Kou, a new Japanese restaurant in Quarry Bay, moderates the extremes this aesthetic and acetic cuisine sometimes reaches. Instead of delicate (read small) portions of food, beautifully presented on exquisite porcelain at horrifically expensive prices, Kou serves moderately large servings on pretty porcelain, at reasonable prices. The drawback, of course, is the quality of the food doesn't reach the extremes of perfection the best Japanese cuisine can achieve.
We started with a few sushi dishes. Small natto rolls (fermented soybeans, $30), California rolls ($80) and chopped Welsh onion and oily tuna rolls ($120), which were nicely presented on Japanese pottery. While all three rolls had light, perfectly seasoned rice, the California roll suffered from unripe avocado, while the beautiful texture of the tuna was ruined from being finely minced. Our next dish was a puzzle because we didn't remember ordering the heap of raw vegetables coated in an orangey dressing. We hadn't, and our friendly waiter told us the dish was complementary. The spicy salad was delicious - ordinary ingredients (iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini and onion) in a palate-tingling dressing. It tasted similar to kimchee, but was more refreshing because the vegetables hadn't been fermented.
The same waiter wisely said that the vegetable kakiage ($100) was a better choice than the vegetable tempura. The julienned mixed vegetables were coated in a light batter before being deep-fried, and although the patties were too large and unwieldy to eat easily, they disappeared quickly.
The grilled eel on rice ($120) was so tender it almost melted in the mouth, but our two other grilled dishes were disasters. We knew from just looking at it that the eggplant ($80) wasn't hot - the light-as-air shaved bonito heaped on top should have been writhing from the heat of the vegetable. Flaccid, flavourless and tepid, most of the eggplant was not eaten. We also left most of the grilled gingko nuts ($50), which tasted unripe and raw.
We ended the meal with vegetable soba ($70). Although the clear broth was too salty, the dish won points for its large variety of vegetables and toothsome yet tender buckwheat noodles. A meal for three was $700.
G01, G/F, DCH Commercial Centre, 25 Westlands Road, Quarry Bay. Tel: 2164 8777. Open: noon-3pm, 6pm-11pm. $$$