Nasubi 納思比

Price: about HK$460 without drinks or the service charge.
Ambience: quiet. Apart from a few Japanese businessmen at the sushi counter, our group of three were the only other diners.


Recommended dishes: yuba with dashi gelee (HK$98) was an excellent starter. It was cool and delicious, with the mild taste of the thin, sheets of bean curd skin taking on a slightly smoky flavour from the dashi jelly. Aji (horse mackerel, seasonal price — ours was HK$280 for 400 grams) sashimi, sliced into substantial pieces, was also very good, with the oily fish tasting rich but fresh. Negi toro maki (HK$100) had well-seasoned rice, but the hit of the night was the simple, homey ochazuke (HK$58). Basically tea poured over rice (with salmon or ume [pickled apricots]), it was hot and comforting with a lot more flavour than you would think. The pickles (HK$78) we had with it included daikon, burdock, cabbage and cucumber.
Pros: although the staff seemed unsure of themselves, they were eager to help, at one point, bringing many bottles of sake to show us, even though we couldn't read the labels.
Cons: the duck in the roasted duck salad (HK$98) was very tough. Grilled eggplant with seafood was expensive at HK$168 for a small portion. Chicken kara-age (HK$120) came as too-large chunks of under-seasoned meat, and the coating was too light and therefore not crunchy.
What else? On our visit, there was a separate menu offering early summer dishes featuring Nagasaki seafood.