Kam Fook Seafood Restaurant: Chinese, Bondi Junction (19 Feb 2012)

Shop 6010, Level 6, Westfield Shopping Centre

500 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction NSW 2022
http://www.kamfook.com.au

Vegetarian shark fin available

Thanks to Phoebe Netto from Good Business Consulting for inviting me as a guest with my family to Kam Fook Seafood Restaurant in Westfield Bondi Junction near the cinema. I've visited once before for yum cha which I remember being quite good so I was keen to sample their a la carte menu to see how they'd compare to restaurants like Golden Century which have a similar extensive menu including live seafood. Most of the menu choices was left up to the restaurant to choose which started with a Mixed Seafood Soup Supreme ($12 per person) which included sea cucumber my dad was keen to try and met with his approval. It also included vegetarian shark fin made in Japan which the restaurant has introduced as an option for customers to be more ethical and seemed to have a similar taste and texture to what I was expecting.

A hot pot of Snow Crab ($88 per kg) with pork mince and vermicelli had nice flavours and was certainly easier to eat than the harder shelled mud crab but its reconfirmed my beliefs that eating crab in general is a lot of hard work and my preference now is lobster for its meatier chunks of meat — although crab does have that prized sweeter taste. The Salt & Pepper Chilli Stuffed Squid ($28.80) had a nice coated flavour although unfortunately weren’t as tender as hoped and a touch rubbery. Hopefully a revisit to try the Salt & Pepper Squid will be more successful. We received a Prawn dish ($33) with decent sized prawns cooked well but I wasn’t too sure what it was called. The Kam Fook Fried rice ($16.80 lunch, $28.80 dinner) was cooked up with black squid ink for something different. The squid ink flavour was very subtle and more for presentation I found. Squid was substituted for scallops which were one of the highlights in the dish making me want to try salt & pepper scallops next time.

We chose the Shredded Beef Peking Style ($24.80) which was well-flavoured although I would have preferred it more crispy like they do at Bambusia and the San Dong Chicken ($22.80) was a bit light on flavour but thankfully the meat fairly tender. A crispier skin and more fried chilli would have been welcomed. I was hoping the dish was more like the Sang Tung Chicken at Kingsford Chinese Restaurant but I’m thinking it might be a different style of dish because they’re spelt differently? The Mango pancakes ($11) had more cream than mango but still nice although more mango ratio preferred. The Banana fritter ($9.50) was very good with a thin and crispy batter as hoped and one of the better ones I’ve had although would have preferred with vanilla ice cream. The Green tea ice cream ($6.50) was well-liked and the Deep fried red bean pancake ($11) had a very crispy outer skin and interesting flavour inside worth trying which was a new dish experience for me — would have been great with some ice cream too.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Extensive live seafood menu, Plenty of seating, Free Westfield parking, Spacious and relaxed decor, Vegetarian shark fin available

CONS: No deep fried ice cream on menu, Menu seemed expensive but dishes were generously sized

BABY ON BOARD: Plenty of room to move, Baby change table available in toilet

MUST TRY: Snow crab if you can afford it and don’t mind the hard work eating, Banana fritter, Deep fried red bean pancake, Revisiting to try more of the menu including Peking Duck Pancakes

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Peanuts and chilli condiments

Mixed Seafood Soup Supreme ($12 per person) included sea cucumber, squid, vegetarian shark fin, dried scallop and mushroom

Snow Crab ($88 per kg) with minced pork and vermicelli hot pot

Salt & Pepper Chilli Stuffed Squid ($28.80)

Prawn dish ($33)

Kam Fook Fried rice with black squid ink ($16.80 lunch, $28.80 dinner)

Squid ink used for rice

Shredded Beef Peking Style ($24.80)

San Dong Chicken ($22.80)

Complimentary fruit of orange and watermelon

Fortune cookies and chocolates

Mango pancakes with ice cream ($11)

Banana fritter with ice cream ($9.50)

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Green tea ice cream ($6.50) - good

Deep fried red bean pancake ($11)

WORTH TRYING :-)

Live seafood menu prices

Seating

Lobster in the tank — hopefully next time

Baby change table gets a tick

Nice flowers in the toilet gets a tick

I always love spotting some Engrish on the menu

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