Treasure Lake Seafood Restaurant

> Location : 1-3/F, Man Wah Bldg., No. 35 Bonham Strand East,
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Cantonese
> Tel. # : (852) 2854-9388
> Website : N/A

Treasure Lake Seafood Restaurant is actually part of the same restaurant group as North Garden. Located very close to Malaymama, Treasure Lake features different types of cantonese cuisine. Every season, their menu usually change. Some of the items are new and some are from the previous season. I have a lot of experience with this place since it is so close to my office, I tend to eat at this place a lot when I don't have time to go far. Before I go into describing the flavors and ingredients of some of the dishes I tried recently, I'm going to recommend some of the dishes I think are pretty good straight from the menu. Note, as always with any restaurant and to 'some extent' with Treasure Lake, the cook's consistency with any restaurant is important, but don't expect dishes to look, taste, and feel the same with each additional experience.

The Recommended dishes are: Sauteed Bitter Squash with salty fish and egg white, Baked mixed wild mushrooms, Assorted meat combination (Roasted Pork, BBQ pork, Tofu, etc), Braised Bean curd with ham.

This season, the back of the menu features a variety of hotpots to choose from. They are boiled to the side and put in front of you when it is ready. In fact, one of which I tried and will mention later in the review. Treasure Lake features three floors of dining. The first floor is for ordering from the menu, the second floor is for dim sum and the third is for karaoke, majong and such.

So to start things off, I went to a hotpot dish right from the menu. I got the Braised assorted meat (old style). The pot came with items such as shrimp, squid, chicken, mushrooms, duck, cabbage, pig skin, and meat balls. It was quite a crowded hotpot with many items to pick from. As a single order dish, I think it's a bit complicated and wasn't to the point. Taste wise, really nothing too spectacular. I suggest going with the hotpots that includes taro in it as I've had better experiences with them. If you're hungry, the variety is nice but the presentation is lacking and there's no central flavors at all.

Onto the better item is steam fish. The thing with Hong Kong is that, eating fish that are straight from the ocean is rare and usually are bred in farms. Also, the steam time has to be precise depending on the type of fish and also the size of the fish are it'll be oversteamed and the meat will be stiff. Usually, when a dish of steam fish is stiff, the first most likely reason is that the quality/freshness is an issue and the second reason is it is over steamed. As for my particular experience that day, it was done perfectly! Just right with just a little bit of blood near the spine area. Some people consider that undercook but if you were to let it sit a little bit when the dish comes with the top layer of the fish covering it, it will be okay. In such a case, this is better than risking a re-steam and coming back out with stiffer meat. Anyhow, the meat was nice and soft overall in our case. Steam fish usually in most Chinese cuisine uses fish soy sauce as a base with ginger and/or shredded green onions on top.

Pei pa tofu is next. Basically it's fried tofu with some mushrooms mixed inside covered in a thick sauce along with some dried scallops. This is one of those mildly salty/sweet type dish. The tofu is still slightly crispy still even with the sauce on top. This is one of those pretty consistent dishes served at Treasure Lake so I would recommend it if you're in the mood for fried tofu instead of steamed or marinaded tofu.

The next dish is braised beef stomach area/brisket with green onion, carrot, tomato. This is a popular cantonese dish cooked in a variety of ways. Usually it the braised beef is cooked with turnips but versions like this are with carrots and tomatos. The dish has a pleasant sweetness originated from the carrots and the tomatos. The meat is nice and tender and the sauce goes nicely with it. This is a very nice dish along with steamed rice! Highly recommended.

Another dish pictured but not discussed is a crushed garlic vegetable dish. Overall, Treasure Lake is a decent cantonese restaurant overall. Sometimes my experiences are great and sometimes it can be slightly disturbing because of the inconsistency. Using this last recent experience as a measuring stick, it was definitely one of my better days. So with that, my verdict is...

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >