HONG KONG – CHUEN KEE SEAFOOD

For our short stay in Hong Kong this summer, most of the planning was done by The Hubby’s relatives. We listed activities and meals we were interested in and they worked out an itinerary to fit it all in. Many of the restaurants we visited were The Hubby’s childhood favourites. One Hong Kong experience he always loved was squid fishing. After we graduated university, a group of our friends travelled around Asia for two months. During this trip The Hubby brought us all to Sai Kung port to try our luck at the nighttime activity. I thought the experience was so unique and fun that I wanted to share it with my family, who were visiting Hong Kong for their first time.

At dusk, we all climbed aboard a wooden fishing boat and venture out into the ocean. Bright spotlights were turned on, flooding the waters next to our boat and attracting the squid. We cast into the ocean using only fishing line, hooks and luck (there was no skill in my fishing technique). After about an hour or two of fishing, or when everyone gave up, the captain cleaned and fried up all the squid we caught right there on the boat to be eaten fresh. Luckily, while we weren’t too successful with fishing, the boat crew were much better and filled our squid bucket.

Since squid fishing does take place at night, before all of the excitement was a perfect opportunity to feast on fresh seafood at the port. Several restaurant operate in Sai Kung and all have large fish tanks outside displaying their wares. Our group enjoyed a feast at Chuen Kee Seafood that filled us up in case we were skunked. I would however recommend eating a lighter meal before squid fishing if you suffer from motion sickness. When parked, our little boat did rock and forth strongly on the water.

Our seafood dinner included boiled shrimp, breaded, fried octopus, abalone, lobster noodles, spice seasoned mantis shrimp and steamed crabs with cooking wine. This was my first time eating mantis shrimp and while it was difficult to get the meat out of the shell, it was worth it (especially as The Hubby helped me). The meat was tender and had a similar texture to lobster. Speaking of lobster, those noodles drenched in lobster sauce was exquisite. I kept going back for more. Both the octopus and abalone were soft and tender.

The freshness and quality of the seafood at Chuen Kee would be hard to beat. Each dish was cooked from live seafood and mildly flavoured, to enhance each ingredient’s natural taste without masking it. A seafood meal in Hong Kong is really a must.