We chanced upon this Japanese restaurant near the Sheraton in Kowloon as we were trying to get a restaurant booking for Christmas. I was surprised we got one.
A temple of authentic omakase kappou dining culture originating from Japan’s ancient culinary capital of Kyoto, Mu 炑 comfortably seats 14 people at a simple counter within an airy 1,000 sq. ft. space.
The chef’s exquisite multi-course menu of fresh premium produce and seafood catches bows to seasonality and his imagination whilst showcasing a wide variety of signature Japanese cooking methods.
Mu 炑 Lunch Menu
先付 Selection of appetizer
The first appetiser is a very Cantonese style picked cherry tomatoes in plum sauce. Very Asian, not Japanese, to serve pickled cherry tomatoes. They could do better with the appetisers given the price of this lunch.
Japanese pickles are served with lunch, and not as appetisers. Again it is more a Chinese habit to serve pickles as appetisers as it is simple to do so.
茶碗蒸しSteamed egg
I enjoyed the texture of the chawanmushi. It was really smooth and simply melts in your mouth. You could taste the egg and umami of the dashi in it.
季節お造り 一品 One seasonal sashimi
The set came with one piece of sashimi, the Japanese amberjack marinated in soy sauce.
季節お造り 三品 Three seasonal sashimi
We swapped the sushi for sashimi, and got three seasonal cuts of fish from Japan.
We got some kanpachi from two parts of the fish, near the dorsal and from the body. The dorsal cut was crunchy and delicious.
北海道生雲丹 Hokkaido Sea Urchin (a la carte)
Darling and I love sea urchin as a sashimi and it is difficult to get good ones in US. So we simply ordered the two types of Hokkaido sea urchin available. Murasaki uni feeds on wakame (seaweed) rather than kombu and had a lighter, saltier flavour. Bafun uni can be found in deep ocean territory and results in a smaller gonads with more complex flavours.
焼きまぐろ類 Grilled Tuna Jaw
When this next course was served I was surprised by the size of it. 焼きまぐろ類 Grilled tuna jaw was aptly done, not to salted and also not grilled enough to release the oil in the jaw.
十勝A4和牛すじ、大根 Tokachi Wagyu Beef Tendon With Radish
The simmered dish in the set was a very well executed beef in radish stew. The light broth was rich and full of the beefy goodness.
天ぷら 二品 Two Kinds of Tempura
The two pieces came together, Hokkaido hotate (scallop), and kabocha (pumpkin). The ingredients were of high quality, but I felt the frying was a bit overdone.
A4近江和牛御飯 Oumi A4 Wagyu Beef Rice お出し Red Miso Soup
Tanindon 他人丼, or “stranger’s bowl” is a classic donburi dish made with beef or pork with sliced onion and egg cooked in a savoury-and-slightly sweet sauce and served atop of steamed rice. The beef bowl with the runny eggs was absolutely delicious. A4 Ohmi wagyu beef A4近江和牛 is used in this case, and the marbling of this excellent wagyu (IMHO, the best among the Top 3) makes it perfect for the donburi.
デザート Dessert
The ice cream was surprisingly good – the brandy soaked raisins went very well with the vanilla ice cream.
We had tried two lunch sets from Mu, I had to say we would not be coming back specially for their sashimi or tempura. Both are not exactly tip top. They actually missed two pieces of tempura for me, and when they fired up the oil again, they totally missed the temperature. Service was good and their kappou meals are ok.
炑 Mu
UG01-03, UG/F, H Zentre, 15 Middle Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
尖沙咀中間道15號H Zentre UG/F UG 01-03
Tel : +852 6617 6602
Visited Dec 2024
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