A positive restaurant review for once (Hatsune @ the Sanlitun Village)

The newly opened Hatsune restaurant at the Village in Sanlitun is most probably going to become one of the dining hotspots there, as they have actually managed to really produce the goods in a setting that is slightly unusual (seas of dangling (paper?) fishes from the ceiling) and in one of the few places in Beijing that seems to be a moderately successful ‘shopping mall experience’.

The original Hatsune is on Guanghua Lu and they recently celebrated their fifth birthday @the Village with an overdose of everything for very cheap, which I sadly had to miss.

Hatsune is essentially Californian Japanese food, so they are big on the hand rolls and are not overly Japanese in the look of their place. But it is pretty good, open plan so the people gazers can gaze and the MePeople can be gazed upon, with lots of things to look at in the decor of the place. Only false note is the somewhat intrusive and occasionally dissonant jazz lounge vibe being pumped, this is of course meant to reflect the modernity of the place, but jazz lounge can be highly irritating.

Food: fresh, the salad is so fresh and crisp it may be on drugs   the rolls (we tried eel and sashimi shrimp) were perfect, tasty and crisp on the inside of the roll. In the past at the old location some of the rolls were way too rich and not always served cold enough, giving the impression that they had been left lying around (and once leaving us with the queasy feeling that that is what happened), but not here. I deliberately avoided the richer rolls because  of this past experience. The nigiri sushi platter was extremely good, with the fish having real substance and feeling in the mouth, not just merely the feeling of not being unfresh yet, but actually having the buttery feel and slightly springy texture of the real deal, very nice surprise there. The tempura is not perfect, having too much batter, but the contents are very good and the oil used is clean in taste.

Service is friendly and was very nice with the child, despite him deciding he really like the sofas and practicing bouncing around them all the time.

Expect to pay essentially a minimum of 200RMB/person esp if you get drinks, however as a place to go for something a it special, this is one to try for sure, let’s hope they keeptheir standards up.

Hatsune is in Building number 8 – 3rd floor, next to Element Fresh, the door is wooden and of japanese reminiscence and I don’t remember seeing any signs saying it was Hatsune

- update reading theBeiinger posts I suspect that get to Hatsune quick, it may well be that the quality does not stick once fame and fortune are achieved, which will not be long. And yes, it is not Japan, don’t expect to find Kyoto sashimi quality, but it is cheaper than the airfare to Kyoto.