Mist

Tokyo-based MIST brought elegance to a bowl of ramen. With a successful first year behind them, MIST in Hong Kong continues this tradition by elevating the humble noodle from working-class dish to the height of refined cuisine.

Text by Jason Spotts, photos by Happy Yuen

The success of Japanese ramen hinges on the fundamental quality of the noodles and the soup base. MIST has spared no expense or effort on either.

The original MIST in Tokyo is led by renowned ramen master, Y. Morizumi. In order to franchise MIST in Hong Kong, owners Peter Tse and Christabel Tsui had to invest in all the trimmings.

Head chef Kazumasa Saito was brought over from Tokyo. Soup bases are original recipes painstakingly recreated daily, and almost everything is flown in from Japan. Tse and Tsui even bought a ramen machine from Japan at great expense to satisfy Morizumi. The master chef visits Hong Kong every month to ensure his ramen is perfectly represented.

As such, food has never been the issue at MIST. Rather, the early stumbling block was the modern-chic Western décor,a close replica of the Tokyo original. People passed by without knowing they served ramen. By now, the word is surely out.

A signature element of MIST is refinement. Traditionally blue-collar food, they believe that ramen can be sexy too. Soups tend to be clearer and more elegant while retaining all the flavour. Starters are heavily influenced by Western disciplines, inspired by chef Saito’s previous training in French cuisine.

Some may raise an eyebrow at MIST prices (a typical bowl of ramen costs around $100). But reflect for a moment on the investment and obsessive attention paid to replicating the Tokyo original. It was always a risk, but savvy diners have responded after tasting the food’s quality.

And some have said their ramen is not authentically Japanese. But, according to Tsui, make no mistake about it: MIST ramen is one style out of many in Japan and it is as authentic as it gets. They have the machinery, the chefs and the plane ticket stubs to prove it.

G/F, 4 Sun Wui Road, Causeway Bay
Tel: 2881 5006


Dinner for two
1.	Sakura wood-smoked Japanese “Chiba” pork	$120
2.	Oven-baked Japanese mushrooms	$90
3.	Ramen sushi	$100
4.	Karamiso ramen	$110.5
5.	Ume Shio ramen	$120
Total		$540
*Price subject to change without notice

Sakura wood-smoked Japanese “Chiba” pork

The highlight of the appetisers. Pork shoulder is slow-roasted for two hours with a fine black pepper crust, but the key here is smoke. The glistening pork, first topped with creamy mozzarella, is smoked with sakura cherrywood chips. It instills a mouth-watering smokiness with just a hint of sweetness, and somehow does not overpower the high-grade Chiba pork.

Oven-baked Japanese mushrooms

Three types of mushroom feature, including the eringi, maitake and shimeji. They are delicately sautéed in butter, smothered with breadcrumbs and baked to marry the flavours. The dish is topped with dehydrated essence of soya, a perfect match to further release the flavour and aroma of the mushrooms. A quick splash of basil oil before service completes this earthy dish.

Ramen sushi

The key to this sophisticated dish is cooking the noodles to an exact, bouncy and pleasurable texture. Thankfully, these noodles are perfectly executed. They are cooled, rolled and seasoned with soya before seasonal toppings are added. In this rendition, they include grated bottarga (cured fish roe pouch), eringi mushroom, fresh snapper tartare and uni.

Karamiso ramen

When done well like MIST’s original recipe, miso soup base is one of the most enticing, fragrant things around. It develops the combination of raw and cooked Japanese chives, spring onions and bamboo shoots. This ramenis most memorable because it uses an ingredient’s natural properties to create spice that lingers on the tongue. Finished with roasted pork and a touch of spicy pepper flakes.

Ume Shio ramen

This soup base is a 25-ingredient, eight-hour labour of love, made daily and seasoned with Mongolian rock salt. The soft, half-melting Japanese plum provides a tartness that lifts the entire dish. The par-boiled Japanese egg is cooked to perfection, the tender pork is roasted beautifully and this delectable bowl is rounded off with deep-fried spring onions, mirin, seaweed and high-grade Japanese soy.

Mist

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