Fukuro | A sleek new izakaya for night owls in Hong Kong’s SoHo district

As the plate of oysters the size of my head hit the table, I knew this was not going to be like most other izakayas. Fukuro is the newest addition to Hong Kong’s popular Black Sheep Restaurants, which boasts hot spots like Ho Lee Fook and NYC import Carbone. Fukuro, which translates to “owl,” is a fitting name for a restaurant doing a modern take on an izakaya, a Japanese drinking den that draws crowds well into the night.

Much like a traditional izakaya, Fukuro had a raucous air from its diners chatting and eating many small plates of food to go with many drinks – those sounds colliding in the intimate, wooden-walled space. Adding to the chatter were the chants of “Fukurō!” by staff to greet each new patron that walks through their sliding doors. That hospitality continued throughout the meal, as the wait staff was friendly, attentive, and informative.

With a range of sake, beer, cocktails, and whiskeys, the beverage menu should suffice for a night of heavy drinking. I enjoyed their take on an old fashioned, with sour plum providing the hint of sugar to pair with the rye. As a whiskey drinker, I would’ve liked to see a wider range of whiskey options between the cocktails and highballs. Gin drinkers should also take note that there are no gin cocktails on the menu, but the bar was kind enough to make a couple of specialty drinks for those at our table who preferred gin.

Where Fukuro sets itself apart from the traditional izakaya is their food. Going back to those oysters from Hyogo, they were so big they had to be eaten in two bites, but the struggle was worth it for a plump, sweet oyster covered in a delicious yuzu ponzu and red onion.

Other starters included a satisfying plate of pickles, a surprising stack of spinach formed to look like cucumbers in an addictive sesame sauce, and a sweet and crispy caramel butter corn.

From the raw section of the menu, we tried the platter of market fish that was incredibly fresh and a nice balance to the richer mains to come.

The star of Fukuro’s menu was undoubtedly the yaki udon, with thick and chewy noodles bathing in a crab miso butter that had an explosion of crab roe flavor. They double down on the crab by adding a heap of sweet snow crab on top, so much that we were picking at the meat and dipping it into the remnants of sauce even after all of the noodles had been slurped up. I can’t wait to come back to Fukuro for this dish alone.

Other standouts included the hamachi collar, which was tender and flaky, with nice flavor coming from the apple ponzu it came swimming in.

The chicken karaage was another addictive dish, with a viscous plum mayonnaise to go with the juicy fried chicken.

Moving on to the beef, we absolutely loved the wagyu bavette, which was cooked right between rare and medium rare to let the marbled beef shine, accented by a simple yet addictive seaweed soy sauce and sesame seeds.

This outshined the A4 wagyu sukiyaki, which we expected to be rich and flavorful from the sukiyaki sauce and cured egg yolk, but instead tasted watered down, possibly from the enoki mushrooms that topped it.

Another miss in execution was on the grilled octopus, which was chewy in texture and came with some forgettable cubes of potato confit, though the overall dish was delicious in flavor thanks to the ginger soy dressing and pickled radishes. Hopefully these will be corrected when the restaurant officially opens.

The meal ended with Fukuro’s signature Monaka ice cream sandwiches, emblazoned with their owl logo for a cute surprise. The biggest surprise was the flavor, as the savory soy and seaweed ice cream and sweet and tart cherry blossom jam is sandwiched between seaweed crackers. It’s initially confusing on the palate, but ultimately becomes a balanced and delicious final bite to end a memorable dinner.

Fukuro opens on May 15 at 1-5 Elgin Street in Hong Kong’s SoHo district (look for the host stand outside the wooden slat doors) and will be walk-in only, so get your fellow night owls together for a meal that should be worth the wait.