Star Seafood Floating Restaurant

Coordinates: 22°23′25″N 114°12′11.5″E / 22.39028°N 114.203194°E / 22.39028; 114.203194

Star Seafood Restaurant
Restaurant information
Established 1986
Food type Cantonese, dim sum, seafood
City Sha Tin
Country Hong Kong
Star Seafood Floating Restaurant
Traditional Chinese 明星海鮮舫
Simplified Chinese 明星海鮮舫

Star Seafood Restaurant (Chinese: 明星海鮮舫), formerly called Treasure Floating Restaurant (Chinese: 敦煌畫舫), is a restaurant in Sha Tin, Hong Kong. The restaurant is built with granite taking on the shape of a ship berthing along the shore. It is situated at the eastern shore of Shing Mun River, near the junction of Siu Lek Yuen Road and Tai Chung Kiu Road. It serves Cantonese dim sum and seafood.

As of 2007, the restaurant was the largest dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong, with 150 tables seating 12 people each.[1]

History

The building replaces the earlier Shatin Floating Restaurant that opened in 1963 and was towed to Guangzhou in 1984.[2] The relocation was forced by the government for several reasons. Firstly, the land that the restaurant used as a car park was allocated to the Amateur Rowing Association. Secondly, the pollution discharged by the restaurant clashed with plans to build a town park along the river, in concert with the ongoing development of Shatin New Town. Lastly the Shatin Lands Office stated that the construction of an underwater sewage pipe in the Shing Mun River would hamper the large vessel's ability to manoeuvre out of the channel in the future.[2]

In its 21 years in Hong Kong, the first restaurant operated in eight locations, including the area in front of a mansion called Windermere, Sai Lam Temple, Lek Yuen, and the current site of the Sha Tin Jockey Club Swimming Pool.[3][2]

In 1986 the Lands Department offered the site, near the anchorage of the old floating restaurant, for tender.[4] It was intended from the beginning to resemble a true floating restaurant but sit on piles, as the Shatin Lands Office stated that a restaurant vessel could no longer be operated on the Shing Mun River.[4] The office also stated that the restaurant would not pollute the river as it would have a proper sewer connection.[4]

The restaurant, lit up at night and reflected in the still water of the Shing Mun River, has long been a local landmark of Shatin. A 1992 review in the South China Morning Post described it as "a hulking concrete pile that sits firmly in Sha Tin's river like a barge designed by Hollywood showmen Louis B. Mayer and Sam Goldwyn on a drunken dare [...] so electrically dazzling its sheer candle power could light the way into Kai Tak. Gaudy beyond belief, the main dining rooms' crystal chandeliers are worthy of Versailles, and the stone sculptures and pagoda towers could easily sink an ocean liner."[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sinclair, Kevin (8 August 2007). "Kevin Sinclair's Hong Kong". South China Morning Post. p. 2.
  2. 1 2 3 Leung, Carolyn (17 June 1984). "Canton may be restaurant's next port of call". South China Morning Post. p. 12.
  3. ↑ Leung, Hung-kee (24 June 1984). "Owners of mansion". South China Morning Post. p. 19.
  4. 1 2 3 "Shatin to get concrete 'floating' restaurant". South China Morning Post. 19 February 1986. p. 15.
  5. ↑ Porter, Roger (17 December 1992). "May I recommend the raccoon, sir?". South China Morning Post. p. 21.
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