Lamma Hilton (Shum Kee), Lamma - 26.08.10

When you live in a small yet insanely overcrowded, polluted and hectic city such as Hong Kong, it comes as a huge relief when you get the opportunity to escape from the craziness, even just for a couple of hours. 

And so I find myself climbing on board the ferry that will take me from pier 4 in Central to Sok Kwu Wan on Lamma Island, where frazzled Hong Kong locals and a fair few curious tourists can escape to a world of yesteryear and delicious fresh seafood.

As you step off the ferry, a long line of similar looking seafood restaurants await, each beckoning hungry diners in with their promises of free Carlsburg or the ‘best seafood on the island’.  They needn't bother however as every local Hong Konger has their firm favourite, usually either Rainbow or the Lamma Hilton, which they most likely have been frequenting for years.

My favourite is the Lamma Hilton and as I wasn't the organiser of last night's outing, I was secretly very relieved that the organiser also preferred the Hilton to the other choices.  To say the least, it saved my husband from a torrent of complaints for the rest of the evening!

Satisfied with the choice of restaurant, my next hurdle to overcome was to ensure that all my favourite dishes were ordered.  Not a problem, anyone familiar with Lamma knows to order the Pepper Prawns and Deep Fried Squid.  Both were fantastic - the prawns were fresh and the crispy salt, pepper, chilli and garlic topping so moreish that the savvy ones on our table were scraping the excess from the dish into our bowls to eat with rice.  The squid was less rubbery than usual – not bad for Lamma standards!  We also had a great big Garoupa picked straight from the fish tank where it was swimming happily moments before being presented to our table beautifully steamed with spring onion and soya sauce.  We also had a spicy tofu dish, which wasn't bad, a seriously garlicky aubergine dish with vermicelli noodles, and a fried morning glory, which was nice, but I find this particular green vegetable a little stringy.   We did not have the baby lobster with minced garlic, a dish I would highly recommend trying, nor did we have any crab, which can also be amazing with black bean and spring onion.

Overall it was a pretty good meal – lots of food and fantastic value for money.  We each paid $180 for the food and lots of beer (no wine).  I would say that the price per head tends to get less the more people you have in your group, and a group size of 8 or more is ideal so you can try lots of different dishes.

Lamma Hilton (Shum Kee)
26 Sok Kwu Wan Road

Lamma

T: +852 2982 2941