in this video I will attempt to spend over $11,000 on Seafood here in Hong Kong and I promise you this time I will deliver I am not going to sleep tonight until I spent over 1,000 on Seafood today I'll be trying out four different seafood restaurants at four different price points cheap mid-priced expensive and out of this world Ultra Premium where I'll spend an outrageous amount of money on a tiny morsel of seafood but in my goal to spend $1,000 there are two rules I can only eat seafood and at each location I must spend more money than the last I've got Virginia the owner of the tour company humid with a chant of fishballs by my side all day leading the way right now we're headed to location number one where we're going to be having wait for it fishballs let's do it that's what that's supposed to be we've come to our first and cheapest location of the day right behind me here this place is famous for all types of seafood their menu is huge and they're open 24 hours a day right now it's morning time breakfast it's the perfect time to eat some balls my favorite shape of food let's go inside and see how it's made and let's see how much it costs right here we have entered the kitchen my man he is the chef and he is right now preparing a load of wantons those look good maybe I'll change my order all right let's do it I'm following the chef over here into the corner he has a random drawer full of fish slices balls and slices these are in the hot water right here he wets the bowl looks like he's got some rice noodles and those get blanched in the hot water as well the rice noodles are tossed into the bowl boom balls in the bowl boom fish slices also in the bowl but right now this bowl needs some flavor how about a little bit of broth and then a little bit of lard he put his finger in it for some reason this woman right here is about to garnish our Bowl we have some green onions is that that's the garnish that oh okay the garnishing is complete thank you Chef I'm going inside so we have our Bowl right here this is what you get early in the morning four balls two slices garnished just in a spoon and then noodles underneath um don't let that be your first bite I think you should mix it in perhaps Virginia why are fishballs so common and so popular in Hong Kong so what happened back in the day is if people didn't sell all the fish we don't waste so then they make it into a paste and then they add a filler like some sort of starch M I got to say that's quite a sell for fish balls old fish meat and mixed with binders and formed into a ball right here we have the rice noodle it's soaking in this broth is it a pork bone broth pork bones and fish BN all right let's try out M oh it's so good the broth is incredibly hot even though it's been sitting here for a few minutes I can hardly handle it oh that's good super Savory salty you can taste the Fishbones in there I like it but enough with the broth we're trying to build our way up to these fish balls first of all fish slices [Music] cake it's kind of bouncy it has a ton of flavor inside it tastes like delicious processed fish I got to say for under $5 in Hong Kong this is a heck of a deal may I remind you that later in this video we're going to be spending over a 100 times as much on a meal so this is just the beginning I have my bouncy fish ball right here dense and soft at the same time full of flavor warm oh that's nice so this is our first course super inexpensive but next we're headed to a fish market a seafood market where we can actually pick up the food that we want to eat and bring it to someone to cook it let's [Music] move boom we have officially arrived at the fish market I am excited this place is wild and it's packed with action we're in Sun Sho this is Bay Home Market this one just tends to have a really big Seafood section oh my God this guy is carting around live seafood the people that come around here are going to be the local residents but there's also a lot of restaurants will come to their favorite vendor and grab their Seafood of the day as well so from here I'm going to be exploring the market seeing what kind of seafood they have let's get started the first thing I see is prawns that are still jumping about they're very Lively right here we have mantis shrimp these things look gigantic they have some of the biggest clams I've ever seen right here they've got Lobster they have humongous razor clams oh and they have crabs foam take a look at this guy that is a big mudcrab that is about as big as they get they don't get much bigger unless you find them around Fukushima we've come to another stall here he's mainly selling fish look they even have a species of headless fish um I think that fish got in a car accident my favorite thing about this place is this right here a cage full of frogs they're known as Chinese edible frogs much easier to eat than the Chinese inedible frogs don't stress out guys wow immediately they tried running away all right that one has my name on it there we go he's wondering he's like what the it's going on look how big those calves are what is it Samoan all right I'm going to put them back for now and take a look I'm going to put them back for now and take a look more around I'm going to put them back for now and look around some more there we go all right we've come to another stall here they have so many cool things shellfish snails this is a golden snail take a look how fat this snail is what a treasure perhaps this should be our first meal here I want to show you this these are Abalone what's great about these Abalone is that they're still alive you can see that they're moving in the Shell what's even better is that later today at the most expensive seafood restaurant we could find in Hong Kong we're going to be having avalone that have actually been dried for a long period of time these avalone they cost hundreds of dollars but first let's pick out some foods here our first Seafood pick for meal 2 is this log of extremely long razor clams oh yeah nice oh my God they're so long that they have extra appendages sticking out for our second sea I'm diving into the amphibian bin for three of these plump Samoan frogs the big question is are frogs a seafood I say yes because they like to live in the water or hang out in the at least they like to be wet so we've come upstairs to what looks like a giant cafeteria here there are loads of restaurants making different seafood dishes but you can also bring your own Seafood up here and have them cook the food for you right now Chef Sandy is getting started on our frogs and our clams oddly enough she's using a razor to cut open the Razer clams maybe that's why they call it a Razer clam she gives everything a little bit of a bath next she meticulously cleans out the sand and the poop from the inside of the shell So today we're going to be be having our razor clams with some glass noodles and garlic beautiful oh then this right here is the garlic sauce she has to carefully make sure to get it inside of the shell so it'll flavor the meat as it steams now we're headed back into the kitchen and these are going to head right into the steamer so that will Seam for about 10 minutes and we'll see those soon we have our second meal of the day right here in the form of two different Seafoods let's talk about money the price for three frogs only $5 but this over here $23 that's just for the raw ingredients though to get everything coat it also cost an additional $238 let's talk about flavors starting with these guys right here this is a classic recipe in Hong Kong so I'm going to take this massive bite and toss it back cheers oh my God M the clams are super delicious the right amount of chewi there's a big load of noodles on top and then that garlic taste it's a powerful flavor it's so good Virginia most of the people who are up here in this kind of cafeteria area are they bringing their own seafood or are they just ordering from the menu right now is a work day so people are just ordering on the menu they're doing something really fast on the go and then they're going to get out is it still mostly Seafood here or is it a big combination of options it's a big combination of options especially for lunchtime at night time is when we're really going to do these like Family Style seafood dishes and that's when the beers come out but for now C can so we can stay awake until tonight next frog she's preparing a hot walk right here she hits a frog with a little bit of cornstarch to make it nice and crunchy and she literally just tosses in the frogs piece by piece it's a dangerous game now it is time to remove all the Frog Parts oh and then she put it back in the fryer a second time from here she's putting in a combination of powerful flavors we've got onion chilies garlic ginger this is steaming fish soy sauce plus a little bit of fish sauce even more flavors this one happens to be a little bit of sugar then she put of frog back in right here she has some fried garlic and the green onions everything is now in the walk together getting nice and happy take a look at that crispiness factor those look awesome remember that massive juicy frog calf we saw earlier here it is again in the fried form cheers M yeah a littleit cornar on there she just put a little bit of cornstarch on there and that's enough to give it a little bit of a crust it is an amazing Savory flavor and just some very tender delicious frog underneath I really like it oh is that a rib cage oh the pelvis that's my favorite part yeah me too oh on frogs Yeah I feel like we're just warming up this is our second location but we've already spent over $50 we're on our way to 1,000 will we get there let's find out at our third location coming up after this [Music] obviously we have come to Seafood location number three now this is a whole big complex of different aquariums tons of live seafood crustations and fish plus a load of different restaurants to cook that Seafood up for you Virginia how does this place work this place is called leun this place is the place to go with a bunch of friends you want to have about 10 people you order 8 to 10 different Seafoods and you eat it at night time it's definitely a meal where you're going to be spending a little bit more money let's go take a look at what they've got so we have come to our live sea food location with Alice who's going to help us take a tour of what they have available here should we take a look yeah yeah first of all they have a vast array of colorful fish and then over here we have something very special these are some huge cuddle fish oh there it is look at this monster wow it's barking what's in here this an abalon from Africa really come take a look it is a big thick creature the Abalone hit different whether from South Africa or North Africa anywhere let's talk about these so this is a mantis shrimp inside of here and it's so dangerous it can actually punch you and cut you it can even punch through the plastic has this ever hurt you no no [Music] after reviewing several more Seafood options I've made up my mind opting for this Mammoth spiny lobster look at the horns on this guy this alone could stab you like a double horned unicorn now let's weigh this baby in and see how much it costs so in Hong Kong this is how you weigh the seafood it's a very old school method but it's tried and true in the end after doing the math this guy right here cost $25 not cheap and that does not include the cooking so we're heading to the kitchen next to see what the chef does with this bad boy all right folks we are in the kitchen right now with Assan he is supremely excited you can tell he's doing the P sign and everything and then we have the lobster equally excited step one he completely removes the tail this is really the prize of the whole thing and soon this is going to be utilized in a very unique dish next the chef chops both the head and tail into smaller sections he gives them a little bath and prepares for the next steps all right guys we can't show the chef here because uh he's wanted for evading taxes so let's just cover his face up all right so right now we have our Lobster pieces and we are at the walk station first deep fry the lobster chunks in hot oil until they turn a Bright Beautiful orange Hue woo that's pretty next prepare some wheat noodles with chicken stock salt and butter when they're done let the noodles rest on a plate waiting for the lobster now we put some oil back into the walk he hits it with some secret stock and then the lobster goes in as well next he's taking cornstarch and putting it in the ladle right here and that goes inside to help thicken everything up I've never seen Lobster prepared like this in my life finally the chef reassembles the lobster making it whole a top of Glorious mound of noodles have you ever seen anything so Majestic Just Three Chefs working together one who has to hide his identity from the world so many secrets in one man oh All That Remains is this delicious flavorful sauce thank you Chef he smiled at me I can't show you but oh God that was close thank you Virginia yes take a look don't taste okay how's it look Majestic coming back bring it back bring it back bring it back are you going to share your food yeah totally so um I'm going to start with this because it looks epic right here we have a big portion of tail M mhm there's kind of two elements here there's the texture which is slightly siney a little bit tough but then there's that sauce it is a delicious Savory deep flavored chicken stock that pairs beautifully with the seafood all right now let's get to those noodles you could probably use the shell and put everything in the shell and oh that's a fun idea I want to do what the lobster would have appreciated which is making use of its body let's put some noodles right here on the Shell let's toss it back oh that's delicious that same super thick savory sauce has influenced the flavor of everything on here it's got like a nice little wheat noodle texture but I think the big move right here is to mix that with some of the lobster right here we have what I like to call the perfect [Music] bite mhm m M that was so good conclusion this good in the end the meal is unique and something I've never seen before but let's talk about the price the fresh raw Lobster that was $25 but to cook it into this masterpiece that was an additional $40 so all in I've spent $245 on this meal but my goal is to see if I can spend more than $1,000 on Seafood in one day soon we'll be heading to a restaurant where the prices are not just double but they're more than triple what I just paid this this restaurant specializes in crafting the most luxurious dried seafood dishes you can find in Hong Kong but how can dried Seafood be even more expensive than Seafood that's fresh to find the answer I'm first heading to the dry Seafood section of this Market how is it possible that dried Seafood could be so much more expensive than fresh seafood because it takes so much work and it's very laborious so at the beginning in order to dry it they actually will have to catch it they have enough space to dry it and it may take a couple weeks and then if you were to eat at a restaurant say a dried sea cucumber then it starts from being dried like this and then it takes about 7 days in advance to rehydrate it and so at the end of all this work it's the final product does it taste better to have a sea cucumber that has been dried and then rehydrated it's a different texture like so for you you might think something is gelatinous or chewy but we have more granular categories it might be gelatinous but crispy gelatinous but gooey and then it goes really good with sauces cuz they might braze it in a sauce and then it just kind of takes on the flavor of that sauce oh my God I'm nervous but I'm excited and also this is going to be one of the most expensive meals of my life I hope it's worth it we have just arrived at our final and most expensive seafood restaurant of the day a three- star Michelin restaurant known as Forum Virginia tell the folks about this place we are here to try dried Seafood which is called ha which is basically flavors of the sea they are most famous and welln for their Abalone today we're going to be starting with a dish that cost $100 and involves a sea cucumber but after that we're going to be trying something that cost $900 how do you get to $900 what are we [Music] eating all right folks right now we are in a private room and Chef Adam is over here and he is about to prepare our first course which is the sea cucumber the SE cucumber today is going to start with some f gr and he's kind of mashing it up cutting it into smaller pieces M that smells good next the sea cucumber oh my gosh so the sea cucumber has been constituted and hollowed up and now he's taking the fog ra and stuffing it inside like a delicious Taco this is a preparation like I've never seen before so from here he's going to take it away to steam it for about 10 minutes and bring it back Al last our first course has arrived the price for this dish right here 100 USD I'm told you're supposed to eat it with a fork oh what the W that texture is wild I'm going to gently slide it onto the fork let's go for [Music] it oh my gosh it's like I get it now the act of drying it out then rehydrating it it completely changes the structure of the food it's super soft borderline gooey but still very satisfying to chew through let's try one more [Music] bite wow inside the fog gr tastes delicious Rich fatty and wonderful I get the three stars now this isn't just about good consistent food preparation this is like breaking new ground doing something completely different at a very high level and this is just our appetizer so our next dish is the famous Abalone right here I have a plate of ma abalone from Japan all of this Abalone has been dried out already each piece is over $2,000 and this entire plate is about $225,000 this is a down payment on a house as it turns out $2,000 for a single Abalone is a bit over my budget so I'm getting the poor man's version of this dish clocking in at a much more affordable $900 alas our final course has arrived the Abalone is here as well as the fish M and the chef is about to take it away it starts with the Abalone going inside a big clay pot of premium chicken stock right here we have the bowl of fish M that is the fish air bladder right here he's got an abalone sauce that he's adding in creating a beautiful brown Rich Hue oh look at that next he mixes in some corn starch and water turning this thin stew into a thick gravy next he adds in some dark soy sauce oh here we have some Chinese preserved ham juice something we all have in the pantry he gives it a little bit of a taste but is he satisfied very good oh thumbs up Al last the plating some greens along with a tiny portion of rice cuz he knows I'm on keto he plates the Abalone and he plates the fish M Chef thank you so much it looks amazing thank you that's Virginia yes so far during this trip you've seen me eat a lot of food but I thought this is a very special meal so we should both have a chance to try it at the same time $900 $900 oh you're so nice you are a [Music] softy so the fish mom is one of those things where most places around the world they probably discarded but in this part of the world it is a delicacy I'm going to cut into it just using a fork are you eating it already oh it's so good so there it is my giant thick piece of fish Moss give it a try that is wild there's no Seafood in to it whatsoever it's just like a big soft semi gelatinous piece of giant cow tendon that's the only thing I really know to compare it to what about you Virginia well like I said you might think all of these textures are gelatinous but for me I feel like the sea cucumber number was gelatinous but crispy but this one is more smooth and gooey perfect explanation can't believe it meanwhile we have the most expensive item on the plate right here this is the Abalone I'm going to give it a cut that is beautiful let's give it a shot M it has this incredible density to the meat it's something between the crispiness of the sea cucumber and the softness of the fish moth and it has so much more seafoody flavor to it it's so good there's no doubt this was an out standing experience but there's one thing left to do we need to add up all the money spent on Seafood throughout the day and see if we did indeed spend over $1,000 something tells me we finally hit our goal all right folks in this video we ate four different types of seafood meal one was this much meal 2 was this much meal three was this much meal four was this much if you add it all together were we able to spend over $1,000 on Seafood here in Hong Kong the answer is a resounding yes easy last time I made this goal I was in Korea in Busan and did I achieve my goal then I did not not but here in Hong Kong they have some Next Level luxury Seafood it was Seafood presentation and recipes like I've never seen before you also asked a lady to spend money that is easy pie M she enjoyed that part and if you want to spend money next time you come to Hong Kong why don't you book a tour with Virginia and her company humid with the chance of fish balls this is a great way to make use of your time when you're in the city go do a food tour or many of the other tours available we also do majang classes Instagram videos and also YouTube videos so you can eat through Hong Kong's culture itions and Heritage with us anyways guys that is it for this video thank you so much for watching thank you Virginia I will see you next time peace sounds like a whispery piece what happened there were you come we have to exit the screen now do you did you lose your voice at the end I just didn't say it if you love Indian food then you're going to love our new channel best ever food India subscribe now for weekly videos showcasing the most unique street food from around the country
