Tucked away in Sheung Wan, Murasaki “紫美” is a whisper-quiet, 10-seat omakase den that opened without fanfare in early 2024—yet booking a table is near-impossible. Run by three 90s-born talents, sushi master “Sheng” (ex-Kenjo) and Taiwanese hot-dish virtuoso “Hui” (alumnus of Sazenka and Xiang Yun Long Yin) serve a shadowy lunch “blind box”: ten nigiri of Japan-direct fish, five hot courses of wings, abalone, and pigeon, all paired with a cellar of Krug and DRC at retail-beating prices. Mystery, mastery, and full-bellies guaranteed.

The Review

The Secret That Everyone Knows At 181 Hollywood Road, Murasaki “紫美” hides in plain sight. No press, no ads, yet its ten counter seats vanish weeks ahead. Sundays off, lunch and dinner omakase only—dinner typically ten sushi, five hot plates, extras gladly added for a modest surcharge. BYO is politely discouraged; the owner’s adjoining wine shop offers Krug at just over HK$20,000 and DRC Echezeaux for HK$20,000—hall-drink only, cheaper than retail.

Young Blood, Old Soul

Behind the curtain: sushi chef Sheng, honed at Tsim Sha Tsui’s Kenjo; hot-dish chef Hui, Taiwanese, trained alongside Sazenka’s Kawada at Taipei’s Xiang Yun Long Yin. Their synergy is electric. Sushi rice blends three red vinegars, one white—piquant, Edo-style. Fish flies in daily from Japan: Spanish mackerel with mullet roe, white squid, kinmedai, turbot, autumn sanma, botan shrimp, chutoro, akami, sawara, horse-manure urchin. Each piece a quiet revelation.

Hot Dishes That Steal the Show

Hui’s Chinese-inflected plates arrive like plot twists: tempura snow-crab in shiso, matsutake and Ibérico ham consommé with shark’s fin, Japanese red abalone with Jinshan hook fin, ankimo nanbanzuke, tempura pigeon leg, charcoal-grilled pigeon breast. Finale: razor-clam kamameshi on Dongbei Wuchang rice, miso soup. Even stuffed, the rice disappears. (Deer Island A5 wagyu kamameshi is the oligarchs’ off-menu darling.)

Wines Whispered, Not Shouted

Lunch paired two whites—Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Puligny-Montrachet Les Garennes 2009, Chassagne-Montrachet Les Ancegnieres 2020—and a red: Yann Durieux’s DH Rouge from Recrue des Sens, fruit-forward, ex-Prieuré Roch pedigree, ~HK$2,000. Value that borders on sorcery.

Epilogue

A languid, applause-worthy afternoon. Cold and hot in perfect cadence, sushi and Chinese cuisine in rare harmony, wines that sing. Sheng and Hui—gracious, gifted, glowing. Murasaki “紫美” indeed lives up to its name: purple beauty, shining bright, impossibly hard to catch.