Steamed Spicy Miso Cod Fish. I had never been one who would choose to dine here for my impression of Restaurant Hoshigaoka is always more of an overpriced Japanese restaurant where the food doesn't exactly correspond to the prices. Was actually pretty glad I gave them a second go after years; this item is from the Chef's Recommendations menu.

While the elements such as the mushrooms and tofu felt rather isolated from the entire dish (they felt like as though they were added into it rather than cooked with; seemingly a little disintegrated from the cod and the broth), the broth was actually really appealing being slightly sweet from the Miso while carrying just a hint of spiciness; rather flavorful and even refreshing when added to the rice. Admittedly, the cod could have done a little more cooking time but it was considerably flaky and carried its own sweetness that went so well with the broth too; also pretty well-portioned at $24.50 (with set)/ $21.80 (ala-carte). What seemingly impressed me was the flavour combination here, which felt leaps and bounds better than my experience years ago.

The set comes with Rice, Miso Soup and a Homemade Dessert; the rice comes unexpectedly with a light tinge of sweetness (I was expecting something closer to white rice) while the Miso Soup does come with a good portion of seaweed and tofu. The Homemade Dessert is worth the top-up; it's a simple Watermelon Konnyaku Jelly that is easy to scoff about at first sight — never actually expected how intriguing it was going to be that it cuts through easily without any firmness, yet carries textures similar to the fibrous watermelon inside despite its smooth exterior. The flavours were also very on point; very clean and felt like it was entirely coming out from a really sweet watermelon without any addition of sugar — almost digging into a smoother version of a really juicy watermelon. I am sold!