Today I had the most expensive gourmet Chinese seafood dinner in my life. I think it is worth documenting this experience for the sake of food porn purposes and all that shit.
So this place has been getting a lot of attention lately and from a quick google search, reads lots of glowing reviews. I’m not so sure about the name of this place however. I thought it was called “Fisherman’s Wharf” but it’s actually “Fishman Wharf Seafood”; sounds kind of fobby but whatever. Nice logo, funny lobster.
A relatively sized restaurant I must say. Not too big but not too small I guess. The chairs and tables are all red and shit, fucking royalty yo.
Oh shit, shark fins! They still eat this shit around? Markham I guess, don’t play by the bans and China rules yo. Fuck.
Pretty interesting window decor. Hmm.. nice pots and lighting.
After looking at their offings online and in person, we decided on the above set, the Shark’s Fin Soup – King Lobster Set – $298. From older photos of this set online, it was priced at $258, so a considerable price hike I suppose. Cost of seafood is expensive I guess. Shit. When the dude brought out the 2 lobsters from the tank he said they would have to charge us an additional $10-15 because they were so big, bigger than what they are supposed to be. Whatever, want it we get it.
First course, shark fin soup with crab meat. Shit’s pretty good. I can’t remember the last time I had “real” sharks fin. And this one is pretty good. They serve it to you in a personalized dish.
Eel and some tofu with black bean garlic sauce. The eel was very tasty and savory, packed with flavor and umami. The tofu gave it a nice balance too. Too bad only 6 servings.
Clams in white wine broth. Not bad, but not really my thing. It was ok but seemed out of place considering everything in the set is so Chinese food.
Oysters in honey black pepper sauce. Shit this one is amazingly good. I’m not a big fan of oysters to begin with but man, these were delicious. Probably one of the best oysters I’ve ever had, pleasantly surprised.
Pretty solid Chinese style steam fish. The server put the soy sauce on it in front of us. Yay. And it was already cut up and portioned ready to eat. Good shit.
And here is it, the reason why I came here. The stack of fried king lobster in pretty arrangement. Wow, this is pretty good shit. Fried very well but not salty, full of umami flavor and crisp texture from the tender lobster flesh and crisp light batter.
Garnishing the lobster is fried garlic and fried little fish. I thought that the fish was just some fried bits or batter but realized they were tiny fish and we were all like, wow. Shit taste gud.
Pyramid of fried rice with lobster tomalley. Pretty tasty shit and nice presentation. I had seen pictures online of this dish with some broth surrounding it but I guess it’s not in it for this one. I totally forgot to take a picture of the vegetable dish but it was actually alright, shit had flavor too.
Dessert soup. I am not sure what the hell this actually is but it was pretty good. I think maybe pumpkin puree with tapioca? Not sure but it was pretty good, great palate cleanser after all that rich greasy lobster and good shit.
On the way out, sorry bitch, I just ate two of your friends.
All in all, Fishmen Wharf Seafood was a very interesting dining experience that I would think I would only go back to for in a blue moon. Make no mistake, the food is really good and the price is reasonable. For what you are paying for with quality and quantity, it’s fairly justified. The final bill after the +15 lobster size and tax, it was close to $400 dollars for this seafood experience for 5-6. We couldn’t finish the lobster obviously and had to take what was left home, which filled about 2 Styrofoam containers, leftovers I guess.
I would recommend going to this place only for special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries or some other celebrations, maybe pay raise or birth of your first child or whatever. Yea, this shit is good stuff but, man it’s pricey. Worth it, regardless.