Steamboat In Summer

Even though it's summer, it was still lovely to have steamboat (They call it hot pot) in an air-conditioned restaurant. Although sitting outdoors for steamboat in Hong Kong's mild winter would be better! Neptune's Hot Pot (漁王世家海鮮火鍋料理) at the Western District (西環) was the girlfriend's recommended venue.

There were so many things to eat! Plenty of vegetables, fishballs, fish dumplings, mushrooms and meats. We rejected the server's suggestion of having a whole fish and went for large cuts of eel instead. I flatly rejected the idea of having sashimi here. I'm picky not just about the freshness of the fish. It's also the skill of the chef and a whole lot of ambience and culture that makes sashimi sashimi, not just the fact that it's raw. And this is obviously not a sashimi sort of place. There was no doubt that kikare must have been seriously worried about what to feed this picky imp with.

I loved the pieces of fried fish skin. It can be a little dry even when taken with beer or whisky. I didn't want to dip it in sauces- my preferred way of eating is to dip it in hot soup before munching it. There were plenty of condiments available. I stuck to the boring garlic pieces and soy sauce. I was just SO DAMN THRILLED that the restaurant chopped up fresh pungent garlic pieces without being asked to.

Conversation was hilarious. A good 80% of the conversation was conducted in Cantonese! I've never spoken so much Cantonese in my life! Kikare and L didn't laugh too badly at my pronunciation. I could only surmise that the HK tv serials are fabulous tutorial tools. I've also learnt that my preferred genre are the supernatural, forensics and cop dramas, not much different from all my favored English tv series.

We didn't notice the passing of time. We ate for a good 2.5 hours. At the point of dessert, I had out-ate everyone else on the table. Believe it. I even finished dessert because it was gui ling gao (龜苓膏) - next to bird's nest, this is the only Chinese dessert I like. The girls were amazed at how much food was squeezed into the stomach. HKD300 each. No carbs. I ate enough for 2.