“Unwashed shirako” sounds a little vulgar for a sparsely elegant, hinoki-lined nine-seat sushi counter perched six stories over Cochrane street, in Hong Kong. But that’s how the chef, Kenichi Fujimoto, may introduce cod milt in season. At higher-end counters, “unwashed” means no heavy salt rubs and long deodorizing soaks that firm the milt’s texture and extend its shelf life. At Fujimoto’s namesake restaurant, the shirako will last 48 hrs, tops. He smokes it briefly so the surface bronzes, like ‘smores — bringing its clean sweetness into focus, while the interior stays as lush and silken as custard beneath a delicate membrane that yields at the slightest nudge. It’s profoundly good.

The otsumami progression at many pricey sushi-ya exists to show range, and at some, to justify a $3,000 (HKD) omakase. There are no showy overtures at Fujimoto, and neither caviar nor the truffles this season are missed. In their places are lightly-chewy, gently-scored Shimane abalone and its liver sauce; katsuo with its paper-thin, crackling skin, dimpled with welts; and a yuzu-glittered ankimo so fatty that it spreads like gelato.

Nigiri is served, too: twelve or so pieces through a narrower, more familiar aperture, with a neutral shari — with many delivering the workhorse pleasures expected by a chef from the Saito and Kanesaka orbit. Yes, both toros are meltingly soft and sinew-free, while the akami glows like a slab of red liquorice, but the finger-length kuruma ebi has an inviting texture — cooked to a rebellious mi-cuit — and the early-winter kawahagi (thread-sail filefish) has the kind of richness that could eclipse sawara on a good day.

Fujimoto comes at a time when prices have surged; when diners here know they can fly to Tokyo in about the time it takes to drive from New York to Boston. But the top dollar it commands ($1,580 HKD for lunch; $2,980 HKD for dinner) feels earned when you submit to the chef and stop asking for spectacle. Bravo, Fujimoto.

🙏 @kenichifujimoto_sushi, @geoffreywu and @theforksandspoons852 for the hospitality. Less