Kingsburg Hotpot Seafood Restaurant - Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

2/F Carnarvon Plaza, 20-20C Carnarvon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Ph: 2301 3638
Nearest MTR Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Last Visited: November 2010

Food: 3 stars

Atmosphere: 2 to 3 stars
Service: 2 to 3 stars
Price: $ to $$$

Kingsburg Hotpot Seafood Restaurant is located on the second floor of Carnarvon Plaza. Look for the Pizza Hut sign and you’ll see it, otherwise, you might miss the restaurant. It’s my uncle’s favorite hangout – not necessarily because of the food, but it’s only a five minute walk from his flat and they let you sit there for as long as you like. Hong Kong culture is very fast paced. Many eateries allow you enough time to order and eat, but don’t dilly dally because you’ll be given a bill and people will start to hover around you until you get the hint that it’s time to go. If needed, they’ll ask you to vacate your space. At restaurants like Kingsburg, people actually have the time to get out the newspaper and read.

To attract customers during off hours, Kingsburg has some amazing deals. A dim sum sampler basket containing two pieces of four types of dim sum (sponge cake and several types of dumplings) was today’s special and all of it came in under $3USD – an amazing bargain! One person eating this whole basket would probably be full, but there is a limit of one basket to a table. Dim sum is served for both regular breakfast and lunch menus. In the evening, the restaurant becomes a hot pot restaurant – all of the tablecloths are removed, and the built in stove in the table is fired on for service. The majority of restaurants in Tsim Sha Tsui have very good food. If you don’t have good food, you won’t get any business and you can’t afford the high rents in this district. I gave food a three star rating here because it’s not the highest quality dim sum, but it’s pretty decent. Dinner has good quality offerings for hot pot.

The atmosphere here is often chaotic. Between the do-it-yourself service (my uncle has gone into the tea refill station area to refill his own tea, as have other patrons) and the frequent shouting between the waitstaff members, sometimes you feel like you’re not really in a restaurant. They can do a very nice job though, so I have left a range up to three stars for both atmosphere and service.

Hot pot, if you haven’t had it before, is basically a do-it-yourself fondue. All of the food is prepared and cleaned, and then you cook it in the broth that you order for the table. It’s great for communal cooking and eating, but challenging if you are having a business meal. While I’ve eaten hot pot here, I don’t have any readily available photos. What I can tell you is that there is a lot of seafood to choose from, and if you prefer not to think about it, they have hot pot sets available so you can just pick a set by the photos.

The small container with rice and meat on top shown in the photo here is available for a bargain too. During off dim sum hours (for example, 9:30am to 11am on weekdays), this dish is available for $10HKD (less than $2USD). Even though it’s small, it’s filling and yummy. Good for a tasting or part of a brunch portion.

While Kingsburg has its opportunities for improvement, they’re still innovative – this is common of Hong Kong dim sum restaurants. While some restaurants specialize in the same items and consistently produce them, others keep coming up with new dishes to attract new customers. You can see this through their dim sum menu (there are about five different colored sheets of paper featuring a variety of items to choose from. All of this is in Chinese, but if you can’t read Chinese characters, that’s not a problems – a number of the sheets have photos of the dishes and there is an English menu available too.

- Fried Wontons – While these aren’t really wontons, that’s the best English description that I can come up with. They’re delicately wrapped to create these pretty shapes and filled with a little bit of meat

(sometimes shrimp, sometimes pork). Super crunchy, you’ll enjoy this if you love fried wontons or egg rolls.

- Shanghai Wontons – These boiled dumplings are one of their newest additions. In the last two years that I’ve visited, a spicy soy sauce is poured on top of boiled pork dumplings that mimic the what you might find in a Shanghainese restaurant.

- Fried Turnip Rolls – These rolls are delicate and filling. The turnip is grated medium fine and the filling of chopped turnip is wrapped by these grated turnip pieces to create a roll. The result is a light and flaky exterior and a moist interior. Very pretty to eat, but not something that is easy to find in the United States.

- Sponge Cake – This cake is beautifully presented with its two-colored batter that has been decorated so nicely. The sponge cake is also light and fluffy.

Kingsburg offers traditional dim sum as well as some new items. Kingsburg is good if you have a lot of time because the speed in which food is served varies and you may have trouble with service in the morning and afternoon. Dinner service is efficient and pricing is pretty good considering the quality.