Ootoya bomb box

Ootoya bomb box: Japanese pearl rice topped with chopped okra, beans, tuna sashimi, grated Japanese nagaimo (mountain yam), raw egg and Natto (Fermented soy beans). All the ingredients have one thing in common, being slimey. The fermented soybeans, were sticky too, and stuck together with spiderweb like strings. But the whole thing tasted really good, the rice was nice and soft, and could be slurped with all the slimey ingredients.

Fried chicken in black vinegar sauce: Rice with fried chicken pieces in light coating, the sauce was tangy, and refreshing, and the vegetables accompanying the dish matched well, such as the lotus roots with a crisp taste.

Fried chicken with African sauce:
I wasn’t sure what to expect of this one, because its name isn’t very Japanese, but it tasted similar to the black vinegar sauce one, not as sour, and not spicy as stated.

Anyway everything tasted good, the only thing that could be improved would be supplying spoons, as this is a popular question arising from customers. Also those irritating flies could perhaps be exterminated!!

Mountain yam with noodles @ 京笹居酒屋 Kyozasa Restaurant

Went here for Japanese because of the photos added by other OR reviewers looked good.

Although there has only been 4-5 reviews so far, the photos made it look good enough to try.

The only thing I didn’t like about this place, was the stench of cigarette smell when I walked in, and remained that way when we sat down.
Also there were plenty of tables, I couldn’t understand why we were placed in very closed proximity to the next table when the rest of the restaurant was empty.
I would have also preferred a bigger table, since the table we had was not that sufficient to place all of our food. I had to put the condiment tray on the table next to us to get more space.

I wasn’t impressed with the menu, there were no pictures at all, and the range was incomplete, I couldn’t find the food mentioned on the reviews, so I had to ask for it.
The menu was like an effortless printed list with Chinese and English from a word document and placed in those A4 plastic folders. I asked for pictures and was given a photo album, which was only for the highlighted or popular items.

Moving on to the food, ordered Bonito Tofu, clams in Sake, Rolled Beef with spring onions and garlic, Squid and fermented beans rice, and soba noodles with mountain yam.
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Bonito Tofu:Tasted better than imagined, the outside was crunchy, and the inside was soft and smooth.

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Clams in Sake:Tasted really good, when the bowl arrived, you could smell the sake.

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Rolled Beef:I have had better ones before, so this one was terrible, very fatty and the inner of the roll was not that well cooked.
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Squid and fermented beans with rice:
Tasted a bit bland, but overall it all tasted good.

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Soba noodles with Mountain Yam:
I asked for the cold one, but they suggested the soup one. I wish I had stayed with my choice, as the soup made the noodles too soft, and waters out the flavour. The mountain yam gets diffused in the soup.

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Healthy and superdooper curry at CoCo Ichibanya

As I am not a meat lover I have always wanted to try this place when I saw the reviews of the curry spinach and clams.
The first branch of this opened in Kwun Tong but there is nothing to do in Kwun Tong.

The setting and layout of this restaurant reminds me of Saizeriya, and their curries are a high end and more Japanesey version of Ginza.

 

cute diecut napkins

 

The cutlery holder is similar to Saizeriya and I love the diecut on the napkins.

 

Similar to Ginza, they also have pickles.
Coco Ichibanya started off serving curries in Japan and then expanded internationally!

 

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After browsing the menu, I was amazed by the choice they had from cheese curries to gratins!

Gratins

 

Asparagus, cherry tomato and cheese curry

 

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Curries that I would like to try:
Natto beans curry
Clam and cheese curry
Okra and cheese curry
Fried quail eggs curry

 

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Basically you can order the curries listed on the menu or you can create your own curry, but the first step is choosing the level of spicyness of the curry sauce, then how big you want your portion of rice to be, and finally the toppings.
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The choices of ingredients for the curry was amazing, there were 28 which were: cheese, tomato and asparagus, kimchee, eggplant, spinach, mushrooms, clams, natto beans, okura and tofu, fried squid, thin sliced pork, vegetables, fresh prawns, fried fish, cream croquette, fried quail eggs, stewed chicken, bacon and spinach with butter, grilled pork and kimchee, crispy chicken, fried chicken, sausage, pork cutlet, prawn tempura, hamburger, chicken cutlet, seafood and thinly sliced beef.
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For my curry I was greedy and wanted to try everything, so I chose the spinach curry as basic and added clams, okra and tofu and natto beans. I would have ordered fried Quail eggs too, but I forgot!
I've never seen fried Quail eggs before, so that would have been interesting.
As for the curry I chose not spicy and for the rice I chose 200g which is the smallest size and costs $5 less.

The ingredients I chose were all fairly light in flavour and would not overpower the curry.
As well as that, the ingredients I had chosen were beneficial to health!
Okra is diuretic and rich in oxalates, Tofu and Spinach are rich in Calcium, while Natto beans are rich in vitamin K, reduce bloodclots, cholesterol and are said to have antibiotic properties.
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When the curry came, it was loaded with all the ingredients I had ordered.
I really loved the curry sauce, it was different to the curry at Ginza, the texture was similar to gravy with a prominent curry taste.
I was impressed because it was not sweet.
The ingredients I chose went well together because they were all light, and the Okra and Natto beans both had slimey texture.
It was a shame I forgot to order the fried quail eggs but I will next time!

 

 

 

 

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Lastly on the menu I was surprised to see shaved ice, I assumed it was a Taiwanese dessert!

 

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CoCo Ichibanya

www.ichibanya.com.hk