To be awarded three Michelin stars anywhere is quite a big deal and I was all the more curious about this sushi-ya in Hong Kong to see if it measured up to those in Japan. It was only at the end of the meal that I found out that Shikon is the Hong Kong branch of Tokyo’s Sushi Yoshitake, also 3-starred. Happily, I think Shikon measures up to its Tokyo parent although given the relative cost, I think the Tokyo original is more affordable.

I’d actually been to Sushi Yoshitake back in December 2012 and I recall its signature abalone sashimi as being distinctive.  I was there while the sushi-ya’s main chef Masahiro Yoshitake was in Hong Kong setting up the new branch so I knew that there was an outpost in Hong Kong but I always thought it was also named Sushi Yoshitake. Hence, reflecting my impulse move to dine at Sushi Shikon (because I was staying in the Mercer Hotel where it is located), I was totally unaware of its parentage. I think this worked out well because I had no preconceptions of what to expect.

Sushi Shikon seats a maximum of eight diners around its counter. It has a staff of six, most of whom are behind the counter or in the kitchen. But no matter, a staff to guest ratio of almost 1:1 means that the service is seamless. A waitress stood behind me on my end of the counter to make sure our glasses were always topped up but as a testament to their professionalism, I never noticed them.

There is no a la carte menu, only an omakase priced at HKD1,800 for lunch and HKD3,500 for dinner. The signature abalone dish is only available at dinner. For lunch, I’d suggest calling ahead by at least 48 hours to ensure that there is space. Reservations are probably a must for dinner as there are two seatings: at 6pm and 8:30pm. The entire meal takes around two hours. Because I was dining alone, I decided to try my luck and it just turned out they had space for one person.

My dinner consisted of six appetisers and ten sushi courses followed by soup and dessert. The first appetiser was salmon roe (ikura) mixed with sliced okra and radish. This was following by a seasonal white fish sashimi, which for the night was a rock fish. I really liked the rock fish as it was served with the skin lightly charred and a side sauce of rock fish bone reduction mixed with soya sauce and yuzu.

We then had two of Sushi Shikon’s (and Sushi Yoshitake) signature dishes – a slow cooked octopus and the famous abalone. Sushi Shikon’s executive chef is Yoshiharu Kakinuma who worked in Sushi Yoshitake for a number of years before moving out to Hong Kong. Chef “Kaki” is essentially Hong Kong’s first Michelin three-star sushi chef. The nice thing about Chef Kaki is that he was able to add info on the dishes when I asked. However, he was reluctant to provide me with details on the restaurant’s secret sauce that the octopus is marinated in as well as what the abalone liver sauce is mixed with. Can’t blame him for that – they are both good.

I have to say that Sushi Shikon’s abalone (from Shimane for the night I was there) was the best I’ve ever had. I’m not a big fan of abalone as I think it can be a bit too fishy for my liking. And I remember I found the liver sauce that accompanies the dish in Sushi Yoshitake a bit strong. However, I really enjoyed the sauce at Sushi Shikon so that I soaked it up with the sushi rice provided. Fantastic!

The last two appetisers were a seared bonito that had also been smoked with some hay and a mixture of sea urchin (uni) with seaweed from Okinawa and mountain yam.

I now moved onto the ten sushi courses, which started with the more delicate tasting items – namely squid and white fish before moving onto the tuna, mackerel, shell fish and ending with the sea eel and tamago. Sushi Shikon blends old and new rice to make its shari (sushi rice). The reason for using old rice is because new rice tends to be more watery and thus, doesn’t absorb the vinegar well.

I’m a big fan of sea urchin (uni) and Sushi Shikon used two different types of uni – both of which were from Hokkaido. The redder hued uni is from the green sea urchin while the lighter coloured and creamier uni is from the purple sea urchin. I was tempted to have a second helping of this at the end of the meal if I weren’t so full.

After the tamago – egg – sushi, we had soup and a dessert. Needless to say, after the anago sushi, I pretty much felt the highlights of the meal was complete. The soup was good but it’s hard to compete with the uni and abalone. I can’t recall what the dessert consisted of other than the peach. It photographs quite prettily, though.

Sushi Shikon is open for lunch and dinner, Monday – Saturday. Reservations a must.

Sushi Shikon website: http://sushi-shikon.com