Two Tiers of Japanese Dining in Hong Kong

There was a saying I’ve heard several times from expats in Hong Kong. If you really want good sushi, just buy a ticket to Japan.

That’s been sitting with me for a while now. I’ve eaten in Japan, in fact all over the country from Hokkaido down to Yakushima. I’ve also eaten Japanese food in Sha Tin, in Tsim Sha Tsui, in malls and even conveyor belts sushi spots I keep coming back to here in Kong Kong. And I think the expat wisdom is right, but only about one very specific thing, and wrong about almost everything else.

Here’s what I mean.

Hong Kong has somewhere around 3,800 Japanese restaurants. That number is almost impossible to picture. The scene is enormous, and much of it is genuinely good. But not all of it is equal. And the expat saying, frustrating as it is, is pointing at something real.

In one of my past conversations in talking food, the way you always do in Hong Kong. Sushi came up and I mentioned how hard it was to get a reservation at some of the top omakase spots. Everyone around the table knew what I was talking about. One friend put it plainly. There are maybe three places in the city worth going to, and at those prices, you’re better off just flying to Japan. Flights are cheap enough that it actually makes sense.

I didn’t disagree. At the top end, they were right.

To run a serious omakase counter in Hong Kong, you’re flying fish in daily from Toyosu, paying Central or TST rent, and staffing a room that seats a limited number of people. Those patrons have to cover all of it. Japan doesn’t have those import costs, the fish is already there, and the rent is a different conversation entirely.

The result is a very short list. Sushi Shikon has held three Michelin stars since 2014, eight seats, dinner around HKD $4,000. Sushi Saito takes reservations by phone only, not on Wednesdays, dinner close to HKD $3,500. These are serious restaurants. But even at that level, the honest comparison to Japan is uncomfortable. I did read one reviewer who ate at Saito Hong Kong wrote that it would be unfair to compare it to the Roppongi original. Why? It was more than just the food, it’s the overall experience.

So, when the yen dropped, and the math changed fast. Flying to Tokyo got cheap. Eating there got cheaper. But here’s where that saying falls short. It just about the sushi. Specifically omakase sushi. And that’s a narrow slice of what Japanese dining in Hong Kong actually is. The other specialty shops, yakiniku to sukiyaki, and even the novelty ones, conveyor belt sushi to seafood grill shops, are all thriving here. And I have to say, sometimes I forget I’m in Hong Kong.

This might be attributed to the fact these places are social places, the kind you show up with a group of friends. You sit around chatting and having good food. Talking up a storm with each other, not with the chef who’s meticulously preparing your next dish. Or maybe it’s just me and I see these establishments as different tiers of dining.

So when someone around the table says just fly to Japan for the sushi, I don’t disagree. At the very top, for the handful of counters where the comparison to Tokyo is uncomfortable even for the restaurants themselves, they’re right. The ticket is worth it.

But if that’s all you take from Hong Kong’s Japanese dining scene, you’re missing most of it. The city has spent a hundred years building something that isn’t trying to be Japan. It’s its own thing — dense, competitive, and operating at a level that most cities in the world can’t touch outside of Japan itself.