MANILA, Philippines - I’ve been to Hong Kong countless times since the early ’70s when the exchange rate was one Philippine peso to two Hong Kong dollars but never discovered Hong Kong’s seafood heaven Sai Kung until five years ago. Maybe because it was off the beaten path and has never been accessible by Hong Kong’s subway system the MTR.
The first time my partner and friend Ashley Whitfield invited me to have a seafood dinner in Sai Kung where he lives, I found an excuse not to go because I felt that seafood could be unique in his place that wasn’t available in Kowloon. The road trip to Sai Kung in the new territories was at least 45 minutes in the night time and longer in the day crossing through hills and narrow curved roads. Just the thought of it got me tired. Several trips to Hong Kong later, I ran out of excuses to visit Sai Kung and relented to Ashley’s invitation. After that first trip, I realized how stupid I was. Sai Kung was very much different from busy Kowloon and the place was lovely and laidback but the biggest plus of the place was the marvelous seafood selection being offered by the seaside eateries. You personally choose the live seafood from the aquariums and have it cooked whichever way you wish by top-rated seafood chefs. That’s fresher than fresh.
Ashley who is fool-blooded British is a long-time Hong Kong resident and married to Filipina therapist Lolita. He could speak fluent Mandarin and Cantonese but not Tagalog. Like me, he is into concert promotion (he introduced me to Air Supply back in 2007 whom he also entertained in Sai Kung) but his main business is CD, DVD and audiophile CD distribution all over the Asian region. Our recent partnership was on an audiophile CD of John Ford Coley’s greatest hits and favorites I co-produced with John Ford which he now distributes in the Asian region. I’ve been so blessed to have met him as he is honest, thoughtful, hardworking and selfless to a fault because he tenders lots of seafood dinners for us despite being vegetarian. I could never remember a time in all these years I’ve been visiting him that he would let me pay for all the lavish dinners we’ve shared in Kowloon and Sai Kung. He has also treated a lot of my friends including RJ and Frannie Jacinto, Johnny and Jane Tsai, John Ford, Mike and Baby Enriquez, and Greg and Myrna Garcia.
They do love him so much and always look forward to visiting him in Sai Kung.
On our recent umpteenth dinner in Sai Kung, Ashley brought us to his favorite seafood restaurant and ordered a full-course seafood lauriat.
Being a weekend, all restaurants were full and we were lucky he knew the manager and got a table without waiting. All Sai Kung seafood restaurants offer only live seafood which their chefs cook to the liking of the customer.
Our sea-bounty dinner began with freshly steamed fat, succulent and sweet tasting jumbo shrimps which we locally call suahe. It disappeared into our bellies in a matter of three minutes. Freshly-cooked abalone in shell swimming in vegetables and soy sauce was next. This tasted quite different to me as I’ve been so used to the flavor and texture of dried abalone cooked for 24 to 36 hours.
Fried calamari with sliced chilies and braised giant scallops in half shell were served simultaneously. The scallops which I picked from the tank tasted really fresh and tender unlike the frozen type normally served at seafood restaurants tastes bland and a bit chewy. Ashley’s eyes brightened when the waiter served flash fried vegetables in garlic as it was the only food he could eat. I’m in awe at his will power to stay vegetarian. I once tried being one but lost control when I was served lechon Cebu.
More seafood was served and our table had no more space. We all felt full when the steamed garoupa arrived but still managed to pick it down to the bones. The fried rice was hardly touched. When the piece de resistance arrived — sea crab cooked in wine and egg white, everyone groaned and declined to even sample it. Because I paced myself and just nibbled throughout the dinner, I still had lots of space to polish off the heavenly crab. How lucky did I get to have almost all to myself. Ashley consumed all the egg white it was cooked in.
We rested for 20 minutes then walked through the park and crossed to another restaurant called Honeymoon Dessert that serves nothing but desserts. It was late night but the place was packed. Honeymoon Dessert started as a small business in Sai Kung back in 1995 and has gone global with several branches in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Indonesia, etc.
Their desserts numbering close to a hundred choices feature typical Chinese ingredients like grass jelly, sweet red beans, tofu and fresh fruits in coconut milk (gata) with or without ice cream. My favorite is fresh durian with grass jelly in coconut milk with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. As we said our goodbyes after dessert, I was already looking forward to return to Sai Kung — Hong Kong native’s best-kept-secret-now-in-the-open seafood heaven.