after my horrendous experience last time, i gave saikung another chance but this time went a bit further to the outskirt in Po Toi O (布袋澳). the venue this time was seafood island seafood restaurant “海鮮島海鮮酒家”, best known for its cuttlefish. variety wise, po toi o does not have as many kinds of sea creatures as its more famous peer such as lau fau shan and saikung pier, but for those that it caters (mantis shrimps, clams, scallops, cuttlefish, lobsters, and certain groupers), the animals defintely look happier and more lively. kitchen charges are already factored into price of the ingredients, and overall is about 20% cheaper than saikung pier and 5-10% cheaper than lau fau shan.
we placed our order at the aquarium section and got ourselves seated near the shore. after about 10 minutes, our dishes started arriving one by one.
mantis shrimps: we had 2 of the shrims steamed and 2 deep fried with salt & pepper. surprisingly, the steamed dish was very juicy and sweet, with a light but distinct taste of ocean slowly rising up the roof of my mouth. it is very important to have fresh mantis shrimps in steamed way because the meat would turn mushy ~15 minutes after the shrimps die. the fried ones were tasty as usual, with lots of fried garlic and red chili that made me crave for more. however, i must admit the mantis shrimps in lau fau shan are slightly better – they have bigger shrimps and more meaty/crisp.
razor clams with black beans: the razor clams were slightly overcooked and sauce was a bit too thick.
steamed scallops: a very delicious dish with the scallops steamed just right, and i was very happy to note that some of the garlic was pan-fried whereas some was steamed, which really brought out the freshness of the scallops.
fried cuttlefish with salt & pepper: this was definitely the highlight of our meal! we did not order the fried squid but had the cuttlefish instead, which has thicker and crispier meat. it was so yummy! the batter was very thin and felt light in my mouth, while the aroma of salty egg yolks was simply addictive. may saturated fat & cholesterol live forever!
steamed whelks: standard fare.
braised noodles with dried scallops and enoki: portion was very generous but we couldn’t find the other half of the dried scallops that we paid for. taste wise it was pretty standard but i am never a big fan of braised noodles anyway.
it was a lovely meal and we could not have cared less about our cholesterol reading. seating was very comfortable with gentle seabreezes blew away the fatique we developed from the long and weary transport. because of its remote location, it is also much less touristy/noisy. i feel that ingredient wise, lau fau shan probably has better catches and more variety, but there are dishes that po toi o really aces (cuttlefish).
i will surely come again next summer.
for full post with pictures: http://randomnomad.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/seafood-island/
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Ambience:- The neighbourhood itself is unique place in HK, a small fishing village that offers a totally different experience. The toilets are squat ones and the hygiene deteriorated as more customers dined there...... a total turn-off if they are also advertising as a tourist attraction. Don't get me wrong, squat toilets are fine as long as everyone clean after their mess after using them........ but in HK.......
