China – Busiest Restaurant I’ve Ever Been to – Famous/Local/Fresh Seafood

Restaurant: Wah Shing Yu Kong in Cantonese or Hua Cheng Yu Gang in Mandarin
Cuisine: Chinese/Seafood
Last visited: April 17, 2010
Location: Shen Zhen, China
Address: I have no idea, but show a local and they will know
Price Range: $10CAD or less – about $60RMB

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3.5
Service: 1
Ambiance: 2, but it’s the experience!
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Most popular restaurant on the strip
• Most popular restaurant for locals
• Famous for fresh seafood, prepared upon order
• Serves the best seafood on strip
• Experience is better than food
• Be aware of purse snatchers
• Busy all the time
• Busiest restaurant I’ve ever been to – see video
• Bare minimum service
• Fight for your table
• No line-ups
• Self selection
• No non-smoking section
• No English – I don’t even think there’s a menu (print off these photos)
• Outdoor, backyard, front doors, upstairs, downstairs seating
• Open late

**Recommendations: Steamed tofu with minced pork, Razor clams, Steamed scallops with garlic and vermicelli, onion pancake

Video of me in China outside this restaurant

This is the busiest restaurant I’ve ever been to in my life. I took a photo of the restaurant name so if you plan to visit you can show locals (I’m sure they’ll know it). It’s located in Shen Zhen, China on their “restaurant street”. Every restaurant is identical and shares the same philosophy: Pick your own fresh seafood and they’ll cook it upon order. The whole street is filled with these restaurants and we actually had a local bring us to the best one on the strip. It’s this one! This is not a touristy are and it’s also popular for pickpocketers so watch your bag.

Outside? No luck with a table.

You can literally eat anywhere in the restaurant…sometimes even outside of it…on the street – literally.

Floor 1 – no luck with a table.

There is zero service pretty much and you literally stand by a table that looks almost finished in order to get a table. You’re curious why people from China can be so rude…because this sort of behaviour is common there – budge all you want, watch people eat, cut in line…NOBODY CARES. I budged, I pushed, I shoved…it’s the only way to the table.

The hallway to get between floors of the restaurant was like this the entire 3 hours I was there.

There are 3 floors, outside, and back patio…could not find a table for an hour and I had 3 people helping.

This back patio is as big as a beer tent in Europe…it’s MASSIVE and this was at 10pm and every table was full.

We arrived at 7pm and waited until 8pm to get a seat. By 10pm the restaurant was just as busy.

Step 1: Go outside, find server and select your choice of seafood by pound

Step 2: Select appetizers, sides etc. displayed outside restaurant (optional)

Yes, those are meal worms.

Step 3: Select meats (optional)

Step 4: Go inside restaurant to select snacks, appetizers, side dishes (optional)

This looked interesting – mini clams or something…didn’t get to try it though.

Everyone’s table eventually looks like this – plates of food come out and just pile on top of each other. (Not my table)

On the table:

Only in China do you get an ash tray, matches & tissues along side your complimentary appetizers – Salted roasted peanuts and spicy pickled radish.

This is the name of the restaurant in Chinese

And the dishes start coming out…

**Tofu with minced pork – 6/6

• I think this tofu was steamed and then pan fried, or other way around.
• It’s stuffed with the juiciest, tenderest, tastiest minced pork meatballs.

Sauteed Kai Lan – 4/6

• Sauteed Chinese broccoli or “kai lan” with minced garlic and a little chilie.
• This was very tasty, but extremely oily and greasy.

**Steamed Scallops with Vermicelli – 4/6 (Usually 6/6)

• Steamed scallops with minced garlic and vermicelli noodles topped with green onion.
• Juicy fresh scallops topped with tons of caramelized minced garlic and garlic sauce. The sauce is the best part – best eaten with the noodles.

• It’s savoury, sweet, and nutty from the garlic – love it!
• You can get this in Vancouver, BC at fancier Chinese restaurants.
• It’s actually better in Vancouver because these were overcooked.

Crispy Spring Chicken – 3/6

• They say they’re famous for this dish, but I thought it was okay.
• The chicken meat was a bit rough and drier in texture.
• The flavour was good, but also something I could find in Vancouver, BC.

Sauteed “Lai Lui” (“Peeing”) Shrimp – 3/6

• I don’t know the name in English but they call it in Chinese the literal transaltion is “Peeing Shrimp”
• They are sauteed in garlic, onions, and chili flakes.
• The flavour is delicious but it’s hard to get at the meat.
• There’s a lot of shell…I found it annoying.

**Green Onion Pancake – 5.5/6

• The green onion pancakes are pretty amazing in China.
• They’re fresh, made from scratch and upon order, but extremely oily and greasy!
• They make them different in China – the green onions are the stuffing rather than worked into the dough. They are LOADED with juicy sauteed onions which I loved.

• The dough is flaky and crispy and also very soft and chewy in the middle.
• You can find it at most Shanghainese and Taiwanese restaurants in Vancouver, BC.

See how greasy!!!!

**Pineapple Pancake – 3.5/6

• I’ve never seen these in Vancouver, it’s a dessert version of the green onion pancake.
• The pancake reminds me of Indian roti.
• This was good, but there wasn’t enough pineapple and it was again soooo greasy!
• The pineapples were fresh and juicy and because they were cooked under the heat then they got more sweet and less tart.