My last day in Hong Kong, as my afternoon flight back to Toronto approached, I hung out in my favourite locale, Times Square / Causeway Bay. Whereas the weather had been cool for most of my trip, this last day was a balmy 20 degrees and sunny, and I enjoyed just lounging around outside people watching.
Soon, however, I had to plan what meal would be suitably safe and satisfying to last me on my trip back. Genki Sushi, connected directly to the Causeway Bay MTR, seemed a safe choice: a typical Japanese conveyor-belt restaurant.
Before I even began eating, I had two interesting experiences. One was the way tea was served; I had to watch another diner to figure out that there were “taps” at each seat, and that the anonymous black containers contained green tea powder. As someone who frequently asks the service staff for more tea, I thought this was a brilliant idea.
The tea powder itself was pretty interesting; it was such a fine powder it could easily create green puffs of “smoke”, and dissolved quite readily. Tasted about as good as I might regularly get at a restaurant, and it doesn’t “water down” over time either!
The other notable pre-dining experience was when my neighbour asked me about my camera, as I was taking pictures of the hot water dispenser. A personal note, but I was surprised I could carry on a conversation in Cantonese about what kind of camera I had, how new it was, and the lens. Really, I was surprised, I didn’t think I knew enough words (though the conversation was short and simple).
On to the food!
Naturally, being the last meal in Hong Kong, and having a lengthy flight ahead (and that I am happy for any excuse to gorge on good food) I decided on an anything-that-looks-good selection criteria, as the dishes passed by.
It began with soft-shell crab maki:
And then I simply could not resist this oh-so-fatty tuna as it came by (I tried! Guilt held me back until the third time it passed by!):
Being a fan of properly made unagi (i.e. good texture, not drowning in sweet sauce), I was very happy when this delicious unagi nigiri “fell” off the belt before me:
Some of the dishes looked better than they actually were, and hence I don’t really remember what fish this was (seared tuna?):
And yet another poor choice with some kind of beef nigiri; how silly of me to try to have red meat at a sushi place:
The dining experience picked up again with a shrimp tempura maki:
And then plateaued a bit with some salmon nigiri/sashimi (no complaints, but salmon tastes the same everywhere it seems), and a crab claw (interesting, but not much else):
Trying to inject a little more health into my diet, and feeling pretty full, I took a “breather” by slowly snacking on some edamame:
Until I finally caved and just *had* to try that fatty tuna again (equally great the second time, even when full!):
As I sipped some tea in satisfaction over a luxurious, but surprisingly food-coma’less meal, I surveyed the damage:
Gluttonous indulgence? Assuredly. Great experience? Absolutely. That beautifully marbled fatty tuna belly still haunts my foodie dreams. :p
