stuff, even with me trying to help the passengers around me and rearranging people’s baggage in the optimal orientation so there’s the most space possible. Compounding on this issue was the fact that, as is typical for lie-flat business class seats, there was no under-seat stowage, so even personal items had to be Tetrised into the limited room above.

Second, the center of the aircraft felt bare and exposed. I think an unintended positive side effect of having the overhead bins above the inner seats is that it feels cozier and more private. Having the lower ceiling means that the seats are more like little cubicles with overhead “walls.” In addition, people standing up in one of the aisles wouldn’t be able to see as clearly across the middle and to the other side, which adds to the feeling of privacy.

After a very minor delay, we taxied out onto the runway.

After reaching 10,000 feet, the in-flight wifi activated and the flight attendant served me a Coca-Cola Zero to sip on while waiting for meal service to begin. Even though it was around 1 AM already, it was still a decent time for dinner for me because I was already adjusted to Asian waking hours (i.e., I had already been falling asleep in the United States around the time that the sun comes up).

Asian airlines usually have two menus—an Asian menu based on the cuisine of the home country of the airline, and an international menu with more Western food options. I always opt for the Asian menu, but for this flight, when I was pre-selecting my meals a few days before departure, the international menu was the only available dinner option.

For my starter, I received crispy rice topped with almond shrimp salsa with a splash of lemon vinaigrette, as well as a side of some greens.

To accompany the food, I received a piece of sweet potato curry bread, a basil cheese roll, and a diamond roll. This came with some Isigny Sainte-Mère butter, extra virgin olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

In addition to a glass of water and the Coke Zero I already had, I also ordered an apple sparkling mocktail. I liked this because, although it basically looks like carbonated juice, it basically wasn’t sweet at all, so the apple tasted more “earthy,” if that is even a valid descriptor for an apple.

Next up was the soup course. The menu described this as potato and beetroot cream soup, but I am pretty sure that was an error; this had a very strong chestnut flavor instead.

My main entrée, which I pre-ordered as an online exclusive, was a lobster tail with ravioli. This was a decent and straightforward dish—not particularly memorable as an amazing dish, but also not bad at all.

The other available main courses that I passed on in lieu of the lobster were braised beef cheek in red wine sauce, roasted rosemary chicken thigh, braised pork shoulder in Thai red curry, and mushroom risotto.

I’m still trying to be conscious of heart health due to my hereditarily high cholesterol, so I still try to prefer eating dishes with seafood or poultry. I avoid chicken on planes because it is so easy to dry it out by overcooking, so it naturally left lobster as my top choice.

To serve as a palate cleanser after my meal, my flight attendant brought me a plate of fruit with some grapes, a couple slices of melon, a slice of pineapple, and a strawberry.

And finally, for dessert, I went with the assorted ice cream with sliced almonds.

After finishing my dinner, I wanted to relax for a little bit before going to sleep, so I reclined back in my seat.

I’ve always stood by my belief that, even in a lie-flat seat, it’s better to keep the seat slightly up rather than flattening it all the way down if you’re just relaxing and not knocking out for a full night of sleep. Even if you are planning on an entire night’s worth of sleep, I think raising your chair a very tiny amount is still better than going all the way flat.

I feel validated in this observation, because Starlux has a “Zero G” mode that brings you to a position that is very close to what I recommend and use. The flight attendant explained this to me, and she said that it is a scientifically proven way to minimize the impact of gravity on your body and distribute your weight as evenly as possible as to not create any undesirable pressure points.

If dinner wasn’t enough food, I also had the option of getting a snack. The options were a braised beef noodle soup, grilled chicken burger with smoked bacon, and nachos with tomato salsa and guacamole. The nachos were a Los Angeles route exclusive, and you know how much I like restricted-access or limited-edition things, so it would’ve been nice to try it out… but I was at a reasonable fullness level and didn’t want to overdo it, especially with a lot of great meals coming up starting from the first day upon landing in Hong Kong.

After spending some time digesting while watching YouTube videos using the free in-flight wifi, I let my flight attendant know that I was ready to go to sleep for the night. While I was gone taking a quick bathroom break, my seat was converted and set up with a thicker mattress pad so I could lay down and have more cushioning for a more comfortable night of rest.

I ended up getting very close to a full eight hours of sleep.

The seat itself wasn’t extra comfortable or anything—basically every other lie-flat seat I’ve slept in was pretty comfortable (except for some of JetBlue’s older aircraft, which had Mint seats that felt unusually bouncy in lie-flat mode). However, the sleeping experience as a whole was definitely the best I’ve ever had on a plane.

The reason for that was less about the seat and more about an extremely convenient placement of a height-adjustable armrest. I was able to raise it to the perfect elevation so that I could prop up my arm onto it while laying down. This helped leave my chest area “opened up” so it was almost as if it felt easier to breathe. I think it also helped align my spine better when side-sleeping, because with one of my knees folded as well, everything felt like it was in better alignment.

After being woken up by the cabin lights illuminating, the flight attendants went around distributing a smoothie as a morning refreshment.

Contrary to dinner, breakfast had both an Asian option and an international option. I asked for the Asian breakfast, which was plain Taiwanese congee with a bunch of sides. The main plate of sides consisted of pan-fried egg with broccoli, stir-fried celtuce, braised egg tofu with soy sauce, and minced pork. The supplemental sides were osmanthus lotus root, salted duck egg, pork floss, and tofu curd.

This was a cozy, comfortable-feeling meal. It made me feel quite warm and pleasant.

In addition to the cup of water, I asked for a peach sparkling mocktail to go along with my breakfast. Water ended up working best with the congee, so I ended up just saving the peach drink for later and sipping it after I was done with the congee.

After the flight attendant cleared my breakfast tray, she brought me some more fresh fruit, this time a different assortment than before—some grapes, a slice of melon, a slice of apple, a latitudinal slice of orange, and two slices of kiwi.

After finishing my plate of fruit, I reclined back again and relaxed until landing time. About an hour or so after breakfast, we arrived without incident and pulled into our gate at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

After deplaning, I made my way over to the Galactic Lounge in terminal 2. It was quite a bit smaller than I had expected.

I sat at one of the tables for a bit, but realized that there wasn’t really much of a reason for me to be there. I was already full from my first flight and was looking forward to yet again another meal on my connecting flight, so I didn’t want to take anything from the buffet. There were shower facilities, but I only had a handful more hours left to go before arriving in Hong Kong and wanted to just wait to shower at my hotel.

It was quite busy in the Galactic Lounge—literally busier than it was out in the main airport area—so I headed out early.

I like how human the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is. In the United States, it looks like airports were facilities constructed for the purpose of relocating Homo sapiens. On the contrary, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (and a lot of Asian airports in general) feel like they are communal spaces built for real human beings to go on trips.

The fact that this airport is so nice makes it so you don’t actually really need business class airport lounge access unless you’re going there specifically to use the amenities (e.g., food or shower). I enjoyed myself just walking around the airport and going up and down the aisles looking at the decorations by the gates.

I am about 98% sure that I took way more photographs of the airport than this, primarily because I specifically remember capturing some shots looking out the window, and I was going on a photographing spree because of how visually pleasing everything was. But, for some reason, those pictures seem to have literally disappeared off my phone and I have no idea why.

After sightseeing around the airport, I routed myself towards the boarding gate for the next leg of my trip. After a short wait and a quick passport check, I was invited on board their Airbus A321neo.

Upon boarding and settling into Seat 3K, I was welcomed with another small glass of juice as my pre-departure beverage.

Because the Airbus A321neo is a narrower, single-aisle aircraft, the business class seats are arranged in a 2-2 configuration. This meant that I didn’t have my own little cubicle, and I had a next-seat neighbor. This was fine though, as the in-air time for this leg was anticipated to be less than two hours.

Because of the short flight time, my entire in-flight meal was served on a single tray instead of being split into multiple courses. I selected the Asian menu again, so I received some scallion pancakes, meatballs, soup, bread, and chestnut mousse. For my beverage, I went with an orange sparkling mocktail.

Throughout and after my meal, I noticed that the man sitting next to me was sneakily taking creep shots of one of the flight attendants with his phone. There were a few different flight attendants tending to the business class cabin, but there was one in particular who he was consistently targeting with his photographing. These ranged anywhere from zoomed-in photos of her face when she was in view talking with other passengers, all the way to pictures of her bending over. Fortunately, she had a long skirt on and the material was thick enough that he wasn’t able to catch her in any moments of vulnerability, but I was still irked.

In disgust, I told one of my Chinese friends about this over text using in-flight wifi. I half-jokingly but also sort of half-seriously asked her how to say “stop being such a pervert” in Mandarin so I could say it to the man sitting next to me. Unfortunately, she replied “no don’t say that, I’m not teaching you that 😭”…

Nearing the end of our flight, he asked a flight attendant for a piece of paper and a pen. He started writing something on the paper, but it was in Chinese, so I couldn’t figure out what he was up to. Then, unexpectedly, he folded the piece of paper and gave it back to the cabin crew, specifically to the woman he was photographing. I peeked at it right before he handed it off, and it was just a bunch of Chinese characters without any indication that there was a phone number or other contact information on it. This implies that this man just randomly wrote a love letter to this flight attendant solely for the love of the game…

Not long after “the incident,” we landed safely at Hong Kong International Airport. After a quick deplaning, I breezed through immigration and customs due to my United States citizenship status.

Upon exiting to landside, I easily found the entrance to the Mass Transit Railway’s Airport Express Service. I had pre-loaded my Octopus app with money already to use on transit, so I didn’t have to stand in any lines to buy one-off tickets; instead, I hopped right on the train, stowed my luggage in the designated area, and relaxed for a little over half an hour.

The Airport Express took me to Hong Kong Station, where I got off the train and scanned my Octopus express transit pass to pay for my ride. From there, I used the underground walkways to go to Central Station, where I scanned back into the paid area and boarded the Island Line to finish my trip to Admiralty Station.

My hotel of choice for my first handful of days was the JW Marriott Hong Kong.

I picked it as my arrival hotel because Admiralty Station is known to be a very well-connected station in terms of lines serviced, and I’m able to get to pretty much anywhere from that station with minimal transfers. It is also connected directly to Pacific Place, the complex containing the JW Marriott. I figured that having this level of convenience would be helpful at first while I’m still getting used to the transit system.

The room was quite small, but I guess that is to be expected, as Hong Kong has limited space to build and they need to get as much value as possible out of the limited land they have.

The service was absolutely stellar, but it was too good for my preference. Keep in mind that I used to literally live for over 350 days a year out of hotel rooms when I first became a digital nomad, and even now, I still spend somewhere around half the year in hotels. As someone for whom hotels have completely lost their novelty value, it was very weird feeling like the staff was just following me around everywhere and acting like servants. Even when I clearly and explicitly asked for self-service when getting food from the lounge, the staff was still intrusive and wouldn’t leave me alone.

That concludes the overview from my travel day from the United States to Hong Kong. Hong Kong wasn’t quite as activity-filled and action-packed as my trip to Japan was, but I still visited a lot of tourist destinations and ate at a lot of great restaurants. More blog posts should be coming up soon…

 

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Hello, Matū in Beverly Hills, California

by   •   Food
 

I’m in Los Angeles County again in preparation for flying out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for my next international trip. (In fact, I am literally currently at an airport lounge waiting for my flight while writing this blog post.) I’m not the biggest fan of Los Angeles, but I guess I am a fan of LAX because it offers good worldwide route coverage at reasonable prices due to how competitive the airport is for carriers, so I end up finding myself in Los Angeles more often than expected.

While in the area, I met up with one of my friends yesterday and checked out Matū, a steakhouse in Beverly Hills, California. They also have a location called Matū Kai in the Brentwood neighborhood of Westside Los Angeles, but we opted to go to the Beverly Hills location instead because it was a little bit closer to where I was staying at the time in LA County.

I’ve been enjoying chef’s tasting menus lately, the idea being that I want the components and flow of my meal to be determined by someone who knows more about food than I do. I told this to my friend, so when she picked the restaurant, she kept an eye out for a spot that had a tasting or prix fixe menu available. We ended up going with this steakhouse because she said she needed more iron in her diet. Of course, I thought it was amusing that she was getting iron straight from the source of red meat, rather than just taking iron supplements.

Matū had a handful of different prix fixe dinner options: the lock, stock, and barrel for four; the filet dinner; and the ribeye dinner for two, to name a few. When I dine at restaurants, I always like trying their signature or specialty items, so I decided to go with their namesake Matū dinner for two.

The dinner started with a hot cup of 24-hour bone broth.

Next was steak tartare. The menu said that this came with a Japanese accent, but I’m not quite sure what that meant, because this seemed to me like a very straightforward and normal American-style steak tartare.

The meat quality on this was incredible. It had a clean and crisp taste with very strong flavor intensity. The seasoning was very light and supplemented the steak flavor well without detracting from the meatiness. Unfortunately, the bread was extremely dry and was basically sharp crackers, rather than proper crostini with a crispy outside and slightly softer inside. Luckily, the tartare was so good that it didn’t need the crostini to “complete” it.

My friend got an interesting-looking fizzy drink, so I took a photograph of it. … Then I found out that it was only Sprite. So here is a picture of Sprite, I guess.

The next dish that came out was not part of the prix fixe dinner, but was a small plate that my friend added on as a supplement: fazzoletti with braised ragu.

The braised ragu was so salty that it tasted bitter. However, when I scraped it off and ate just the fazzoletti, it was much better. The texture of the pasta was excellent—it was both soft and chewy at the same time, and it had the perfect amount of bounce-back and resistance per bite that made it fun to eat. I would’ve loved to have a plain version of this fazzoletti to go along with some of the later steak dishes.

When this was first brought to our table, it had an intense smell of parmesan cheese coming from it. I’m not really a big fan of cheese because a lot of it smells like vomit to me. The parmesan on this was so strong that it nearly made me gag upon first whiff. Luckily, the smell faded relatively quickly, but at first, it was quite overwhelming.

My friend likes cheese, though. She inhaled a big breath of it so that she could smell it for the both of us.

The next course was eight-hour-braised beef cheek served atop celeriac purée.

This was decent flavor-wise, but again, this was so salty that it detracted from the flavor. I feel like this could’ve been a great dish if they used only about half the salt and just let the beefy flavor speak for itself. Alternatively, if I had some plain fazzoletti, that could’ve also balanced out the saltiness and probably made this much tastier.

Up next was a three-ounce center-cut filet with a “47” salad.

This steak was seasoned properly and was delicious. That made me suspect that the steak itself was all seasoned appropriately, but it was just the sauce in the previous two dishes that were way too salty and sort of ruined how high-quality the meat was.

As for the “salad,” I have no idea why they would call this a salad on the menu. The salad that each of us got was a few large leaves of lettuce with way too much cheese and dressing on it. When my friend ordered a supplement, she went for a pasta dish instead of a vegetable dish because she saw the salad on the prix fixe dinner and thought we would already be getting a proper salad to balance out the meat; if we had known the salad was just a few shards of lettuce, we would’ve ordered a different supplemental dish.

The final entrée of the dinner was a 12-ounce ribeye. They also had the option of enhancing the ribeye to a rustic ribeye, which is a more “butchery” cut of meat. I personally did not think the upcharge was worth it, considering that I have high cholesterol and I’m trying to minimize the amount of saturated fat I consume in red meat, so I prefer the leaner cuts anyway.

One interesting thing I noticed about the way they presented this on the menu was that it was cooked warm red™, with the trademark symbol. I brought this up to the waiter and asked if the term “warm red” was really trademarked, and he said that he thought it was but never really checked because nobody else had ever brought it up to him. He explained that warm red was the doneness level to which they cook their meat. It’s not quite the same as traditional medium rare or rare, but rather, it uses a proprietary cooking methodology to reach the perfect doneness level as determined by their chefs.

Of course, I was curious enough about this that I had to fact check Matū’s use of the trademark symbol. To my surprise, upon referencing the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s database, I found a pending registration for “warm red” filed by a company called Grass Fed Wagyu, LLC. I dug deeper and checked the public record of their application, and humorously, the specimen submitted for this mark was a screenshot of Matū’s website.

So yes, this was actually cooked warm red™.

The steak itself was delicious. I’m not sure if everyone else would love this doneness level, but it was exactly to my preference. It was tender, yet still had a little bit of resistance to it where it adds the fun element of feeling like you’re ripping through a raw steak like a caveman. It was perfectly seasoned as-is and didn’t need any of the salt that our waiter brought us on the side.

To go along with the steak, we received a side of grilled broccolini seasoned with garlic and red pepper flakes. We received a few more pieces than what is pictured, but my friend already swiped a couple for her plate before I had a chance to snap the photo.

There wasn’t really anything special about this broccolini, which was good. It served as a good vegetable to go along with the steak. It was clearly broccolini, but the flavor was mild enough that it supplemented the steak without interfering with its flavor.

For dessert, we got a strawberry panna cotta.

This was a bit underwhelming. It was decent flavor-wise, but for a lack of a better way to put it, it tasted a bit “cheap.” The strawberries were not noticeably fresh, and the strawberry syrup just tasted like generic sugary sweet syrup. I would find this passable if served at a low- or mid-range restaurant, but it was surprisingly basic considering it came from a restaurant that put in the effort to trademark warm red™.

We didn’t drink any alcohol, but I noticed that there was a dark wine cabinet on display on my way to the bathroom, so I snapped a picture.

This is what the interior of the restaurant looked like. We had an early reservation pretty close to opening time, so we got a private corner table by some trees with a nice view of the rest of the dining area. I was able to get some pictures before the restaurant filled up with customers.

Matū dinner for two$ 174.00
Fazzoletti$  22.00
Panna cotta$  12.00
Sprite$   4.00
Service charge (18%)$  38.16
Sales tax (9.75%)$  24.39
Total$ 274.55
This table to the right shows how much we paid.

Matū charges an 18% service fee, which was disclosed ahead of time. In exchange, they are a no-tipping establishment, which is why I did not pay gratuity. Unfortunately, the service charge was included in the taxable subtotal, so even though the sales tax was 9.75%, it effectively became 11.5%.

Because Beverly Hills has its own separate city government and they want to maintain their reputation of being a more upscale and nicer city, there is a cheap parking garage nearby on South Beverly Drive. (This doesn’t really happen in the city of Los Angeles where you just have to try and search for a rare street parking spot and hope that an impatient driver doesn’t try to run you over while you back into the space.)

Overall, I’d say I’m satisfied with the Matū prix fixe dinner, but it wasn’t very filling. I think US$87.00 per person for the tasting menu is reasonable considering the quality of the food and the location of the restaurant, but I would consider it a very barebones experience.

Most significantly regarding the portion size, there were no carbs, which I think is a cheap and easy way for the restaurant to make sure customers walk away full and happy after their meal. If I were to be allowed to make adjustments to the tasting menu, I would probably increase the price a small amount and then add in some welcome bread at the beginning with the bone broth, turn the salad to an actual real salad, and either add in some pasta or a starchy vegetable to go along as a second side for the main entrée.

Based on my experience, I’d say that Matū was decently worth it, but not so remarkable that it has to go on your must-try list. With that being said, apparently they are also famous for their cheesesteaks, which we did not have an opportunity to try yesterday. As of today, their Matū Philly Cheesesteak is US$24.00 each, so if you want to sample their high-quality meat, the cheesesteak is a much more affordable price point at which to give it a try.

 

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Hello, HILO Sushi in Beverly Hills, California

by   •   Food
 

I’m in Los Angeles County again in preparation for flying out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for an upcoming international trip. While in the area, I met up with some friends who I regularly visit when I’m around Los Angeles, and we decided to try the omakase dining experience at Hilo Beverly Hills.

This restaurant was so unique that I feel the need to mention this right away: Chef Hilo’s omakase is not a traditional Edomae-style omakase. It is a modern-day “fusion” omakase that combines traditional Japanese elements with a more performative, conversational, experiential dinner. If you go into this expecting a traditional omakase, you will probably be disappointed; you might even find Chef Hilo to be abrasive and end up finishing your dinner feeling slighted and insulted. However, if you go into it with a relaxed and open mind, it could end up being one of the most fun dinners you’ve had.

Edomae-style omakase involves chefs who embody the concept of “shokunin,” which translates to being a master craftsman or artisan. There is a further implication in the word, though—shokunin in Japan are known to be stoic, quiet, and minimalistic in communication. This is not because they are shy or antisocial, but rather, they are demonstrating that they have their full focus on preparing your meal to perfection without any distractions. Thus, if you go to a lot of high-end Edomae-style omakase restaurants, you will find that the atmosphere is often very calm and peaceful.

Chef Hilo, on the other hand, finds a balance between mastering his craft, but also being a welcoming host who facilitates a memorable and stand-out experience. Throughout our entire meal, he asked us questions about ourselves so he could get to know us better, joked around with us, teased us in a way that usually only long-time friends do, and tried to establish a genuine bond with us. This restaurant doesn’t feel like you’re going to a professional establishment and ordering professional services; instead, it feels like you hired a friend to cook dinner for everyone and you’re all just spending time together for fun.

We went as a group of four; three of us got the full omakase dinner for US$250.00 each, while the remaining one of us got an abridged version for US$150.00 because she wasn’t hungry enough for all the courses.

Omakase, or お任せ, literally translates to “I leave it up to you.” Lately, omakase at a lot of restaurants has sort of turned into a more flexible version of what is actually called kaiseki, or a chef’s choice meal that follows a series of different courses. However, Hilo Beverly Hills serves an actual genuine omakase—no menu, no course list, and on-the-fly adjustments to what is served.

To start, we received three types of sashimi in sour sauce as appetizers, two oysters, a small shot glass of what I think was a different kind of sauce with oyster derivatives, and two cold fish dishes.

Next was sea urchin pasta.

The pasta had an incredible texture to it, and it was almost like it was cooked perfectly al dente (“to the tooth”) and morbido (“soft”) both at the same time. I mixed together the sea urchin and the pasta with each bite, but thinking back, I guess it is also possible that the textural phenomenon was caused by a firmer consistency of sea urchin mixing in with the pasta (considering that firm sea urchin is probably comparable in bite resistance to soft pasta).

This was my favorite dish of the dinner, which is probably expected if you are aware that sea urchin is my favorite food.

After those dishes, we were served a cup of bone broth.

I like restaurants that serve this because this is an indication that they have a “no waste” philosophy. Rather than discarding the unused portions of the fish, they will boil it in a broth and serve it so they can get as much value out of the fish as possible.

Following this was nigiri service.

For all the cuts of fish, a recurring theme was that the texture was some of the best I’ve had in fish. For example, the squid was extra firm on the outside, but still soft enough that each bite was very satisfying. The scallop took “melt in your mouth” to a whole new level. The shrimp had an intense sticky and slimy layer to it, which might sound bad, but actually makes the feeling in your mouth much more unique and fun.

During nigiri service, Chef Hilo showed us a plaque certifying him as an authorized dealer of Yuki Tsubaki (雪椿) rice.

I’m not really a rice expert, so I don’t know too much about the unique characteristics of different kinds of premium rice. Every single piece of nigiri I ate was delicious and noticeably high in quality, but I can’t quite pinpoint whether that was because of the fish or the rice (though I imagine it was realistically a combination of both).

That said, I did notice that there was a consistent hint of natural sweetness to each piece of nigiri that came out more the longer I chewed, so my speculation is that the rice was responsible for adding that element to each piece of nigiri.

Our next dish was abalone served inside a shell.

Remember the one friend I mentioned earlier who was the only one to get the shorter omakase? The abalone was one of the dishes that was only included in the full omakase experience, but Chef Hilo didn’t want her to feel too left out, so he put some of the excess abalone in a small bowl and gave her a miniature portion so she could try it too.

As we were nearing the end of our dinner, one of our final pieces was a spicy tuna roll.

In my head, “spicy tuna” is often associated with lower-quality sushi because of how often restaurants oversauce the tuna and how the excessive mashing of the tuna makes it feel unsubstantive in your mouth. However, Chef Hilo reimagined spicy tuna in a gourmet way. The sauce was light and complementary to the fish, and you could actually taste the flavor of both the tuna flesh and fat. The wrapping was also perfect in texture—it was firm enough that it held the rice and tuna together well, but was penetrable enough that it was easy to bite through and didn’t cause the “rip apart the seaweed and scrape the insides out with your teeth” phenomenon that a lot of spicy tuna rolls have.

Just by watching us, I think Chef Hilo concluded that I was the most experienced out of the group when it comes to dining at sushi restaurants (which is accurate). So, he came to me at the end and asked me to request my favorite kind of sushi as the grand finale of our meals.

My favorite sushi is uni (sea urchin), but we already had a sea urchin dish earlier with the pasta. My second favorite is escolar, but escolar is very much not a beginner-friendly sushi and can have some very unpleasant side effects if you’re not used to eating it or eat too much of it. My third favorite is shirako, but that is out of season.

I ultimately told him that I would like him to decide on a type of fish or cut that is relatively rare and I wouldn’t frequently have an opportunity to eat at other sushi restaurants. In response, he prepared seared tuna cheek for us.

Tuna cheek is a relatively small portion of a tuna fish, so this is definitely something that is not common at regular sushi restaurants. Cheek is often referred to as the wagyu-equivalent cut on a tuna due to how meaty and umami it is.

Our tuna cheek nigiri was prepared with a blow torch sear on the outside to help tenderize the connective tissue in the cheek.

One of my favorite things about fish with tougher connective tissue on the inside is that, when I finish “paring” it in my mouth with my tongue and eating just the flesh, the connective tissue remains, and I keep chewing it for a long time as if it is gum. I love that I can get a good minute or two of additional flavor extracted from the tissue when I chew for even longer.

Finally, for dessert, we received a black sesame blueberry sorbet. This was a completely new flavor combination for me, and I thought it was very interesting. It tasted like there were no added sugars, which was perfect, because that allowed the natural sweetness of the fruit to handle the job and put more emphasis on the individual ingredients.

To take a brief intermission, there was something that happened that was interesting enough that I feel like I have to tell the story in order to make my blog post complete.

When I asked for tap water at the beginning of the meal, the waitress told me that they do not have free tap water and the only water they have available is à la carte glass-bottled water. I have never seen any other restaurant deny serving tap water before, so I re-clarified this with the waitress, and she doubled down. I was so confused that I assumed there was surely some kind of miscommunication, so I re-re-clarified, and the chef tripled down and confirmed that they do not serve free water.

Because this is an alcohol-serving establishment, the fact that they do not offer any free tap water conflicts with the standards of care established under the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s Responsible Beverage Service Training Program Act (California Code of Regulations, Title 4, Section 166) and the Human Right to Water state policy (California Water Code, Section 106.3). In an effort to rationalize this incredibly unusual system they had, I asked the chef how they navigate compliance with these guidelines and regulations.

In response, he asked if I was a lawyer, mostly in a light-hearted and teasing kind of way. I wasn’t planning on confirming anything about my work, but my friend said on my behalf that, yes, I do indeed do legal work as part of my profession.

Chef Hilo didn’t have an answer for the compliance matter, but he explained his mindset and approach behind why he only serves bottled water—he thinks tap water, no matter how filtered, is too impure and unbecoming of a restaurant of this caliber. He instead scouted for and decided on Abatilles as his restaurant’s water of choice, sourced from Sainte-Anne Spring in Arcachon, France. It is primarily notable for containing no nitrates, low mineral content, and high alkalinity.

With that being said, rather than trying to argue, the chef went productively into problem-solving mode. He specifically wanted to make me happy with my experience, and I think he quickly identified that I wasn’t particularly satisfied with the idea of needing to pay an additional ~US$60 (after sales tax and gratuity) just to supply drinking water to my party of four. Omakase dinners are usually inclusive of everything except alcohol, so compared to other restaurants I’ve been to, having no tap water and only paid water options almost felt like a hidden fee.

Chef Hilo proposed a solution that, if I pay for one bottle of water for myself, he will cover the water for the rest of my party as a gift. I thought that was a good compromise and accepted his offer. The main thing I appreciated about this, though, is the fact that he had a practical, realistic, no-nonsense approach to coming to an agreement. It didn’t feel like he was using cookie-cutter “customer service training” like other establishments do; instead, it felt like he was treating me like a unique, individual human being and coming up with a unique, personalized solution specifically for me.

I think if I had dined alone or with one other friend like I usually do, that would’ve been the end of our meal. However, because we went as a group of four, there was less one-on-one conversation and far more interaction with the chef.

One of my friends really got along well with Chef Hilo. In fact, literally in the middle of dinner, they were gossiping about people they mutually know and were even setting up potential business deals. Due to the rapport they built, I think the chef’s impression of our entire group was improved. By the end of the dinner, he brought out a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne to share together with us.

Chef Hilo told us stories about past customers and advised us of the importance of building relationships with people. He also explained that his perspective on life changed when he realized that he has such a significant impact on other people around him. He wanted to celebrate with us with some champagne—not because there was a special event or anything, but because great memories are worth celebrating and cherishing.

In lieu of a menu, Hilo Beverly Hills has a little informational booklet that talks about its food and philosophy. Upon her request, Chef Hilo autographed one of them and gave it to my friend so she could take it home as a souvenir from the dinner.

Here are a few other shots from the interior of the restaurant. My friend booked our reservation for the final seating of the night, and we were lucky enough that we were the only ones there that day, so we got the chef’s undivided attention.

Full omakase ×3$   750.00
Omakase ×1$   150.00
Abatilles (750 mL)$    12.00
Gratuity$   180.00
Sales tax (9.75%)$    88.92
Total$ 1,180.92
The table to the right shows how much I paid.

If you read my blog a lot, you know that I am notoriously a stingy tipper, and am still very much against the United States’ out-of-control tipping culture. However, I tipped almost 20% anyway on this meal because of the great experience and because of the complimentary premium water. I would’ve tipped even more for the champagne, but he brought out the bottle after I had already signed the check and handed it back to the waitress.

Touching back on the water situation for a bit—after talking with and learning more about Chef Hilo, I was able to understand that the paid-water-only arrangement is not because he is trying to get away with making more money, but rather, because he genuinely wants his customers to have the pinnacle of a great experience with no imperfections or shortcomings. I think the intent behind someone’s actions matters a lot, and Chef Hilo is such an open and honest person that it is easy to read his good intentions.

Again, I want to reiterate that this restaurant is not for everyone. I know for a fact that there are going to be some people who find Chef Hilo to be unprofessional, disrespectful, crude, and unsophisticated. However, if you try his omakase experience with no predetermined expectations and take it in with an open mind, then I think most people will find him to be sincere, authentic, refreshing, and “anti-fake.” He doesn’t waste energy putting up an artificial façade; instead, he puts all his effort into preparing great food and curating an iconic dinner.

The price for the full omakase is not cheap, but if you’re looking for a high-end restaurant in Beverly Hills, you are probably expecting to spend a lot of money anyway. If you are not discouraged by my multiple disclaimers and warnings, and if you still find this to be intriguing, then I highly recommend Hilo Beverly Hills.

 

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