At Cafe Broadway, it was 40 dollars a pound. When I saw them at Tai Yuan they were around 40 dollars a pound (it was closer to winter time when I recall seeing those). But wow, didn’t realize how they caught the mantis shrimp.
My friend has seen them live in Rosemead (SoCal) though at Seafood Paradise. I can’t recall seeing any in the bay though.
“The largest mantis shrimp ever caught had a length of 46 cm (18 in) and was caught in the Indian River near Fort Pierce, Florida, in the United States” (Wikipedia)
Here’s a mention of mantis shrimp on Koi Palace’s Yelp page:
Koi Palace deserves five stars for carrying mantis shrimp or what Cantonese people refer to as “pissing shrimp!” I’ve only had this while visiting HK/China and have never seen it in the Bay Area before. The manager claims that no other Chinese restaurant in the area takes the risk in carrying these, so Koi Palace is the place to go!
They are flown in on Thursdays and stay alive for about three days, so the best nights to come sample mantis shrimp would be on Friday or Saturday nights. The price is $38/lb., which is about 2-2.5 shrimps. They were huge!
Omigosh, mantis shrimp! My absolute favorite dish from Hong Kong. It would wonderful if we could get it here.
Huh, I wonder if its a delicacy somewhere along the gulf coast. I can’t recall ever hearing it though.
Wow, I don’t recall seeing those in Koi Palace for those past few years (the review’s from 2010), though I don’t go too often. I did however manage to swing by this weekend and just stared at the tank and asked. They didn’t have any this weekend.
Well… they are in the bay area, just rarely found if that’s what you’re implying. My SoCal friends have mentioned they have seen them far more often in the tanks down there though.
For pre-order:
I called and they have ‘go’ (innard) crab tomorrow. $38 an order. Don’t know how big. They also have Japanese Hard Clam (man gaap)
Huh, don’t think I’ve ever tried those Japanese hard clams before. Are they like the cherry stone clams?
Just curious, do you have to speak in Cantonese when you call in to pre-order? Will English or Mandarin work? TIA
Thanks to @Night07’s tip, I had lunch with my little ones Saturday at lunch. Not a lot of people in our party so we ordered 2 seafood dishes: the mantis shrimps (瀨尿蝦) and the Japanese hard clams (文蛤).
The clams are like littlenecks. They were very sweet, with a bit of sharpness, and delicious. I chose the prep with turnip and broth. The broth was heavy on white pepper and had something very savory in it that I couldn’t figure out. I would have guessed MSG but I wasn’t thirsty afterwards. 2 lb of clams prepped for $23.98. Came in a pot and a sterno stand to heat the pot. I would have loved also if they can steam the clams in some good sake. Maybe someone should ask if one can bring sake for the kitchen.
The mantis shrimps were prepped with salt/ pepper. Well-prepped and cooked just right. 1 lb came with 4 shrimps at $40.
Wonton noodle soup was average. Noodles were al dente. Filling inside wonton was a bit uniform like a fish ball so it was a little odd.
Need to go back and try their other seafood offerings.
I don’t know if you have to, since I spoke Cantonese to them. I pre-ordered the shrimp but didn’t preorder the clams. I had the option of ordering the ‘innard crab’ but didn’t. I think they have a stash that if you come early enough they won’t run out. Pre-ordering just seems to ‘reserve’ your lot.
I am guessing Mandarin will work just fine in Chinatown. Not sure about English. If you order in person, you can show them my previous post with the Chinese name of the dishes. If ordering by phone, the Cantonese pronunciation for mantis shrimp sounds somewhat close to the English words ‘lie lieu ha’ and ‘man gap’. I am pretty sure they will get the first one, and will likely get confused about the second one (no equivalent pronunciation in English).
Wow, those clams do look pretty good. I honestly can’t quite recall having them, mostly the manilla clams. I’ll give that a shot next time I’m around. Are you trying to recreate those sake clams from Tasting Court, haha. I actually enjoyed Tasting Court’s version very much. But glad to see they still are able to get mantis shrimp (I honestly don’t know where they are, still haven’t seen them around Chinatown’s fish tanks). I checked Tai Yuan last weekend and they stated they haven’t gotten anything recently.
Uhm… I don’t know. My folks ordered in Cantonese and that’s as far as I am aware. As sck said, I think Mandarin should work, English should work as well but might have to sort through the staff.
YES! I am too lazy to scrub clams at home and recreate. Perhaps I should since I still dream about that dish.
I think clams with some form of alcohol generally goes well. Perhaps some better huadiao, or just white wine!
Now I am curious what you think about Tasting Court’s other dishes as well…!
A post was merged into an existing topic: [Hong Kong] Tasting Court 天一閣. Outstanding traditional Cantonese banquet
I called them up today afternoon (Friday) and inquired about their availability of seafood for today and tomorrow. They said they didn’t have anything for today, but asked me to call back tomorrow to see what the boss brings in. So it seems like choices change.
Ah, good to note. I’d be quite curious if they were able to pull mantis shrimp out everytime haha.
Today i called and they have mantis shrimp, ‘innard’ crab, 沙白 (don’t know English name) that should look kinda like these:
Oh wow. I don’t think I really want to attempt to cook mantis shrimp at home, but I’m really curious where they are getting them from lol. I should try the clams next time I’m around. Your description with that broth sounded really good.
Right, I don’t know if they will send me to the ER, since I don’t have one of these at home:
Any updates on Cantonese-style live seafood at Cafe Broadway? Haven’t heard much lately.
Mmm… they actually did a remodel a few months back where they refocused more on dim sum. However the tables and such didn’t really change so its a little awkward when you order a lot of plates for a small table. Food wise, I thought they were quite decent especially in Chinatown. Price wise… it… went up lol.
I haven’t been back for dinner in quite a while and the time I did go, we ordered their set menu (some family members were not huge fresh seafood fans so I didn’t try to get anything different).
