There is no greater bond in Hong Kong than between the city’s foodies and Japanese food. To many concerned Hong Kong diners, highly conscious of the best meals to be enjoyed in the city, Japanese cuisine has become totally engrossing within the restaurant scene.
The adoration for the cuisine takes its early roots in the 1980s as Japan’s economy boomed and business and pleasure travel extended to Hong Kong, earning the cuisine a foothold in the city.
The assiduous nature of Japanese cooking – the premium quality of ingredients, ornate attention to detail, strict service protocol – stands out in Asia amongst the perfectly imperfect cuisines of Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and South Korea, where mess and a clashing of flavours is celebrated. Japanese food is calculated and precise.
To date, 3,809 Japanese restaurants operate in Hong Kong, according to OpenRice, as compared to 949 Thai, 909 Sichuanese, and 555 Korean restaurants.
“Hong Kong people love Japanese culture and regard Japan as their second home,” says Yip Yuk Hong, general manager of Japanese chain restaurants at Maxim’s Group, the franchisee owner of sen-ryo and Genki Sushi.
Yuk Hong speaks of an “affordable luxury” for Hong Kongers with sen-ryo’s success on the market, celebrating its 20th anniversary with 17 stores across Hong Kong.
“In addition to high-quality products and services, Japanese restaurants such as sen-ryo provide a comfortable dining environment, which is more affordable than other high-end restaurants, allowing more Hong Kong people to enjoy authentic Japanese premium sushi.”
sen-ryo’s handmade Edomae sushi menus rank more affordable than competing omakase restaurants in Hong Kong, with the latter garnering price tags of HKD1,000+ for a meal. “With affordable prices and friendly smiles, you can taste the real Japan here.”
An 18-piece platter of sushi at sen-ryo is priced at just HKD352, a fraction of the cost compared to a high-end omakase restaurant. Two piece sushi sets range in price from HKD20 to HKD58.
Select Japanese ingredients are imported daily to Hong Kong, ensuring the same quality and experience can be enjoyed at each 17 locations in sen-ryo.
“Hong Kong people’s love for Japanese culture and food has made Japanese cuisine the first choice for Hong Kong people’s daily diet,” Yuk Hong comments.
Kenichi Fujimoto agrees with Yip Yuk Hong; many Hong Konger’s hearts’ lie in Japan. The founder and chef of Sushi Fujimoto understands Hong Kong’s love for his home country’s cuisine – its precise nature and bounty of flavour – as distinctly unique in Asia.
“Hong Kong is the only place in the world where we can import fresh fish daily, arriving at our restaurant at 4PM. Hong Kongers can tell the freshness of our fish.”
Customers locally are spoilt for choice with omakase dining in Hong Kong. At Sushi Fujimoto, Kenichi is intent to make meals more personable, intimate, and explorative.
“People like Sushi Fujimoto because chefs at Japanese restaurants in Japan are very shy, strict, and super traditional. In Hong Kong, we close the distance between the chef and customer, explaining how we prepare and serve the fish, and creating a bond with people who come here.”
With increased inflation and currency fluctuations, Kenichi says that top sushi restaurants in Japan cannot afford the premium ingredients that Sushi Fujiomoto imports, enticing customers to sample the best of omakase. Hong Kong’s Japanese restaurants can.
Their signature six-hour steamed 800 gram abalone is rare in Japan, where the seafood dish is only available in small quantities. Their miso soup uses imported Japanese onsen water and dried bonito flakes to share true-to-taste flavours.
To the benefit of Hong Kong’s government driving Japanese investment in the city, the restaurant scene has enjoyed a post-pandemic flurry of Japanese concepts and franchise locations. Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa is one brand to grace Hong Kong with the opening of their 30th global store in 2025.
The 93-year-old Japanese eel specialist restaurant chain opened in Causeway Bay. Run by Kikukawa Yuhei, a fourth generation member of the Kikukawa family, the restaurant serves large-sized eels, with a focus on crisp skin, juicy meat, and driving umami flavours.
“Japan has one of the world’s best restaurant cultures in terms of taste, service, and cleanliness,” Kikukawa tells Foodie.
“[Hong Kong has] many people who like Japanese culture, rather than just Japanese food. This commitment to [value and service] is well-known to the people of Hong Kong.”
Eel is a familiar seafood product to the Hong Kong palate, primarily by way of Japanese and southern Chinese cuisine. Introducing an eel-speciality restaurant to Hong Kong was a sensible operation.
“We have restaurants in seven countries around the world, but we don’t adapt the taste to the local taste in any of them. This is because we want to convey Japanese culture to the world as it is. We believe that service is very important in a restaurant, not just the taste.”
Their unagi (eel) meal sets range in price from HKD298 to HKD395, accounting for the fresh import of Japan’s top eel.
Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa’s arrival to Hong Kong was supported by InvestHK, involved in an initiative in mid 2024 to attract Japanese vendors to expand their territory to Hong Kong with the city’s love for the cuisine.
“InvestHK is elated to see international brands coming to Hong Kong to feed into the city’s growth as a food hub for gourmet lovers. We are happy to continue supporting food businesses eager to open locations in Hong Kong,” remarks Sindy Wong, head of tourism & hospitality at InvestHK.
“We passionately believe Hong Kong is a leader globally for serving top-quality food and daring cuisines. With an explosion of Japanese food in recent years, customers are now able to explore unique sub-cuisines from varied locations in Japan. We are happy to see Hong Kong’s love with Japanese food grow multifold!
“Companies here will continue to thrive with Hong Kong people’s constant search for good food. Only the best and most innovative can survive and thrive here!”
