Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Sharp Star 利星火鍋海鮮小炒

This neighborhood restaurant is located in Sham Shui Po, near the two famous computer malls that I used to come very often when I was in high school. Have not been in this neighborhood for decades, it brings back a lot of memories, with the street still busy and full of people.

Seated at a small table on the side, the place has the familiar ‘local’ ambience and vibe, with clippings from magazines about the restaurant, beer promotions, and a large TV on the wall. While the tables are quite packed, it is overall feeling clean and tidy.

The first dish we have is 利星小炒皇. It is large in portion size, with many different ingredients like chives, dried shrimp, squid, deep-fried baby white baits, preserved turnip, peanuts and cashew. Good in taste, with nice combination of umami and savoury flavours though a tiny bit salty on its own. However, together with rice it is a perfect, and I can easily finish a whole serving with this dish alone.

The second dish is 鐵板魚卜. Served on a sizzling hot iron plate, the fish swim bladders are seasoned well and tasty, with the scallions, onion, shallot and ginger adding to the fragrance. A few roasted pork is added to give extra flavours. The texture of the bladders is also nice, offering a good chew but not rubbery. A great dish to pair with some icy cold beer. My favourite dish in the evening.

The third dish we have is 椒鹽鮮魷. The batter of the squid is crispy, with the squid also tender. However, not sure whether it is the flour or other things that have been added to the mixture, or simply the oil itself, I do not like the taste of the batter. Also, it feels like the peppery salt are added to the squid only on serving, with the two components separated. A bit of a disappointment.

With a bottle of beer, the bill on the night is $535 which is very reasonable. Another highlight of this restaurant is the staff, who interacts with the customers in friendly and cheerful manner, making everyone feel good and welcome. Maybe now I got more reasons to return to this neighborhood even though I no longer go to those computer malls.