One could age a couple of years waiting for the lift at L Place, not helped by the fact that not all three of the elevators go up to the second floor, where Se Sa Me is located. Once you finally get there, however, the ambience is lovely. All seats have access to some sort of sofa seating, which combined with the natural wood motif and numerous potted plants, make for a very comfortable setting. A large partitioned VIP room at the front of the restaurant is also ideal for private parties. Even at such an early stage, it is obvious that the restaurant will soon be filled with attractive young professionals, grabbing a bite before heading upstairs to Shore for drinks.

With a head chef previously at Nobu London and the fact that Se Sa Me likes to call itself “Japanasian” rather than “Japanese”, diners should expect some sort of modern fusion pan-Asian cuisine. Regardless, we start with one of the most traditional of Japanese dishes, a chawan mushi, or steamed egg custard. Topped with black truffle and yuzu essence, the flavours of Se Sa Me’s version are very nice. But sadly that is the only good part: the temperature of the dish is cold rather than steaming hot, and the texture is overly firm, not silky smooth. Moving onto a caramelised turnip cake with onsen egg, we found this dish too salty and the shredded duck to be stringy and tough. The “sushi monk roll” changes daily, depending on what fresh fish are available. We had ordered it as the description included “mixed fish, se sa me mayo, jalapeno and salad leaf” and we thought it would be similar to Nobu’s famously delicious yellowtail and japaneno dish. Alas, no jalapeno and very little mayo were to be found in the maki roll, which was disappointing as the copious amount of rice surrounding the mixture of salmon, yellowtail and crab meat was dry and desperately needed a kick. Finally, we decide to try the signature dish of fillet steak cooked on a toban (stone grill). The steak itself is USDA grain-fed, and we should probably have opted to splash out for one of the Japanese wagyu versions. As it were, the meat is relatively bland and the pickled wasabi butter on top made the dish too greasy, without any of the sourness promised by the description. Finally, for dessert, the chocolate molten cake encased in a tart base is probably the best dish of the evening, even if it is rather too sweet.

The wine and sake list at Se Sa Me is impressive. Compiled by sake sommelier and general manager Maiko Tsuji, the selection includes limited-edition bottles and other similarly difficult to find labels from all over Japan. Those that prefer wine are not slighted, with a good variety of grapes and prices from all over the world. We especially enjoyed our bottle of sparkling sake, which was a good match with most of the dishes.

Se Sa Me had only been opened for 17 days at the time of our visit, which may explain why servers are still a little hesitant and not too knowledgeable. When we asked what type of fish a “hairame” was, the waiter responded, “It’s the fish with the mouth off to the side”. On the plus side, the staff is honest. We had inquired whether the albacore tuna served was sustainable (which depends on the way the fish is caught and where it is caught from) and the waiter said he would ask the chef. When he returned, he informed us that the albacore was “most definitely not sustainable” and we should order something else.

A meal for two including a small bottle of sake comes to about HK$1,200. While the setting is definitely very nice, the mediocre food makes this rather an expensive meal.