Kaohsiung Hidden Alley Sushi Shop

The restaurant offers great privacy with 2 separate private rooms each with its own bar. One room can accommodate more than ten people, suitable for large family and friends gatherings. Today, we are seated in the smaller room, which can also hold up to 8 people. A dedicated chef takes care of us, and the chef serving us today looks like a friendly neighbor but is meticulous in his craft, hailing from Tokyo's Edomae background, with his own culinary philosophy and artisanal dedication. Hokkaido Short Horn Red Beef Exquisite Menu | $1780 Appetizer There are three kinds of food on the plate. First is the chrysanthemum greens with tuna shavings, where the slight salty fragrance of the tuna shavings brings out the fresh aroma of the chrysanthemum greens' stems. Then there's the eel fry with homemade Tosa vinegar, and lastly, the Hokkaido Akkeshi oysters, from Japan's only year-round oyster-producing coast, slow-cooked in sesame oil, still retaining a crisp and firm texture upon tasting. Second Course The chef's signature dish is the Hokkaido soft-boiled octopus. It is introduced that it is slow-cooked for 4 hours with homemade sauce and radish, insisting on being made fresh daily. The texture is surprisingly soft and not chewy, and can be flavored with yuzu pepper and freshly ground wasabi. First Creation There is a sea bream from Ehime Prefecture, exclusively raised on mandarin orange oil from juvenile to adult, which keeps the fish fresh and less prone to discoloration. When eaten, there is no fishy taste and it has a faint mandarin orange fragrance. Another dish is the red flesh of tuna from Aomori Prefecture. This sashimi uses a soy sauce marination technique, and after 10 days of aging, the umami of the fish is further concentrated, making it taste even sweeter than freshly caught sashimi. Second Creation Moving on to the Wagyu beef section, starting with a cold dish of Wagyu tartare, paired with Japanese ginger flower and yellow fruit radish puree, the taste has multiple layers, appetizing yet with a sense of marbling, not too greasy even after eating a lot. Vinegared Dish The intermezzo is a dish of yam noodles, with thin and crispy salty nori, refreshing the palate. Warm Dish The cut chosen is the sirloin for shabushabu. The chef starts with kombu broth, and after a quick blanch, the Wagyu is slightly pink, with the kombu bringing out the sweetness of the beef. Underneath are Japanese leeks, maitake mushrooms, cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, etc. The simpler the cooking method, the more it highlights the exquisite taste, with the chef pursuing a beautiful presentation. Steamed Dish Another special intermezzo dish is the seemingly ordinary chawanmushi, but upon opening, one finds a large luminescent squid inside, with more surprises hidden within, inviting everyone to discover. Main Course The main dish turns out to be a choice between two, and I ordered the breaded A5 Wagyu ribeye, topped with horse dung sea urchin for the ultimate luxury. The exterior is crispy, the interior is soft, slowly melting in the mouth to release a burst of umami. I particularly appreciate the freshly ground sesame sauce, which is fragrant and moderately sweet and salty. Soup Homemade fish soup, all ingredients are top-grade fresh fish air-flown by the restaurant. Dessert Red bean strawberry mochi