Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Hanaita Sushi

Hanaita Sushi happened on another day, to everyone’s relief. And this is where I was introduced to the sauciness of Hong Kong, for an entire half-page of the menu was dedicated just to sushi baked with “sea urchin sauce.” I am not a fan of uni, but sea urchin sauce sounded interesting—it certainly looked good in the pictures in the menu, sort of like a burnt-mayonnaise, Dynamite-sauce-looking topping that coated everything. I ordered the Japanese tiger prawn sushi with sea urchin sauce (this was automatically one piece per order), and the colossal crustacean (non-fried head and all) made a perfect picture before making the perfect meal. I nearly swooned when I tasted the amazing sauce. It didn’t have that clammy uni flavor at all; rather, it’s comparable to a well-baked mayonnaise sauce, tinged with a hint of the sea. (Note: I revisited this place during the slow afternoon of another day, and this same dish didn’t taste as good. Perhaps they had a less experienced chef working, since it was during happy hour, when everything was half-price.)

The Mango & Goose Liver Roll may sound overly gamey and weird, but it actually rated pretty high in my book. The tart mango combined rather well with the soft and tender foie gras, which tasted like the fat on a steak, only without the oiliness. The mango sauce gave the dish a nice touch, and it actually overrode the taste of the shallots which sat on top of the roll in slivers.

There were still too many other specialties I didn’t have enough room to try—there was another page of sushi in the “Sauce Roast” category, which listed items such as “Sauce Roast Fish Dorsal” and “Sauce Roast Tuna Neck.” Hand rolls dominated a whole other page in the menu.

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