This evening we headed out to Uma Nota in Soho, Central to celebrate one of my good friend’s birthday. I first probably was introduced to Brazilian/Japanese/Peruvian food back in my early 20’s, trying out fusion Japanese/Peruvian dishes at Nobu back in Melbourne, who do an amazing job at complementing fresh seafood/sashimi or sushi dishes with tangy & refreshing sauces that really give a twist to traditional Japanese food.

My next favourite place for fusion Japanese & Peruvian cuisine would be at Chotto Matte in London, so finding something with comparable flavours in Hong Kong is actually quite a feat.

Situated in the heart of Soho, Uma Nota is tucked away on the corner of Peel Street away from the main hustle of Hollywood Road. Uma Nota features an array of delicious Brazilian Japanese cuisine meals (something that is a bit more rare in Hong Kong) and a lovely atmosphere too.

A small yet intimate setting, this restaurant is the perfect relaxing place for small group catch ups, dates etc and not to mention the service (we had Ray this evening) was absolutely impeccable! Not only was he extremely detailed about giving us food recommendations, he also would help us adjust lighting for photos! Haha

Photos of the interior.

The menu is separated in sections including greens/salads, larger sharing plates, raw dishes, skewers & small starting appetizers.

Here I started with the Val Verda drink, consisting of pandan infused cachaça (apparently a distilled spirit made from sugar cane juice), green Chartreuse, pandan syrup, lime juice & yogurt. The cocktail, how do I say, it definitely had really nice pandan flavours, wasn’t too sweet (possibly due to the yogurt) but was something different / yet refreshing!

For larger groups they might ask you to do the chef’s menu. We were originally supposed to be a group of 8, but since our group downsized we went for a-la-carte instead.

First dish we had was an off-the-menu tuna tataki. Ray (our waiter) overheard us wishing we could have some steak tartare, and kindly offered us this dish which was absolutely yummy with the tangy flavours and perfectly seared tuna.

Next up we had the coxinhas de frango – which were chicken & okra dumplings with homemade chill sauce. The texture felt more croquette-esque rather than dumpling, but overall quite nice.

Here we had the banana doce – which consisted of fried banana with crab meat and sour cream.

Here we have the dadinhos de tapioca – Brazilian tapioca and cheese dices with sweet chilli sauce.

Here we have charcoaled octopus skewers, which are an absolute must-eat!

Diving into the “size matters” part of the menu, we have “berinjela” which is basically a whole eggplant with miso, goat cheese & cashew nuts. It’s not uncommon to find eggplant & miso side dishes in Japanese restaurants, but the additional goat cheese & cashew nuts combination was really nice.

Next up we have the “lombo de porco” dish which is slow-cooked Sagabuta pork loin with apple & frisee salad & cassava fries. Ray kindly told us that cassava were basically friends of the potato family.

Finally, we filled our tummies with this last dish, “fraldinha”, which was grilled flank steak with farofa & feijão (a type of bean) salad. We requested this dish to be medium rare and boy did it not disappoint. The yellow crumbed bit on top of the steak complemented the steak perfectly (especially when dipped with the side sauce).

Overall, our bill for the evening reached around HKD$500 per head for the food and around 2 bottles of wine + some initial cocktails. For the service and variety of Brazilian/Japanese food, Uma Nota definitely is a great place to spend for an intimate gathering with close family/friends or smaller groups too.

Uma Nota
Shop C, G/F
38 Peel Street, Central
Hong Kong
Phone: 2889 7576

Uma Nota – 日本菜，巴西菜
中環蘇豪卑利街38號地下C號舖