The bay in the drifting mountain

For a long time now, we've been hearing Mrs Birdiegolf rave about the seafood in Lau Fau Shan (流浮山), but it seemed a long way to go just for a casual meal. Then she introduced her go-to restaurant to RAW Yeah, who also became a fan of Hoi Wan Restaurant (海灣餐廳). During our dinner last week, Sankala and I complained that we had never been to this purveyor of fine seafood, so RAW Yeah kindly agreed to arrange a meal for us.

The place really is far from where we live. Even on a rainy Sunday night with no traffic it took us about 45 minutes to get there. After walking down the narrow Main Street lined with restaurants and shops selling local goodies, we eventually would up at our destination. After we were seated, RAW Yeah and a few others went to pick out the seafood.

Blanched greasyback shrimp (白灼海麻蝦) - these were mostly small the very tender, just the way they should be.

Scrambled eggs with shrimp (滑蛋炒蝦仁) - this is, apparently, something that one must order here.

OH MAN! While the small greasyback shrimps (沙蝦仔) were nice, the scrambled eggs were simply AMAZING! Sooooo silky smooth! I am told that the kitchen did not use any milk or cream for this. Just skill and perfect execution. My highlight of the evening.

Steamed humpback grouper (清蒸老鼠斑) - very, very nicely done. My friends rave that they never, ever miss when steaming fish. Too bad we couldn't get any sole (方利) tonight.

Stir-fried cuttlefish with yellowed chives and baby sardines (韮黃炒鮮魷) - interesting that the squid still seemed slightly on the raw side and not as fully-cooked as we normally see it. Meanwhile the deep-fried baby sardines made this really tasty.

Honey-glazed chicken wings (蜜糖雞翼) - crispy and delicious, with sweet honey glaze.

Stir-fried cheung fun with oysters and black bean sauce (豉椒蠔仔炒腸粉) - RAW Yeah bought the riceflour rolls on the way here so that he could have the boss lady make this dish for us. The black bean sauce was nice, and the oysters were big and fat, but there wasn't enough time for the flavor of the sauce to get inside the riceflour rolls. Still pretty decent, though.

Blanched razor clams (白灼蟶子) - the consensus was that this was the best dish tonight, and I do have to say that they got the timing just right in terms of the doneness. Very fresh razor clams and the natural sweetness was really nice.

Deep-fried devil stinger (油浸老虎魚) - I do love it when seafood restaurants serve fish that had been dunked in (relatively) low-temp oil and fried, in a style known as 油浸. These devil stingers were pretty good.

Sweet and sour pork (生炒骨) - with a couple of ladies around, it's no surprise that this showed up at the table. And Sankala was very, very happy.

Chilled mantis shrimp (冰鎮瀨尿蝦) - gotta say I wasn't a fan of having this served chilled. But the natural flavors of the shellfish did get more prominent.

Salt-baked virgin mud crabs (鹽焗奄仔蟹) - always love when these come salt-baked.

And these were full of roe. Very, very tasty.

Shrimp paste fried rice (蝦膏炒飯) - a little spicy and pretty tasty for sure. One thing I didn't care for was the presentation, as they stick two spoons upright into the rice. As anyone familiar with Japanese culture would know, this is certainly not polite in that culture.

Because we came for the second seating, we were limited to less than 2 hours for our meal. Due to the number of dishes being served, we were pretty much eating non-stop - which didn't leave much time for us to drink the bottles that we brought. In the end we were pretty weak on this front...

Henri Giraud MV15, dégorgée le 12 novembre 2020 - nice and yeasty, with some toast on the nose but not overpowering. A little floral and marmalade. Wonderful balance on the palate.

Henri Giraud MV Rosé, dégorgée le 2 juin 2021 - more red fruit notes. Lovely.

1994 Laville Haut-Brion, en magnum - served 45 minutes after opening. Very fragrant, ripe on the palate but still got the acidity. Drinking very well right now.

2003 Sine Qua Non Sublime Isolation - 44% chardonnay, 37% roussanne, 19% viognier. Served 1 hour after opening. Fragrant and buttery, and that's the chardonnay. A little metallic, ripe and alcoholic with some vanilla. It's too bad we didn't give the wine enough time.

A very fun dinner with lots of good seafood. Too bad it was so rushed.