RyuGin (..in HK)

I recently ate at the new outpost of RyuGin and it is now ranked as my best meal this year. Chef Seiji Yamamoto the culinary mind behind Ryugin is well respected amongst the culinary professions for his techniques and molecular gastronomy and also well loved in the foodie circle. When he first open Ryugin in Toyko, the theme of the restaurant is " TO PURSUE POSSIBILITY OF THE JAPANESE CUISINE". He has embraced adidas’ campaign slogan impossible is nothing and made it his own as possible is everything.
Whilst he his cuisine is very modern and his techniques are a mix of both traditional and molecular at its core his cuisine is still very Japanese, from its kaiseki form and choice of ingredients.

Dinner here is very straightforward – one kaiseki menu guided by the seasons and below is the spring menu that we tasted. The menu changes from season to season, we were hoping to taste an ankimo dish but that’s in season in the winter and for those of you who love eel, summer is the season to go.   

Spring Gastronomy Menu
Deep fried Uni from Hokkaiso wrapped in seaweed, junsai in lightly acidic broth
Foie gas flavoured with Porto and wasanbon sugar served with fresh figs
and sesame cream sauce
Steamed abalone, lotus mochi and yuba simmered together with a
sauce flavoured with mitsuba
Ichiban dashi soup with tender shrimp dumpling
Assortment of sashimi – lobster with crab roe and apple vinegar jelly;
shiro ebi with egg yolk and caviar; bonito with mitsuba
Charcoal grilled alfonsino covered with roasted rice
Sukiyaki Kuroge wagyu beef sirloin with white asparagus,
morel mushroons and onsen tamago
Rice simmered in sakura tea with deep fried sakura shrimp from surugawan bay
-196°C candy strawberry and 99°C strawberry jam
Trilogy of Japanese tea deserts presented in three different images – roasted tea crème brulee;
caramel ice cream; matcha wagashi mochi
Matcha

Pictorially

Deep fried Uni from Hokkaiso wrapped in seaweed, Junsai in lightly acidic broth

Foie gas flavoured with Porto and wasanbon sugar served with fresh figs and sesame cream sauce

Steamed abalone, lotus mochi and yuba simmered together with a sauce flavoured with mitsuba

Ichiban dashi soup with tender shrimp dumpling

Assortment of sashimi – lobster with crab roe and apple vinegar jelly; shiro ebi with egg yolk and caviar; bonito with mitsuba

Charcoal grilled alfonsino covered with roasted rice

Sukiyaki Kuroge wagyu beef sirloin with white asparagus, morel mushroons and onsen tamago

Rice simmered in sakura tea with deep fried sakura shrimp from surugawan bay

-196°C candy strawberry and 99°C strawberry jam

Trilogy of Japanese tea deserts presented in three different images – roasted tea crème brulee; caramel ice cream; matcha wagashi mochi

Matcha

One favourite item around the table was the foie gras with figs and sesame cream sauce. The foreign ingredient, foie gras, is married with the Japanese elements of sesame cream sauce and together it was one of those really dishes with layers of textures and flavours, very good.

The other favourite at the table was the sukiyaki. Although the white asparagus was in season it seemed rather misplaced in the dish but other than that, the richness from the yolk from the onsen tamago and the fatty beef was not this was this was bite after bite of savory comforting goodness.

One of my favourites was the steamed abalone, lotus mochi and yuba. The main elements – the abalone was soft and tender and the lotus mochi had toasted rice that added a little more flavour and and crunch were delicious and earthly smoky mitsuba sauce.

The RyuGin specialty dessert I’m convinced is thrown in to every menu for diner entertainment. The -196°C is a paper thin sugar shell in the shape of a strawberry filled with nitrogen-frozen strawberry ice cream. We were invited to crack the delicate strawberry open and after which they spoon over the 99°C strawberry jam. Good tasty fun.

The plates at RyuGin find beauty in the complexity in its simplicity. Chef Yamamoto is innovate but at the same time is very distinctively Japanese. My meal here was excellent. The ingredients are of an extremely high quality and I really appreciated about his culinary strokes were not only fine techniques but also the restraint that he had exercised that keeping everything in balance.

RyuGin
101/F, International Commerce Centre,
1 Austin Road, West Kowloon, HK
Tel: +852 2302 0222