Uncharted Waters

Sure, we all like slurping our oysters in a posh hotel restaurant, but there’s a larger world out there, brimming with seafood dishes of every sort and size. Do yourself a favour—leave the hotel raw bar for now and try some of the more interesting seafood restaurants in town.

Seafood Hotpot

Hotpot Express

Having grown up in the fishing village of Ko Lau Wan, Hotpot Express owner Shek Fei is a seasoned expert when it comes to seafood, and makes regular visits to his home village to procure only the freshest items for his Tsim Sha Tsui eatery. “All our seafood is seasonal,” claims Shek, “this ensures that only the best is served to our customers and it keeps our menu new and changing.” It’s true—variety is indeed the key word at Hotpot Express and this is evident already from their large array of soup bases, which range from the signature crab with fish stock to the “tom yum” soup. The restaurant is perhaps most famous for their cuttlefish balls, which are made according to Shek’s mom’s recipe. These little white spheres pack a mean bounce in every bite; try one and you’ll never be able to go back to the lousy supermarket variety.

Although technically a “hotpot” restaurant, the experienced chefs will gladly churn out any seafood dish their customers ask for. Surprisingly enough, sashimi is one of their most popular non-hotpot items. And because Shek understands concerns about consuming uncooked seafood from local waters, all their raw seafood is imported overseas from Japan, America or Europe, along with several special items such as the Alaskan king crab. Shek’s dedication to seafood is charming and he’s always ready to explain the daily specials or to share a story about his fishing village. While Hotpot Express may not be the most glamorous place for seafood dining, it may well be one of the friendliest.
Hotpot Express, 1/F, 21-23 Hillwood Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, 3520-3800

Western

Manner Oyster Bistro

Living in Hong Kong means having access to a wide range of cheap but delicious dining alternatives. A case in point is Manner Oyster Bistro, which offers top-quality seafood at wallet-happy prices. A glance at the lunch menu shows that none of their three-course set meals breach the $100 mark. This is impressive considering that Manner imports all their seafood from overseas daily. This cute little eatery seems custom-made for the oyster aficionado and offers over a dozen different types of the mollusk (including the Saldanha oyster from South Africa), with prices starting at $22 for one. That’s almost 40 percent less than your average hotel restaurant raw bar. Too good to be true? Well, get this—the seasonal seafood platter comes in at under $300 and always includes at least eight oysters, among other varieties of seafood.
But the best thing about Manner is that in no way do the low prices affect the food quality. “In fact,” says restaurant manager Chris Yan, “we use the same imported seafood supplier in Hong Kong as some of the big name restaurants like Island Seafood and Oyster and Wine Bar at the Sheraton.” How does Manner manage to keep their prices so low then? Chris doesn’t even bat an eyelid before answering. “By making less profit.” And with that, our faith in humanity is restored.
Manner Oyster Bistro, Shop 6-8, Harbour Crystal Centre, 100 Granville Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, 2608-1680.

Thai Style

Lung Jie Thai Restaurant

Lauded for its authentic Thai cooking, Lung Jie restaurant serves standard seafood dishes such as steamed, whole gray mullet, along with some lesser-known items, such as Thai-style raw shrimp. You heard right—sashimi gets all Thai-ed up here. The near-translucent shrimp—imported from Thailand—are served with slices of raw garlic and chillies. Bracing for the ensuing bad-breath extravaganza, we tucked into the little buggers and found them unbelievably fresh and beautifully creamy. But that’s only one part of it—the sliced chillies tricked our unassuming taste buds with their mildly sweet tinge before evolving into a mouth-numbing spiciness.

“The secret is in the sauce,” the staff explain, “the lime juice is freshly squeezed.” No joke—in the back of the restaurant, an enterprising staffer is halving what looks like an entire tree’s worth of limes. The fruit is far more than garnish—the citrusy jolt of the lime juice cuts through the complex flavours of the dish and returns sensitivity to the tongue. To cap off the dish, Lung Jie keeps the removed shrimp heads from the sashimi and deep-fries them. We may have just found our favorite new beer snack.
Lung Jie Thai Restaurant, 18 Nam Kok Rd., Kowloon City, 2383-9110.

Seafood BBQ

Sake and Yakitori

As a concept, an outdoor barbecue in the middle of summer sounds like a great idea. But in reality, everyone will probably either be fighting over the insect repellent or eating slices of undercooked/overcooked meat. That doesn’t mean you can’t still get your fix of grilled goods—indoor grilling joints are abundant around town and we are particularly enamoured with Sake and Yakitori in Fortress Hill.