THERE’S NO BETTER TIME THAN SPRING TO ENJOY HONG KONG’S SEAFOOD SURPRISES

Hong Kong began its life as a small fishing port, and fishing is still an important local industry – so it’s not surprising that seafood remains one of the most popular items on Hong Kong dinner tables. What may surprise visitors, however, is the enormous variety of seafood on offer and the amazingly creative ways that Hong Kong chefs have found to serve it, drawing on the fusion of Eastern and Western influences that characterises the “City of Life”.

While seafood is plentiful the whole year round, there’s no better season to enjoy it than spring, when the quality is superb, the selection plentiful and the weather mild enough to make the most of Hong Kong’s harbourfront eating places. That’s why the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) has chosen this pleasant time of year for its Seafood Surprises promotion, which runs from now until the end of May.

Spring Seafood Surprises is the latest attraction in the HKTA’s Seasonal Tastes programme, now in its third year, which highlights Hong Kong’s many and varied culinary specialities during different seasons. This year, more than 40 local restaurants are co-operating with the HKTA by offering visitors special deals and special dishes based on seafood.

Among the more intriguing special dishes on offer are deep-fried eel with lotus seed in kwai fa sauce; tartar of sea scallop with caviar; tandoori pomfret; sizzling stuffed fresh water goby with mud carp; king prawn and crab parcel with coral parmesan cream; salmon roll with angel hair in dill sauce; and deep-fried prawns with shrimp paste and almond in bacon roll. There are also classic fish dishes from other parts of the world, such as bouillabaisse.

Even vegetarians needn’t miss out on the action. Hong Kong chefs are masters at creating authentic-tasting fish and meat dishes from 100% vegetable ingredients, and one of the city’s best-known vegetarian restaurants is offering braised vegetarian shark’s fin with steamed bean curd as its special promotional dish.

As well as sampling these mouth-watering recipes, you shouldn’t miss out on trying your seafood the way Hong Kong people like best – super-fresh and simply cooked. Steaming delicate fish like garoupa helps to retain the natural flavour and nutritional value. The Cantonese like to steam their fish with spring onions, ginger and sometimes a little dried tangerine peel, topping it off with hot soy sauce as the dish is served.

Hong Kong people also insist that the fruits of the sea must be served absolutely fresh. So don’t be surprised on arriving at your chosen restaurant to notice a large tank teeming with live fish and crustaceans. Before tucking into your seafood meal it is customary to make your own choice from the tank, whereupon it is whisked off to the kitchen for cooking.

As well as prawns (a must for every seafood dinner), lobster, crab, scallops and oysters –which are well known to gourmets the world over – there are many other delights in store this spring. Hong Kong is a great place to try highly-prized delicacies such as abalone and shark’s fin, not to mention unusual crustaceans like squilla, which have a far more colourful name in Chinese!

Visitors shouldn’t miss out on Hong Kong’s many dried fish specialties, either. Dried scallops, oysters and shrimps are often combined with fresh fish or vegetables to add a special piquancy to dishes, many examples of which can be found on Spring Seafood Surprises menus. Dried seafood is also said to have strong mental and physical restorative properties. And one of the most rewarding ways of walking off a good lunch is by exploring the dried seafood shops in the Western District of Hong Kong Island, just a 10-minute tram ride from Central. The sights and aromas are unforgettable.

Free restaurant guides for the Spring Seafood Surprises promotion are now available at all HKTA Visitor Information and Services Centres, cruise/ferry terminals and the 42 participating restaurants, each of which presents its own seafood speciality dish at a promotional price, as well as offering generous discounts or complimentary dishes for visitors to Hong Kong.


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Note

The Hong Kong Tourist Association will be renamed the Hong Kong Tourism Board with effect from 1 April 2001, to reflect a change to its constitutional structure. Its primary responsibilities for marketing and promoting Hong Kong as a destination worldwide, and for providing visitors with assistance when they arrive, will remain unchanged