Neighborhood harbor front dining

I learned a little more about the dining options of my new hood yesterday, thanks to a story link posted by my friend g4gary.  One of the places mentioned was Reiki Small Field (小田料理), a new Japanese place by the ferry terminal, which is literally a stone's throw away from me.  I'd walked by this place numerous times, and had been pretty curious.  Tonight it was time to check it out.

The restaurant occupies part of the ferry terminal building, and the side facing Victoria Harbour is actually open to the water without any windows.  Harborside seats had already been taken when I called to reserve, but it was probably a good thing, anyway... The fragrance of the Fragrant Harbour isn't always pleasant, and there's always a chance of breathing in fumes from the departing ferry boats.

In addition to an à la carte menu offering items from sashimi to tempura, the restaurant also offers two kaiseki menus.  I decided to splurge for the more expensive option which, at HKD 1,000 a head, seems a little steep for a location such as this.

First up was this plate.  Our waitress plopped it down in front of us and walked away.  I tried to ask what it was that we were eating, but I couldn't get an answer.  The cook came out, and he didn't seem to understand my question of "what are these?"  Maybe he thought I was a total idiot... since I couldn't even recognize what was obviously a giant scallop in front of me.

Hello Kitty saw my frustration, and tried to calmly extract the answers from the cook.  So we've got a pile of greasy onion tempura, a giant scallop that was lightly grilled, butterflied, and stuffed with Japanese mayo and a piece of deep-fried chicken cartilage.  Why, exactly, the chicken cartilage was sandwiched between the two halves of the scallop is completely beyond me.  The sea weed tempura was also greasy, and the cook made sure to tell us that "everything is edible"... including the slice of avocado and some perilla flowers.  Again, no clue as to why they were part of the combination.

The bulk of the set consisted of sashimi and sushi, so we asked to have tuna excluded.

Flounder wings (縁側)

Salmon (鮭) belly

Red sea bream (鯛) - with spicy grated radish and young scallions rolled inside.

Abalone (鮑)

Horse mackerel (鯵) - I don't understand the double-cut when it comes to sashimi.  In reality this was pretty veiny.

Swordfish (目梶木)

Then came four pieces of nigiri sushi, which were all too big... They were presented in a style that seems like it would appeal to local Hong Kong customers... with extra-long pieces of neta.  Interesting to see that the shari was made with red rice vinegar, but it's too bad that the shari was cold...

Scallop (帆立貝) with sea urchin (雲丹)

Sweet shrimp (甘海老)

Japanese whelk - I asked the cook what kind of shellfish this was, but he couldn't tell me.  He obviously had no idea what ingredients they were getting in...  A little too crunchy and hard for my taste.

Eel (鰻) - usually conger eel (穴子) shows up as neta for sushi, not eel...

Salmon handroll - beside salmon, there were also little bits of tempura dough to provide some crunch, and spicy mayo.  Actually reminds me of those spicy tuna rolls that you find in US neighborhood sushi joints...  Interesting that the cook told us to "eat it while it's hot" when the rice itself was only lukewarm and the salmon was cold...

Salmon miso soup

Yuzu ice cream

Well, honestly, I wasn't impressed.  I know this isn't some high-end, fancy schmancy sushiya with a chef who has honed his skills for years in Japan, but for the price being charged, the quality of the food still fell short.  And these guys know nothing about how to serve customers beyond just plopping some food down in front of them...