The old Aberdeen Seafood Wholesale Market Canteen was a bit of a favorite among local gourmands because of their access to any seafood that passed through the wholesale market that supplied seafood for the entire city, reasonable prices and great taste. I hadn’t had the good fortune to eat at the old market before they closed 3 years ago because a rent hike. Though some in the Chowhound community had great meals there.
The new canteen that takes its place is run by Keung Hoi Ching, the president of the HK fresh fish trade association. We were originally planning to go to the Ap Lei Chau wet market to grab some seafood and had Yiu Kee cook for us upstairs in the cooked food centre. When we found out that Yiu Kee was on vacation for the week, we decided to make a same day reservation to the new Aberdeen Seafood Wholesale Market Canteen and see how the food was like. With same day reservation, that meant the canteen would not have time to find the more ‘exotic’ stuff. We decided on a HK$300/pp ‘omakase’- not too high priced just to ‘test the waters’.
Description of dishes were below. My overall impression of the meal was that the seafood was (obviously) very fresh and adequately prepared, but nothing mindblowing in terms of taste. The kitchen seemed to favor strongly flavored or salty prep (e.g. clams, surf clams, prawns). Though in general for Cantonese seafood prep, I prefer to let the seafood shine through on its own with minimal spicing. Value seemed ok. While I wasn’t able to compare against the old canteen, I think I prefer the picking-your-own approach in Ap Lei Chau to the current canteen.
After the meal, we wandered into the nearby market souvenir shop and chatted with the lady who worked there. She said that there had been fewer customers after the changeover and that most suggested that the old canteen was a little bit better.
I also asked her about the ‘floating ship noodle’ nearby in the Aberdeen shoreline. She said that they were usually there near sunset and people lined up for it. So it’d be an interesting try for those who happened to be nearby and wanted to try one of the very few places in HK that sells noodle from a boat.
She also suggested taking the boat ride to Ap Lei Chau and go up the tower to catch a good view of the harbour. There was also a Aberdeen/ HK seafood history museum near the wholesale market that’s open on Saturdays or by appointment during the week.
The menu- 8 dishes, for 4 people:
Fish soup- creamy white, quite rich and sweet:
竹蝦 striped prawn- fried with soy sauce:
玉蟹 ‘Jade crab’- crab, prepped with ginger and scallion, was sweet and yummy. Favorite of the meal.
青斑 Green grouper, steamed with ginger and scallion- Nice fish, though maybe half a minute to a minute overcooked.
Clams- with strongly flavored sauce
Empress surf clam with vermicelli- a bit salty
Noodle:
Bok choy (not pictured)
The market:
Nearby market souvenir shop:
