Wineshark Mystery Restaurant - 818 The Seafood 八一漁八

This restaurant is located at 4/F Harbour City, specializing in seafood. It is part of the Maxim Group, and while we have visited the adjacent Singaporean restaurant a few years back, it is our first time coming to 818 The Seafood.

Walking past the fish tank at the entrance, the staff leads us to the main dining room, with a few VIP rooms which offer more privacy on the side. The décor is nice, classy but relaxing. The highlight is certainly the harbour view, and we are fortunate to get a table on the window side, allowing us to enjoy the sunset and beautiful night scenery.

To start we have Deep-Fried Shrimp Roll 酥炸五香蝦棗 ($78). Thinking it would be like those we have in Chiu Chow restaurant, it turns out to be quite different, more akin to the style for the Cantonese deep-fried oysters with crispy batter. The taste is decent, but the shrimp roll has too much fatty pork in my opinion.

We also order a Combo Set ($1,888), which includes Braised Hanasaki Crab with Sarawak White Pepper 砂撈越白胡椒花咲蟹半隻. The hard and spiny shell has been cracked open to make it easy to enjoy, and the meat is sweet, with firm texture, where the white pepper sauce gives fragrance but not spicy. 

The other dish in the Combo Set is Stir-Fried Chinese Kale with Garlic and Pork Lard 拍蒜油渣炒芥蘭. The vegetables are tender, nicely seasoned, with the pork lard in particular giving rich aromas and flavours. While it looks simple, it is a wonderful dish.

Feeling still a bit empty, we also ordered Sauteed and Deep-Fried Flat Rice Noodles with Clams 酥炸花蜆鴛鴦脆皮河粉 ($198) to wrap up. The rice noodles are served in two styles, one deep-fried to offer a crisp texture, the other stir-fried with sauce to remain soft and moist. Cooked together with the large clams so the noodles can absorb the umami flavours, it is delicious. I would prefer less deep-fried and more sauteed noodles, but we applaud the creativity that goes into this dish.

Service is decent, with the staff being courteous but did not offer much introduction to the dishes. The bill on the night is $2,428. The customers are basically all tourists and business people, but I think it is a good place for bigger groups to enjoy fresh seafood. Not exactly wow, but can try it out.