From the same founder of Yardbird, Ronin brings a high-end izakaya experience to Hong Kong with researched and innovative dishes based on Japanese ingredients.
I have been a couple of times and I liked the atmosphere. Here’s a write-up of my most recent visit in September 2019.
The visit
Ronin is located behind an unmarked black door in a non-descript building in Soho. It might be a bit difficult to find for first-timers. It is a long and narrow dining venue (similar to Okra Kitchen).
I had a reservation made on their website for the first turn and I showed up right at the opening at 6pm. There were already a few customers waiting outside. By the time I left the place was full (see picture above).
The best seats are at the counter and once again I was assigned seat number 1 at the end of the counter. As usual staff was friendly and very keen to discuss the dishes and make recommendations. The menu is divided in three parts: raw (sashimi), smaller (kind of appetizers), and bigger (dishes suitable for sharing among two people). While the menu is one-pager, there is enough choice to keep you pondering. I initially ordered one item from each category and then added an additional dish from the “smaller” dishes (the crabs).
I was offered a small appetizer with wakame (a type of edible seaweed) and dashi stock before starting with my dishes.
My first dish was two portions of sashimi. aji and kanpachi. The kanpachi came with a very nice sauce made out of Japanese long onion (negi). In general, all of their sashimi was carefully paired with sauces and dressings.
Then I tried their monaka burger. Monaka (a kind of Japanese wafer) is very popular in high-end restaurants nowadays, but this was the first time I saw it used as a burger bun. Meat was from Kagoshima.
My main dish was their quail deep-fried with sansho pepper and orange. This was an exquisite piece of meat.
Finally I tried their Sawagami crabs. This is a small freshwater crab from Japan, quite rare outside their homeland. Their were deep fried, but I expected them to be more tender. They were crunchy, but also very hard. The dish was less pleasant than expected.
The check
The check was 790 HKD, exactly 100 USD and a few dimes. Overall it was a pleasant experience, service was good and the ingredients top-shelf. There were some touches of creativity that made the menu unique (like the monaka burger).
As I mentioned for Okra, unfortunately the value proposition of these luxury restaurants in Hong Kong is problematic, even if I have to admit that it has its own original vibe.
Where in Hong Kong:
8 on Wo Lane (the black door!).
Website: https://roninhk.com/.