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2014-04-17
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Ap Lei Chau is quite the haven (and heaven) for fresh seafood in Hong Kong. After all, the largest wholesale fish market is almost a sampan's ride across (Aberdeen), and the fish market in the city government building is right on the shore from where fishermen and their boats dock, as well as bring up smaller catches.Thus this area is pretty much the epicenter of Southern Hong Kong for seafood. While there are other pockets like Po Doi O, Sai Kung (mostly for visitors and tourists), Lau Fau Shan
Ap Lei Chau is quite the haven (and heaven) for fresh seafood in Hong Kong. After all, the largest wholesale fish market is almost a sampan's ride across (Aberdeen), and the fish market in the city government building is right on the shore from where fishermen and their boats dock, as well as bring up smaller catches.Thus this area is pretty much the epicenter of Southern Hong Kong for seafood. While there are other pockets like Po Doi O, Sai Kung (mostly for visitors and tourists), Lau Fau Shan, and of course Lei Yu Moon, it seems that the best bang for the buck is pretty much right here.
Yiu Kee is one of 5 or so cooked food stall vendors upstairs from the Ap Lei Chau city government wet market. Somewhere in the region of 3 open from breakfast till mid afternoon, then most of them close, with 2 operating strictly evening hours. Yiu Kee is the last of the lot to close, so they are the busiest during lunch, particularly on the weekends.
Yiu Kee is similar to their competition nearby, in that when they are not cooking seafood, they primarily exist as a snack shop. For breakfast, the hot milk tea or coffee works (nothing spectacular) and you can get even pan fried cheung fun for breakfast which I have done about 2 years ago.
But weekend lunch is when you want to come here. So please, make a reservation, or else you will have seafood but no one to cook it for you.
It's pretty simple. Make a reservation ahead of time. Then maybe budget yourself 30 to 40 mins before the reservation time, to scout the lower floor, fresh seafood section of the wet market. Quickly identify the strengths, price, variety, and availability of the seafood (way too much variety), make your purchase. Be aware that some vendors may open at strange hours....for example "Asian Fairytale" which specializes in imported seafood, opened much later than we expected!
Then quickly take all the loot upstairs. Let the staff know exactly how you want the seafood prepared, or you can ask them for recommendations (sometimes it is best left to them). Personally, the best results are sometimes just simple...parboil, blanch, or straight up classic steamed. There are a few exceptions where only stir fry will work, or deep fry.
This visit is actually the 3rd or 4th time I've eaten at Yiu Kee, but the first time reviewing it. I will say that their steaming work is pretty solid overall, and consistent. But if you are extremely nit picky, you may find some differences between the cooking methods and results of other vendors. In my experience, Yiu Kee has not oversteamed any seafood we have brought to them.
So on January 5, 2014 on that fine Sunday, we brought over
- live abalone (steamed with citrus peel). Having had raw Japanese abalone for sushi (and sashimi), it can be really hard and crunchy. Yiu Kee's steaming was just right that these live abalone (I want to say from South Africa, but can't remember) had a really nice bite to it, but still required some effort to pry it from the shell....but it went down real smooth after that. The dried citrus peel shreds were not off putting at all, and in fact quite pleasant.
- Geoduck two way: the butcher downstairs sliced them thin, and although these were imported from Pacific Northwest (likely British Columbia/Vancouver side of the coastal area), they were stored in uhm...Hong Kong seawater, and we all know how clean that stuff gets. Unfortunately the slices were cut too thin for stir frying, so Yiu Kee gave us a big bowl of chicken soup for "shabu shabu", and provided several refills (since the geoduck was kept on ice). The "head" of the geoduck we did the typical salt and pepper stir fry, which was quite enjoyable
- babylon whelks (also known as "Eastern Wind" sea snails). One of the greats... remove the "foot" or base (the crunchy inedible part), use a toothpick to remove the flesh, quick dip in the sweet sauce, and it is pretty awesome. Perfect pairing with an ice cold Tsing Tao beer!
- stir fried Scottish razor clams on the shell in black bean sauce. Hard to believe these were still wriggling and moving downstairs. It is hard to put the taste into words...this was one of the reasons why we all came here, and we were very lucky to have located an extremely fresh bundle
- steamed scallops on the shell with vermicelli and garlic. Historically with past visits this item has been inconsistent. I recall with the most recent visit, this was ok, but I have had ones that were oversteamed and the scallop itself rather chewy and tough. Not bad....I think these were Hokkaido scallops which are the standard these days.
- saltwater (and oil) steamed "flower" clams. Very classic fisherman style. Well preserved ocean flavor, local clams, with a well rounded sweetness. After steaming, the liquid can be consumed, and it is very delicious.
- soy sauce supreme fried noodles. This is probably the most typical and best way to end a seafood themed meal. The other option would be to do a fried rice, but all of us were in a noodle kind of mood for lunch. The prep here is quite satisfactory, although a tad moist, but in a good sense. If only we had Yu Kwen Yick chili sauce with us...
I honestly and unfortunately don't remember what they charged for the cooking fees, but it was all very reasonable. With the seafood we paid at the market and the cooking fee, naturally it came out significantly less than any other restaurant outside.
Probably would not hesistate to return to Yiu Kee on a weekend in a future visit and have them make the dishes again. I'm sure some of you have seen Michael Lam's show where he is good buddies with the owner of YK (Steven). As much as I would love to try their club sandwiches, baked pork chop in tomato sauce, and fried wontons, I'm likely going to always save my quota for seafood. ;-)
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