Seafood Night at Lei Yue Mun
It was Friday night, and I was almost back to Hong Kong. Suddenly an invitation came that I couldn’t believe! I was invited to dinner with three beautiful women riding on the train from Shenzen. How could I turn down three women! How could I ever refuse such a great opportunity? WOW! Here I was figuring I would head to the Outback in Causeway Bay to sit by myself at the bar and have a filet mignon. The invitation was for just me to join these three ladies for dinner at a special “insider” location, known best only to residents of the area.
But then came the “stipulation”. Ah hah! I shoulda known! What’s the catch? Back to thinking about steak again! ………… Oh…. That’s all? I guess I can live with that. …. My requirement is that I not divulge their names nor use their pictures on my website. But I have to tell everyone about this: a night with three gorgeous women, and a meal that was sooooooo unforgettable!
Okay, I’ll put it this way: I was invited out to dinner with Jessica, Paris, and Ziyi.
And what a night it was! Now I’ve had fresh seafood, but nothing quite like they do it here. This country really loves the freshest seafood. And there I was sharing some of the best in the world in an area known as Lei Yue Mun with three wonderful ladies.
Jessica, Paris, and Ziyi were very famaliar with our destination, but at times I wondered where we were going. We twisted and made our way along from the train to the waterfront on the east shore of the Kowloon side of the harbor. We traveled by cab to this former fishing village, which now featured incredible seafood markets.
The wharf was a beautiful long walk that led to several outdoor vegetable and seafood market stands. Surprisingly, we proceeded right in among them, through an opening that resembled more of a hidden tunnel than it did the entrance to a grand seafood market. Then we started weaving through a long narrow aisle that proceeded on past tank after tank of fresh fish and other sea specialties.
Not till we had walked for close to a mile, did we come to Hoi King Seafood, evidently a rather famous seafood restaurant in Hong Kong. And I can see why. It was packed too. Turned out the Hong Kong China Bank was having a private dinner in the main dining room on the second floor, overlooking the harbor. We would have to wait for a table, and be secluded to the first floor dining area. Now waits are something rather rare here. With the plethora of restaurants, there never seems to be a problem finding a seat, and when you do, most patrons stay long into the night. Everyone just bides their time, enjoys the experience, and never rushes the activity. It’s dining at your leisure. .
But with the wait at Hoi King Seafood Restaurant, there was an added treat. We were invited back outside! Okay, not just outside to a bench. No, we were invited to visit any of the local seafood stands to select our dinner! Kinda neat, huh?
As we headed off on our search, Jessica seemed to know exactly the right one for us. She led us right to a neighboring stand rich with many seafood delicacies in numerous tanks.
And it was truly amazing. Tanks and tanks of fresh seafood. Before I knew it, the operator of the stand had a lobster out for me to hold for pictures. They had done this before. I was told exactly where to stand and how to hold it for just the best picture. Of course, that meant getting their sign in the background.
And what a lobster this was. It was no ordinary crawfish. It musta been two and a half feet long and weighed in well over 15 pounds. Not only was it great for pictures, it was our first selection for dinner too. Paris had them prepare it immediately for transport back to the restaurant’s kitchen.
On to more pleasures. So let’s see, what is desired next: crab, snails, abalone, scallops, tuna, eel, you name it, if it swam, they seemed to have a version here. We selected scallops, crab, oysters, shrimp, and bamboo scallops. Somebody was hungry. I couldn’t believe these three women were selecting so many items.
One attendant at the market was immediately cleaning and preparing the scallops. The bamboo scallops looked like sticks of bamboo, but when opened there was a wonderful large mixture of beautiful white meat. It looked great. And soon it tasted great!
Back in the restaurant, Ziyi secured us a table. So we didn’t have the view to the harbor, we could settle for the main entry dining room. It had about ten very large tables. One table looked to have about twenty fishermen dining and drinking the week’s profits away. Other tables were full with many pleasure seekers out for the night.
Soon the plates started filling our center turntable. First came the bamboo scallops. It was cooked and tasted much like squid: tough but tasty. And the plates kept coming. Lobster, shrimp, fried oysters, lobster sushi – complete with wasabi soy sauce for dipping. Boy did we eat. They had a picture of a famous Sumo wrestler that had eaten there. I felt like one before we finished. Jessica, Ziyi, and Paris still looked slim and beautiful!
They really know how to do seafood here! What a treat!
P.S.: For you Westerners, the real Ziyi Zhang is a famous Chinese actress (see Newsweek cover May 9, 2005)
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 7:00 PM
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