Cheese tofu, broad bean mousse, flouder in XO sauce. Japanese food is much more than just sushi. [China Daily]

Sakayori Morio might have been a bit late getting into the kitchen, but like a fine rice wine, the wait was definitely worth it. Though he didn't formally begin to learn how to cook until he was 24, his first experience came at the age of six when he peeled potatoes in a temple where his father served as a Japanese Buddhist monk.

Nonetheless, his Japanese contemporary cooking is strikingly impressive, as anyone who dines at Morio J-Cuisine can easily see.

Trained in basic Japanese culinary skills, as well as French and Italian, it's to no surprise to find these foreign, and sometimes simple, influences in Morio's dishes. For example, he brazenly uses the Peninsula Hotel's house-made XO sauce, hand-carried in from Hong Kong, to flavor his raw fish.

The aspects of taste, texture, flavor and presentation are all felt in Morio's dishes, each element deliberately selected with a conscious awareness of what goes with what. No purist would object to his approach, where quality, taste and compatibility are Morio's priority.

Cheese tofu with a green tea jelly topping, for example, is one of Morio's most brilliant creations. It took him 5 weeks of experimenting to develop this golden recipe, blending French made cream cheese and pure soybean milk bean curd, which is firmed up with nigiri, a natural coagulant derived from the sea (a sea bittern). This is one of the best fusion tofus I have ever eaten. The silky and creamy texture melts in your mouth, wonderfully enhanced by the distinctive green tea flavor (it does not taste like the usual green tea found in ice cream or cakes).

The new set meal (288 yuan) is a joint effort between Taka Yamamoto, a sake master, and chef Morio, who specially paired sake with contemporary Japanese food for this menu.

(Left): Grilled prawn and scallop with asparagus, served in a shrimp sauce. (Right): An appertizer consisting of marinated salmon, cheese tofu and grilled eel. (Bottom): A customer checks out the restaurant's selection of uncooked fish. [Photos provided to China Daily]

The meal opened with chilled sparkling rice wine and a starter that consisted of broad bean mousse layered with daikon and beetroot, served in a small glass. The starter was visually attractive with pastel colored veggies and the taste was magnificent, especially the broad beans. The slightly peppery white radish teases your palate, which is then cleansed by the mellow and sweet taste of the beetroot.

The unfiltered rice wine is cloudy, lending to a rich taste that goes down easily because it's fizzy. This is great sake to open your meal with.

The next course was sashimi and light torched minced negi-toro served with salad.

"Eat the fish together with the daikon," urged Morio, when he noticed that I was just picking up my okra rolled up in a thin slice of flounder dotted with XO sauce. I appreciated his timely intervention. The raw fish somehow tasted better eaten with turnip.

The main course was prawn and scallops, which were grilled to a perfect tenderness and served with a rich but subtle delicious shrimp sauce that was addictive.

The next highlight was the gokokumai, a seaweed flavored five-grain porridge. The dish consists of several kinds of organic beans and lotus seeds and a spoonful of a very familiar sauce that I could not quite identify.

Meanwhile the sake served with each dish became increasingly stronger and richer. The sakes were all hand-picked by sake master Taka Yamamoto from the seven best breweries in Japan.

Ume-syu sherbet with poached peach was the high point of the dinner. The word delicious just does not do justice to this dessert. The peaches were soaked in Moscato Asti Pio Cesare, an Italian dessert wine, which is a better sweetener than sugar. The dessert was paired with a plum wine, an exhilarating and vibrant fruity drink - one suggestion, drink this after a glass of ice cold water. Every mouthful was a joy.

Located inside the chic and colorful Hotel G, the interior of Morio J-cuisine is a blend of modern design with a Japanese tone. The raised tatami seating wraps along the contour of the wall around the central public dining area, while the sushi bar stands against the wall. The striking black dcor with chrome and silver is charming, ideal for an intimate dinner.