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

Singapore - Nirai Kanai

Okinawa is about a mid way between Taiwan and Japan and Okinawan cuisine displays the influences from the 2 countries. Light touches with pockets of heartiness seems to be the order of the day, and poring through the menu at Nirai Kanai and the Tanglin Shopping Centre, there is an excellent balance you can strike for yourself depending on whether you feel like stuffing yourself, or just ordering snacks to down your shochu or sake with.

I particularly liked the Peanut Tofu in Soya Sauce, which was fragrant but light and smooth to down. A twist to the usual sesame tofu I've had in other places, but different in a good way.




The other dish I liked to the bone was the deep fried pork knuckle. Ok, so it's not the healthiest option but it was YUMMY!!! I love the melting collagen behind the crispy skin and the lemon wedge lifted the greasiness from the wondrous knuckles!

The other dishes we had were less memorable - the dressing on the pig ears with bean sprout salad was a little too tart for me. And the rice balls were kinda like your Chinese flavoured rice but patted prettily into a Japanese onigiri.

The other not-so-good-looking dish but which would be excellent to down with a bowl of white rice would be the silk gourd stir fried with tofu and luncheon meat. Hearteh!!!
A no frills joint if you want to mingle with the Japanese work folk in Singapore.

177 River Valley Road
#B1-01/02 Liang Court Shopping Centre
6339 4811