Causeway Bay is a mecca for Japanese food. There is a whole street seemingly devoted to ramen, yet another teeming with Japanese dessert shops. Yakitori, yakiniku, soba, udon, sushi, tempura, matcha sweets, kakigori, you name it, it's in Causeway Bay.
In fact, the choices are a bit overwhelming.
In fact, a simple search for Japanese restaurants yields well over 250 results in Causeway Bay alone. I haven't come close to even tasting a fraction of them. However, so far I've been rather pleased with the ones I've tried.
Most recently, Bryan and I enjoyed great food at a fun, casual izakaya right in the heart of Causeway Bay called Firebird Japanese Grill and Bar.
Firebird is like an izakaya with a focus on grilled meats. The restaurant emphasizes fresh, high quality ingredients and imports a lot of its ingredients from Japan.
The menu is rather extensive, including sushi and sashimi, udon and rice balls, all the classic yakitori (grilled chicken) selections, A4 wagyu beef, and grilled seafood.
It's a bar as well, and offers sake, shochu, whiskey, beer, and wine. They also make some fun and unusual cocktails (and mocktails!) incorporating Asian ingredients.
We started with a simple Chilled Potato Salad (HKD 79), which was simple but spot on.
The Chicken Caesar Salad with Slow Cooked Japanese Chicken (HKD98) had tender chicken but otherwise was not particularly memorable or special. It was a fine source of vegetables but did not stand out.
One of my favorite yakitori skewers has always been the Chicken Meat Ball with Japanese Egg Yolk (HKD 44), and the version at Firebird was very good.
Grilled Japanese A4 Wagyu Beef is sold per 100g, with a minimum spend of HKD230 and up. You can enjoy it simply grilled, in sukiyaki, or "Yokohama style".
We decided to enjoy it just simply grilled with garlic, which was delicious.
They cooked it perfectly, and the beef was very, very good. I especially enjoyed just dipping it in a little bit of salt and eating it with the garlic.
We also had a fantastic roasted Golden Eye Snapper with Salt (HKD 458), which took some time to prepare but was totally worth the wait. The server told us that the golden eye snapper, though more expensive than the rockfish on the menu, had softer, more tender meat.
I've always been a huge fan of grilled rice balls so I was thrilled to see Firebird's unique version on the menu made with soy sauce and sixteen different types of rice! For only HKD 32 each, it's worth trying at least once. I love the charred and crunchy rice edges.
General Thoughts: Firebird Japanese Grill & Bar
All in all we really enjoyed our dinner at Firebird. We sat at the bar and had a pretty good view of the open kitchen, allowing us to see some of the more visibly dramatic dishes, such as the flaming chicken (yes, there is fire involved), or the impressive Volcano Salmon Roll, which looks like an eruption just happened over maki pieces.
Prices vary depending on what you order. You can keep prices pretty low by focusing on yakitori, or spend significantly more if you get seafood or wagyu beef.
The environment is casual, fun, and lively. Quarters can be a bit tight at the bar, but that just adds to its cozy charm. Overall, I'd definitely be happy to come back.
Firebird Japanese Grill & Bar Causeway Bay
G/F, Coin Organize Centre, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
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