The meal began with and amuse bouche of hamaguri (Japanese clams) with sea urchin from Hokkaido and noodles which was a fair hit of fresh fish to begin.  Poached oyster uni with seawater jelly was another well done starter which was delicate and light.  Amadai in agedashi style (tilefish served coated in starch and deep-fried) was served with turnip and kombu seaweed broth with chilli tempura.  The chilli was perfectly toned down and its tempura coating matched the fried serving of fish, all cooled nicely by the turnip and seaweed broth.

Then came something I will never forget.  Peach with tofu paste.  There are moments in meals when you instantaneously have your taste buds elevated to levels they have never been to and this was one of those moments.  It’s hard to describe just why this was so good, but please just try to imagine the freshest, most succulent peach (or anything!) you have ever had and then times it by ten.  This will get you close to how pure and wonderful this experience this was.  It was essentially more peach than a peach can be and frankly, the whole visit was worth that alone.

Kuruma shrimp dumpling in Ichiban dashi soup and bamboo fungas was a classic part of the meal where dasi (broth made from kombu seaweed, bonito flakes and other fish) comprises a very important component in any Japanese meal.  Charcoal grilled unagi freshwater eel was rich and served with wasabi for bite and then came a mystery element of pigeon with wasabi soy sauce.  Not only was this the best pigeon I have ever had but it was also dipped in one of the most intense soy dips with the perfect amount of wasabi to give its kick.  The judgement on this was at top notch.  

The sashimi was aori squid, abalone liver, kinmedai (or alfonsino or golden eye snapper – think of a goldfish with huge eyes) and bonito marinated in mustard, soy sauce, olive oil and Japanese chive – all carefully done.  Tomato water with jyunsai (watershed plant) was entirely refreshing.

Kegani crab porridge with yuba (residue of boiled soy milk – ‘Uba’ is old woman in Japanese and the wrinkly nature of milk residue gets its name from this).  Kegani is a hairy Japanese Crab and was made from crab shell stock with yellow Chinese wine and rice.  No complaints on this although it was good that the yuba’s inherent sour flavour was covered.

Hoji tea with konatsu (lemon-looking citrus) sorbet, coconut espuma with konatsu from Tosa Province (now Kochi Prefecture) was a pleasant and skilful dessert and also a nice surprise as most Japanese Kaiseki or traditional small plate meals usually only come with one dessert dish.  This more traditional serving of fruit came at the very end with figs that were again, knock out fruit, served with ice cream to cater for bumbling Westerners such as myself.

My dining associate then did something that is off the scale and bought a 1983 bottle of Chateaux d’Yqem which, I don’t want to even know how much that is.  I also don’t know what I have done to deserve such bounty but it was basically the most selfless and generous act anyone has ever done for me; thank you, ‘you know who you are’.

This was a meal that will not be forgotten, not just because of the occasion, but also the insanely powerful moments of food that leave you skipping away from an establishment wanting to punch the air with happiness and high five anyone around you.  Funny old thing, this Japanese head chef (Hidemichi Seki), cooking at the top of his game was not on a celebrity pathway but actually in the kitchen on our visit as the absolute finesse to the meal (knowing that the head chef himself cooked it for you).  I felt like giving the guy a hug at the end – I’m surprised I restrained myself.

Sushi Saito Hong Kong is located on the 45th floor of the Four Seasons Hotel and seats just 8 people only which makes gaining a reservation here a little more tricky obviously.  Once in and seated we were asked what I imagine many of you will not normally be asked in a restaurant which was “…what type of handmade or blown cup would you like to drink out of?”.  These types of Japanese venues care so much and this is one of the very first things presented to each diner – a tray of different kinds of drinking vessel to choose from. Our sommelier and host was superb in his hospitality throughout.

Ikiyu Kobayashi is the former soux chef from Sushi Saito in Tokyo and had been there for 8 years prior to coming over to Hong Kong as Saito’s entrusted viceroy to head up their second branch.  Watching this man at work was a pleasure and it was obvious very early on why he was chosen at the calm, skill and control he displayed preparing all of the produce at the counter. The other important note for this brand is that Chef Takashi Saito who heads the flagship branch in Tokyo personally goes to the Tsukiji market every morning to personally select the seafood produce to take this back to Sushi Saito in Tokyo and is also flown to Hong Kong directly from his choices that morning.

The meal began with octopus with shavings of crisp kombu seaweed which was fresh and texturally, a good training exercise for the mouth, to getting the jawbones loosened up.  Sea urchin was decadent and came with genuine wasabi on top, which was grated in the traditional way at the table using shark skin.  Then we had something that I have not had before and was utterly delightful – monkfish liver.  This had a similar texture and consistency to poultry foie gras but was also infinitely lighter in richness. This was sublime as it maintained a luxurious richness but not as heavy as meat liver and with the light soy was a supreme moment of Japanese food had.  Well done Ikiyu, well done.

Next came the entourage of tuna in full range of fatty tuna (otoro), medium fat tuna (chutoro) and lean tuna (akimi) all on the fabulously vinegared rice, real wasabi and beautifully sweetened, pickled ginger (which can be far too sharp, even in the best sushi restaurants).  These tuna sushi were wonderfully fresh and all in sensible portion sizes, beautifully crafted and presented, all in exactly the same way across the counter with no inconsistencies (superb skill displayed to achieve this).

A very clean and obviously massaged squid came next which was sumptuously silky and tender.  Mackerel was pleasing and this was followed by more sea urchin wrapped in delightfully light, sweet and crispy seaweed.  Glazed sea eel (anago) was so tender it was almost crumbly (not my favourite texture, but the flavour was very good) and a refreshing miso soup cleansed the palate before the final mixed roll of vegetables, prawn and sweetened egg omelette.  The sweetened egg omelette (tomago) is a speciality and the usual end to an authentic sushi meal within a Japanese restaurant, taking years for junior sushi chefs earning the right to cook this for diners at the counter.  This was undeniably good and again showed the genuine skill of chef Kobayashi who had clearly been at the helm of making this tomago.

The final bill for the tasting menu and saki came to £230 per person.  Although this was not the lengthiest tasting menu by sushi standards, this was actually very welcome because we the whole menu had been carefully conceived to not make us bloated in any way.  I would also say that the price, although high, was appropriate for the sheer quality of what was had.

How do I sum this meal up? The whole experience was grace and craftsmanship from start to finish and a special meal memory as a result.

The meal began with an amuse bouche of scallop with marinated fungus which had ethereally light batter which was lovely, but the deep-fried treatment had made the scallop harder than would have been ideal.  A trio of appetisers followed with jellyfish (smokey and buttery), South African abalone (too hard), fried and diced codfish with honey (which was wonderful) and an average offering of Cantonese-style BBQ pork.  

Crabmeat was next, stewed in imperial birds nest (bird’s spit) and bamboo fungus soup.  This is a delicacy and whilst I appreciate how much work goes into the foraging of the bird’ spit (the only way is for natives of the area to risk their lives in some cases climbing almost impossibly difficult cliff faces to handpick the bird’s nests which have been made using their own saliva), it is an acquired taste.  Still, the punch of the stock was obvious.

Baked fresh lobster in the chicken broth made it difficult to truly enjoy any lobster flavour and personally I think this would have been far more successful if it had a simple light brush of egg yolk instead.    Next came stir-fried Japanese wagyu with green vegetables, coriander and spring onion and this was very nicely sourced beef.  Yet, I have now had genuine wagyu in numerous different contexts, be it with Matcha at Hajime in Osaka, as the ultimate Matsuzake at Dons de la Nature in Tokyo, as Kobe with garlic oil and mustard in Kobe and with apple and miso in Mizai in Kyoto and these have put wagyu on an altogether different plane of dining appreciation for wagyu.  This version at T’ang Court, whilst not disagreeable in the fine substance it was, does not come close to how it can be prepared and served in these ways and almost comes across as lazy, which is disappointing for a 3 Michelin starred restaurant.

E-fu noodle with conpoy (dried scallop) and black mushroom was a pleasantly salty noodle dish but no more and to finish there were some pleasant fruits on a platter presented.  However, again, as nice as these fruits were, they simply were not to the biblical standard as they are in Japan.

Based on this, the experience seemed almost like a formality towards the end and whilst the $1080 HK which equates to roughly £106 per person was not a criminal charge, that can by a lot of street noodles and goose skin that can be found at places on Wan Chai Road on the Northside of Hong Kong island where there are also delectable pastel de natas, made with wonderfully spun puff pastry, served on virtually every street corner.  As a summary, I would prefer to be having these latter scenarios any day of the week in comparison.

The amuse bouche consisted of a powerful beetroot gazpacho with buffalo ricotta cheese and cherry.  This was indeed punchy and a good start.  Tuna tartare with citrus, tofu emulsion and oscietra caviar was balanced well enough and the parpadelle of lamb ragout, porcini mushroom and mint was a good parpadelle dish.

Veal chop Milanese style (i.e. in the style of Milan) was breaded and delightfully thin with a very good breadcrumb coating albeit, just a chop in breadcrumbs.  The ratte potatoes, Sicilian tomatoes and oregano salad were clean accompaniments.  Burrata cheese ravioli was all that you could hope for using these simple ingredients with cherry tomatoes, aubergine and basil.  Cherry tomatoes were also offered on the side as a very welcome addition.

A lemon mousse served as a cleansing pre-dessert and for the desserts, the absolute star of the show (for the whole meal) was the limoncello souffle with citrus salad and lemon gelato which was utterly delectable – soft, creamy and oozing with flavour.  The crispy pear tart was another staple so this needed to be tried and was also very good especially with the silky smooth vanilla gelato melting on top of it.

An assortment of petit fours followed including pasticcini (pastry horns with cream), nougat, chocolate and tartlets.  All were as good as one can make nougat etc, but are ultimately not at the top of the tree for me.  The bill came to £346 for two, meaning £173 per head with wines which did not resemble a crime, but was above the norm in price for what was had. It wasn’t a bad meal at all, but at the same time, I find the award of 3 Michelin stars far too generous for what are essentially some good Italian dishes and given the choice, I would sooner have 2 large portions of fogatelli at the recently closed Beck at Browns in comparison.

The pastries, oils and dim sum in particular were absolutely divine.  We were aware from multiple reviews that these aspects and dim sum was their forte, and we were glad to have experienced.  There are only so many ways in which these dishes can be above A-grade but there was no dispute as to how good they were.  The pork cubes produced a moment of sheer happiness and are worthy of being acknowledged.

The lesser end of the scale however, was discovered during the rice, soup and desserts which I felt were completely bland and even the petits fours of jelly cubes seem to have virtually no flavour and were a huge disappointment.  Chinese desserts would appear to be a refined taste and based on the Michelin starred Chinese desserts had, the traditional ones are simply not for me.  I appreciate my tastes will be different to many, but the boring nature and bland, almost savoury overtones present within these traditional soup deserts simply do not excite or entice me.  Therefore, as an experience, this was a pleasant one with a couple of very pleasing moments but nothing more and I struggled to see why this restaurant had been awarded 3 Michelin stars.

I cannot begin to describe enough how happy the food here made me. For all the style in the world that 3 Michelin restaurants have, it took a tapas bar with no Michelin star to make me literally glow inside when it came to the dishes had.  The truffle and quail egg mini croque-monsieur was a stroke of genius, perfectly balanced and wonderful comfort food combined with a little decadence; the mushroom, egg and cream bake was heaven with the yolk perfectly runny and rich within the other components, all scooped up with wafer thin bread crisps; the pork meat within the mini burgers put Joel Robuchon’s 3 Michelin mini burgers in danger of being overtaken and the marshmallow, strawberries and strawberry sorbet desert was frankly an explosion of happiness.   All the things that one loves were done in these dishes and to a perfect degree, served in a fun and vibrant environment making it one of the highlights of the year.  It was such a nice event that it has actually joined the annals of my top food memories of all time all considered.

The biggest winner of the whole meal was actually not on the tasting menu which we ordered (and which did have some pleasing moments, probably most notably in the amuse bouche) but was actually in the Peking duck with pancakes and hoi sin sauce.  Obviously this dish has an advantage being an absolute favourite anyway, however it genuinely was among the nicest I have ever had in the golden quality of the skin, faultless tenderness of the meat and perfectly balanced sauce.

However the real stars of this show was the pan fried foie gras with apple sorbet and pepper which was superbly done and the wagyu beef with truffled macaroni – these two dishes were straight from the Gods and they, with the overall price of the menu being so reasonable (£50 per head for the tasting menu) made it an absolute bargain.  The only real aspect of a disappointment being the abrupt service we had with one of the seemingly senior waiters on the floor (poor interpersonal skill and did not make any effort to engage in a fun manner or want to listen to requests).

The bottom line is that it was quite difficult to see the exact difference.  The bits I did notice however,  were that the bread selection was far superior at this establishment (aspects such as the mini croissants were utterly divine) and serious attention had gone in to the making of these.  The other aspect I noticed came with the foie gras mini burgers, which had thin cut fries (as opposed to the crinkle cut chips found in London branch) as well as being served with a ginger ketchup which was beautifully viscous and tasty.  Other than that I couldn’t detect too many other differences other than white truffle which I have not seen  on the menu at L’Atelier London and the service was immaculate here in Hong Kong as opposed to just good, which I have experienced at the other L’Ateliers.  What I was very surprised to see was a bottle of my favourite champagne (Ruinart Blanc de Blanc) available for £70 which was shared and was very good value to have at a restaurant.

All in all this was a wonderful Sunday evening bite to eat which, in casual clothing, to that standard at that time of the week, you would have to search very far to rival.