‘We’ll take your money, but we’ll kick you out’ – Sushi Zo, where head chef Fumio Azumi wants only serious eaters

It was such a promising start to the evening.

We were at Sushi Zo for a hosted dinner and review, and we had high expectations for the restaurant. The brainchild of chef Keizo Seki, who has omakase restaurants in Tokyo, Bangkok, Los Angeles and New York, the establishments in the US each hold a Michelin star. While chef Takashi Saito was in town for the grand opening of the Hong Kong branch of Sushi Saito, Seki sent chef Fumio Azumi in his stead.

Azumi, an Osaka native who has spent 20 years in LA, greeted us on our hosted dinner at Sushi Zo with friendly banter. Such amicability is rare among traditional sushi chefs, which promised a night of creative cuisine and merriment. However, things didn’t materialise the way the night promised.

Sushi Zo can be found among the lower levels of the main building inside Tai Kwun. Like most omakase experiences, where the focus is what’s on the plate, the decor is made up of clean lines and fine wood and a 12-seat counter. Similar omakase restaurants such as Sushi Saito and Sushi Shikon can seat only eight guests per sitting, Sushi Zo allows for larger parties and more customers.

For HK$2,500 (US$320) plus service charge, the omakase at Sushi Zo serves up a whopping 18 dishes. Their proud boast is that their style is the softest sushi in town – the better to enhance the appreciation of the fresh and exclusive produce. But we found this to be a hit-and-miss approach.

First the hits. We found that soft sushi works best with similar textured ingredients such as the lightly seared otoro topped with a slice of truffle, where the aromatic ingredients just tingled on the palate. Dashi ikura, or salmon roe infused with clear broth, and served in a bowl of shallow sushi rice, achieved the same effect with small portions of rice serving as a vehicle to showcase superior produce.