Yagura

The latest up-scale Japanese restaurant to hit Hong Kong is Eaton Hotel’s Yagura. Opened back in December, the stylish eatery joins the bandwagon along with all the other Japanese-themed restaurants that opened last year. The featured highlight of Yagura is its resemblance to a traditional izakaya Japanese restaurant. Popular for after-work drinks, an izakaya is type of Japanese drinking establishment which offers more substantial food than the average sake bar. Yagura do serve sake and they are targeting after-work patrons, but here they place more emphasis on the food. The izakaya-style menu is designed so that diners can pick and mix a variety of dishes at the same time. 

Translated literally to mean “tower” in Japanese, the handmade façade of Yagura is like that of a wooden turret with its rounded timber entrance wall speckled with small chequered openings. Through these gaps, the rest of the 2,200 square foot interior is revealed. The restaurant features a tranquilising dimly-lit interior which is split into traditional and contemporary-themed areas. There are five main areas and these include a sushi-counter, a tempura counter, an area with a Koagari table, a semi-private room, and the Yagura zone where most of the general seating is set. With the numerous food counters, the aim is to bring diners closer to the chefs in action so they can see their jet-fresh food as it is prepared and served up before them, and that is about the most honest form of consumption you will get in any restaurant.