炭燒笑宴 Charcoal Grill SHO-EN
銅鑼灣登龍街28號永光中心13樓
13/F., Circle Tower, 28 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/food-engulfed-in-flames-e2330446
I don't often eat Japanese grilled items because the first thing that springs to mind is skewers of meat covered in thick sticky sweet sauce.
I did not have any expectations, but as I have already tried the other restaurants in this group their food seemed promising.
When you enter this restaurant, you are greeted with a glass tank of cute crawling crabs.
Then behind the bar, there is a grilling corner for the food.
To be more precise, the food is actually cooked in the flames which is fueled by Charcoal.
Here was what we tried:
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Starter platter:
A cute platter of starters including white bait with seaweed beneath it, diced sashimi pieces in spicy dressing and squid in miso sauce.
My favourite was the white bait because the other two were a bit too strong and spicy for my palette.
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Charcoal grilled Okinawan chicken:
Before we ordered this, they were saying how good it was but I assumed it was going to be dry and tough if it was not the chicken thigh part.
Well I was wrong, and the chicken was tender and juicy with an addictive chargrilled taste that was natural and the yuzu dip was addictive.
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Deep fried Okinawan chicken with powdered salt:
These were crispy and juicy wings with one of the bones removed.
The chicken was deliciously piping hot and the coating was thin and tasty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Charcoal grilled squid:
The grilled squid was ok but it was not as exciting as the chicken.
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Charcoal grilled thickly sliced AGU pork bacon:
This was thickly sliced bacon that was grilled in charcoal.
As you can see there is an even distribution of fat and meat and the pork was not too salty.
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Charcoal grilled red king Alaskan crab legs:
The crab legs were amazing but a little pricey!
When I ate them, it was oozing with liquid so it was not dry at all.
The shells were really crispy and easy to remove as well.
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Charcoal grilled chicken gizzards:
The fat plump grilled chicken gizzards were also delicious with a nice chew and springy crunch.
I wish they did chicken livers too.
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Black curry rice with Wagyu beef and cheese in hot stonepot:
The rice was interesting because the curry sauce was black with some addition of squid ink.
It tasted slightly sweet with a hint of curry.
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Okinawa Wagyu beef stonepot rice:
The rice had more flavours compared to the curry and I enjoyed this one more because the sauce reminded me of peking duck.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pacific saury
Last but not least, the pacific saury which was great for sashimi because the taste was enhanced with wasabi and soy sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Eel with cucumber
The eel was nicely grilled and refreshing paired with the julienne cucumber beneath it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
As a summary, their Charcoal grilled items are really good and the ones I recommend are: grilled chicken, crabs legs and thick cut bacon and the rest of the menu comprises of Okinawan food which tastes great too.
