Whampoa has a plethora of new seafood restaurants all under one roof, thanks to Nine Seafood Place. The mall boasts both retail outlets and eateries, priding itself on the produce its restaurants serve, 80 percent of which is from Japan.
We’re here to check out the new Sushi Shota. Formerly located in Causeway Bay, the Michelin-recommended sushi bar has had a brief hiatus before re-opening across the harbour. We enter the light and airy restaurant and take a seat at the bar, to watch the chef at work. We start with the young yellowtail sushi ($30). It’s buttery and smooth, with a pleasant coppery note at the back. Up next is the scallop sushi ($40) and although it’s a huge, plump scallop, it could be a little sweeter. The botan shrimp sushi ($80) is rather unpleasant. It’s overly sticky and stringy and it could certainly be fresher – perhaps it’s not such a bad thing that any flavour is drowned out by the wasabi underneath. The salmon sushi ($30) has no real distinctive taste but the sea urchin warship ($130) brings it back. Wrapped in a satisfyingly crunchy piece of seaweed, the uni is rich and creamy, if a tad too cold.
Things continue to look up with the arrival of the fatty tuna sushi ($40). It’s wonderfully melt-in-your-mouth, as is the grilled turbot rim sushi ($80), which is delicately charred. The sweet shrimp sushi ($40) fares better than the botan variety, but it’s still a tad tough. We finish with a scoop of black sesame ice cream ($30), which is one of the better incarnations of this desert we’ve had. It’s not excessively sweet or too savoury, perfectly balancing creaminess and nuttiness.
Overall, Sushi Shota is a decent experience. We leave stuffed to the brim and relaxed about the cost. Though it’s not the cheapest, the meal’s a decent price for sushi. That said, we hope Sushi Shota can find it’s old form and achieve the high status of its previous location.