I enjoyed eating at Sushi Ta-ke for lunch and dinner so much I decided to make it one of my last meals in Hong Kong. As with previous visits, Sushi Ta-ke did not disappoint. The edomae here is pricey but solid. If you don’t value variety beyond the typical tuna/salmon/hamachi/shrimp/urchin/etc that you can easily find in the US but can perceive differences in proper fish aging, I’d suggest the more affordable sushi lunch set at Sushi Shin instead which is qualitatively close, but offers nowhere near the variety of incredibly interesting seasonal bests. If proper fish age isn’t something you understand and you think of great sushi as whatever is the freshest, the edomae set at Sogo is the best supermarket sushi ever, easily besting the vast majority of sushi available in the US or HK. So when I say that Sushi Ta-ke is excellent, we’re splitting the top 10% of the top 1% of the top 1% across the world of sushi. It is so good, that I refuse to rate meals here with the casual / “what most people think is fine dining” scale even though it has no Michelin stars. 2.0
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1. Tomato Salad: Nice soy-sesame dressing but not all that interesting.
2. Fish Poke: A good selection of marinated trim.
3. Chawanmushi: Fantastic as usual, but a bit cold by the time I get to it.
4. Japanese Snapper: With Kabosuhime lime and Maldon salt, there’s very little flavor to this fish and a light bite.
5. Hirame: With ohba leaf and Maldon salt, this is fairly neutral. The salt works better with the bitter ohba than the lime because it creates a fine sense of meatiness and weight for this flounder.
6. Aji: From Kushu Island, this was a large piece weighing in around 700g whole vs. the usual 350g. This is very lean but you don’t miss the oils because it has great texture and a fine subtle flavor that’s accented by ginger and sesame seed.
7. Katsuo (Bonito): Faintly fatty, this is from the early season with less pronounced oils. These swim around Japan, so there are two times of year when it exists in this state: late spring and fall.
8. Kuruma Prawn: A bit more intense than a Tiger prawn, this is sweet, meaty and delicious.
9. Anago: Faint eel sauce and yuzu zest top this super tender eel and there’s a little wasabi kick on the finish.
10. Maguro: The soy marinade and wasabi are really deft on this piece to the point that the mineral content in the tuna blood is framed so perfectly that I can honestly say this garbage cut is actually good.
11. Aburi Toro: With salt and lime, this takes on a meatier character from the salt. Warm, meltingly tender with just enough acidity to brighten the fat.
12. Grilled Toro Sinew: With sesame seed, onion, and fresh wasabi, this has a light teriyaki glaze that adds some sweetness to the the wonderfully fatty, warm and complex bite.
13. Tamago: Faintly sweet with light bite.
14. Uni: With double wasabi, this starts nice and yolky, then turns meatier in a substantial mouthful.
15. Negi Toro: Soft and generous, but needs more flavor.
16. Mantis Prawn: Tastes like a cross between shrimp and crab in both flavor and texture. The flesh is more flavorful on prawns without roe because they haven’t exerted energy in that process. The eel sauce is a bit much for this delicate bite.
17. Akamutsu: Torched but still fresh, fatty and flavorful. Fantastic flesh delineation in this bass-like bite.
Krug Rosé: Crisp strawberries in a pear base. Very fine mousse. 94+
Sushi Ta-Ke
12/F, Cubus
1 Hoi Ping Road
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
+(852) 2577 0611
