D's friend Liberace was visiting Hong Kong last summer and he was dying to try some Chinese seafood. That's why Sai Kung, known for its fresh seafood, came to our minds when we were planning our gathering.
Chuen Kee Seafood Restaurant was like any seafood restaurant with big abundant fish tanks outside for the customers to choose from. The decoration was nice and elegant for a seafood restaurant. But be prepared for the typical noise level you would expect from a Chinese restaurant. Dinner at Chuen Kee Seafood Restaurant costs about $200 per head.
As there was quite a lot of us, we ordered a set dinner for 8 ($1,588) and we added a bucket of oyster ($400).
(1) We started off with the signature Australian Lobster with cheese sauce and e-fu noodles. We told the waitress that we did not want any cheese sauce but they apparently forgot. Hence, the taste of the cheese completely took over the dish and we could barely get any lobster taste out of it. We were thankful that at least the e-fu noodles were not bad.
(2) Boiled Sea Snails were Liberace's special order. They were definitely generous in serving a pretty number of them, with clean and nice sea snail meat. There was no sand or dirt in them and the chili sauce added delicious flavours to it.
(3) The Boiled Shrimps were mediocre. The taste was rather meek, and the dish was lacking anything special or substantial to make it stand out.
(4) The Baked Crab was quite visually exciting at first, but when we dug into it, it was completely another story. To C's horror, there was very little meat in this dish with its appearance. Usually that would not bother us if the meat was cooked well, but this was not the case and it could not be excused.
(5) On the other hand, the size of each Steamed Abalone was big enough, but the dish was suffering urgently from its blandness in taste. We had a lot of trouble to believe they were the same abalone fresh from the fish tanks outside.
(6) To be fair, the Deep-fried Lai Urine Shrimp with pepper was well cooked and crunchy. The shrimp was very tender and seasoned. It was one of the more flavourful dish of the evening.
(7) The highest note of the evening was the Oyster Hot Pot. The oysters were fresh, huge and juicy, and stirred with the sauce in the hot pot, it was delicious and refreshing! Plus, this was one of the rare dish we did not have to struggle to peel the shells off.
VERDICT
Ambience: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Service: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Food: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Overall remarks: Despite the poor quality of dishes, we had quite an enjoyable dinner gathering and no one seemed to have any complaints at the time. But we were all thirsty after the meal, so there must have been a lot of MSG added in their dishes to cure the blandness in taste. Given the ingredients were all fine, the food at Chuen Kee Seafood Restaurant was quite disappointing. Unfortunately the service was quite unacceptable too. The waitresses kept gossiping about us in front of us as they assumed we didn't speak Chinese. Perhaps we came on a particularly bad day or perhaps we didn't know what to order. But one thing for sure, we still don't like Chinese seafood and we won't be back anytime time soon.
INFO
As there was quite a lot of us, we ordered a set dinner for 8 ($1,588) and we added a bucket of oyster ($400).
(1) We started off with the signature Australian Lobster with cheese sauce and e-fu noodles. We told the waitress that we did not want any cheese sauce but they apparently forgot. Hence, the taste of the cheese completely took over the dish and we could barely get any lobster taste out of it. We were thankful that at least the e-fu noodles were not bad.
(2) Boiled Sea Snails were Liberace's special order. They were definitely generous in serving a pretty number of them, with clean and nice sea snail meat. There was no sand or dirt in them and the chili sauce added delicious flavours to it.
(3) The Boiled Shrimps were mediocre. The taste was rather meek, and the dish was lacking anything special or substantial to make it stand out.
(4) The Baked Crab was quite visually exciting at first, but when we dug into it, it was completely another story. To C's horror, there was very little meat in this dish with its appearance. Usually that would not bother us if the meat was cooked well, but this was not the case and it could not be excused.
(5) On the other hand, the size of each Steamed Abalone was big enough, but the dish was suffering urgently from its blandness in taste. We had a lot of trouble to believe they were the same abalone fresh from the fish tanks outside.
(6) To be fair, the Deep-fried Lai Urine Shrimp with pepper was well cooked and crunchy. The shrimp was very tender and seasoned. It was one of the more flavourful dish of the evening.
(7) The highest note of the evening was the Oyster Hot Pot. The oysters were fresh, huge and juicy, and stirred with the sauce in the hot pot, it was delicious and refreshing! Plus, this was one of the rare dish we did not have to struggle to peel the shells off.
VERDICT
Ambience: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Service: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Food: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
