Dinner At The Seafood Guy By 1998 Cafe, Nottingham
Published On Sunday 8 Sep 2024 by Sticky Beak
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His Nibs and I love experiencing new dishes, and that’s certainly what we got when we recently visited The Seafood Guy at Café 1998 in Nottingham! The Café isn’t named after the year it was established, but after the year that Sovereignty of this island passed from Britain to China and the ensuing cultural shift afterwards. I won’t go into a huge historical/political statement; instead, I’ll let you do the research if you’re interested.
There’s plenty of on-road parking and we managed to snag a spot directly opposite Café 1998 – thankyou, Lady Luck. The premises themselves are a bit quirky, in that you’ve got a provisions shop to the front as you go in through the door, and the café/restaurant to the right. Relaxed and welcoming, the café welcomes everyone into it, especially HongKongers who visit or live in the area
The menu is dual language and offers an excellent range of dishes, though please be aware that some need to be pre-ordered in advance. If you plan to visit, it’s worth phoning 07311 992868 to ask which ones require this (my choice of main, the Ginger and Scallion Stir-Fried Crab is one of them). As you would expect, the servers were all super-polite and the young lady serving us was keen to get our evening off to a great start. We ordered a couple of cold HK (HongKong) Lemonades, £3.50, to drink, expecting them to be like our own handmade ones; nope, they were completely different! In a tall glass, water and sugar syrup were combined with slices of fresh Lemon and a spoon provided for you to muddle them together; very nice and refreshing, but sweeter than the Brit version.
Johnny, the boss-man, came over to say hello and took us through a couple of the more popular HongKong dishes, then left us to peruse the menu. For starters, we went for the Snack Platter (£12), as this had Bite Size HK French Toast, Prawn Toast, Spring Rolls, Gyoza and a dipping sauce on; a nice selection to take the edge of any initial hunger pangs.
I’ve never had the HK version of French Toast before, but was an instant fan after the first nibble! This minx has Peanut Butter at its centre, surrounded by conventional egg-dipped, fried bread, and then topped with oozing Golden Syrup and Butter. This is the perfect mix of sweet and savoury, and is totally different for a starter. It wasn’t the only unconventional item on the platter either; the Prawn Toasts are topped with a whole Prawn, rather than having the seafood mashed up in the middle – it’s still blooming delish, however it’s presented. The Gyoza we’ve had before, in Japanese restaurants, so these were familiar to us; the dumplings weren’t soggy in the slightest and were generously filled with a mix of seasoned Chicken and Vegetables. You can’t beat a properly done Spring Roll, and these vegetable ones were brilliantly crisp and golden on the outside, with no trace of oil to be tasted at all.
Much dipping, dunking and chomping was done, amongst our usual incessant yapping - after all these years together, we still have plenty to say – until not a crumb remained on the platter. When our server came to clear away the plates, you should’ve seen the smile on her pretty face when we enthused about the starters and said how much we were looking forward to our main courses.
For his second course, The Man had chosen the Flaming Chicken Hot Pot (£17); savoury-marinated Chicken pieces, Onions and Green Peppers that comes in a cast iron pot to the table, where Johnny then added a slug of Whisky and set it alight! As you all know, we love a bit of table-theatre and this was certainly captivating with its flames leaping about 18” into the air. The best bit though, and definitely the most important, was that it tasted sublime. The Whisky flavour was still clearly detectable on the palate and added a superb depth to the already flavoursome sauce. In contrast to the soft, juicy chicken were the crunchy vegetables and thin slices of fresh Root ginger to add even more tummy-warming.
To go with his Hot-Pot, The Man ordered some Jasmine rice, The Seafood Guy at Café 1998 goes that extra mile to ensure his dish is glorious; the rice is soaked overnight, resulting in gorgeous fluffy-yet-sticky grains. I’ve never noticed before, but Jasmine rice has smaller, rounder grains than some of its cousins, and I loved how an Oriental restaurant used an Oriental variant.
As far as eye-catching dishes go, my Crab one takes the gold medal. Surrounded by a sea of sliced Scallions and Root Ginger, Mr Crab sat proudly, surveying his gastro kingdom majestically. Johnny brought out a bowl to put the shell in, as well as some claw crackers and a seafood pick for extracting the sweet white meat. Those who know me will know that one thing I’m not is delicate! With no decorum whatsoever, I got stuck in with my hands, pulling apart as much of the Crab’s skeleton as I could and sucking out any loose meat. My hands soon got covered in the batter and sauce that coated the outer of the Crab, and I greedily set about licking my fingers. When I’d finished the white meat, I set-to, scooping out the brown meat from the top of the Crab. If you aren’t renowned for your patience or you’re a neat-freak, don’t bother with this dish; it’ll frustrate the living daylights out of you. If, however, you love seafood, then absolutely go for this because the effort is well worth the reward.
Johnny was keen to get our feedback on these two distinctly Hong Kong dishes, explaining that each restaurant does its own variant, depending on the spices that Chef uses. Both of us said how much we’d loved our respective choices, and that there were so many more dishes that we were eager to try – not least the Sweet n Sour with Strawberry!
There were some funky desserts on offer, including a dramatic, black Sesame pudding, but I knew what I was having from the moment I’d tasted it on the Snack Platter: The HK French Toast (£5.30). His Nibs decided to try the Red Bean Ice Cream (£4.90), and this was the perfect example of something comin’ at ya from left-field!
In a conical cocktail glass sat the portion of Red Beans - almost a miniature version of Red Kidney Beans – with a perfect scoop of pale Vanilla Ice Cream in the centre. Now, as Shaun Ryder (of Happy Mondays fame) would say, this dessert will “twist my melon, man”; you have to bear with this minx for a couple of seconds when it’s in your mouth. At first, you get the familiar, mildly savoury edge of the bean but then it transforms into…creamy Rice Pudding! Trust me; implausible and weird as it sounds, it really does.
Re: the HK French Toast; my name is Angie, and I’m an addict! This is, without doubt, overkill on all fronts: the sugar content of the Golden Syrup, the fat content of the butter (and being fried!), and calorie content…but, I don’t care! Some things are worth indulging in, and this is one of them. Soft, sweet, comforting, gooey and gorgeous; I love it.
Actually, I loved the whole concept of Café 1998; well, we both did. Hot Wings undoubtedly awarded here, and rest assured we’ll be returning. As mentioned above, ring 07311 992868 to book a table and visit the FB page ‘The Seafood Guy at Café 1998’. Opening times for food are Mon-Sun Noon-9pm, with last orders taken at 8pm.
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