Sunday, June 12, 2011

Hong Kong - Rakuen 樂宴

At the risk of incurring the wrath of @e_ting, I am sharing a little gem of a find in Causeway Bay, for those who enjoy an Izakaya style evening, with a comprehensive stock of Sake and other Japanese alcoholic fixes, and decent Okinawan food.

As I said, there is a lot of Sake to choose from...

...In bottles

...In Urns
Then, there are staple snacks from the lovely island of Okinawa.

Peanut Tofu
Unlike the usual tofu texture, this has a chewy bite to it.  This allows the peanutty-ness to come through and is rather quite fragrant.  The spring onions and grated ginger in soy allows a little reprieve from the richness of the peanuts although really quite unnecessary.  Keeps it interesting though.  Nice way to start any Okinawan meal, especially since it is served chilled.

Beef Croquette
This was my fave of the evening.  So I'm a sucker for anything deep fried in fluffy panko (bread crumbs)  but this was really quite good.  The juicy mixed beef contents just made it that much better.

Bittergourd Tempura
This is a winner for anyone selling the concept of downing alcohol at its establishment.  You'd need quite a few drinks to finish this since the salt content here is very high.  But it is an interesting way to serve bittergourd (another Okinawan favorite vegetable) and it is battered and fried to a dry crisp, with negligible traces of oil on the paper it's served on.

Akin to Snapper!
Don't usually order sashimi at drinking places but this one came highly recommended, and was really quite good.  Naturally sweet although it was quite a big fish for just 2 people.

"Snapper" Soup
Of course, the second course of serving up a soup made from the bones and fins of the soup was a nice way to finish the meal.

Cool place to relax the evening away if what you want are high quality snacks with your Sake.  No wonder @e_ting wants to try and keep this a secret.

12/F, 28 Tung Lung Street
Causeway Bay
Tel: +852-3580 8858

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