Restaurant: Seafood Palace
Location: 684 W Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 289-0088
Date: September 24, 2017, July 14, 2019, and October 24, 2021
Cuisine: Chaozhou Chinese
Rating: One of LA’s best (and most authentic) Chaozhou places
My Hedonist group has been coming here for years, same location, same food, different name – formerly Seafood Village.
It’s actually in the mini-mall with Sham Tsem and the “hooker motel secret room” (see the post I linked in this sentence). Mysteriously, even thought he “construction” period transforming Seafood Village into Seafood Palace was like a year there is no apparent update. It’s still the same over-lit drop ceiling “palace” as before.
Pickled onions and boiled peanuts on the table.
Jellyfish (7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Nice crunchy texture.
Sliced cold pig’s feet (7/14/19). A bit gelatinous, but surprisingly delicious. Better sliced like this than whole!
Special order turtle soup. Since we had turtle soup at World Seafood Yarom has been determined to try it again.
The broth is delicate and savory, with an almost tea-like taste.
And all the crud that made the broth is as follows: bits of turtle, turtle fat, chicken feet, ginger, organs, god only knows. We actually picked at this repulsive looking plate and the meat was quite tasty.
We also selected two large lobsters.
Chaozhou style duck (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Sort of like the duck version of Hainan chicken.
A vinegar sweet sauce for the duck.
Roast pigeon (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Tasty little fellows.
Causeway style shrimp (7/14/19). Whole prawns crusted in garlic. Super delicious and so well cooked they could be munched whole.
This is what most people come here for, the house special Chiu Chow Style Crab (Dungeness) – (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). This is basically battered crab, fried with chilies and lots of garlic. I’ve also heard this called “Causeway Style.” Good stuff with lots of flavor. You end up sucking out the meat or just chewing on through.
House special garlic lobster. Not causeway style, but very tasty.
Roast pork (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Cured like a pastrami and very flavorful — also quite fatty as you would expect.
Scallion omelet (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Eggs and green onions.
Special fried fish (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Lots of garlic flavor. Simple, but extremely tasty.
Mutton curry. Very strong flavored (but delicious) meat in a nice mild curry sauce.
Bean curd with duck in Chui Chow brown sauce (10/24/21).
Oxtail and lilly bulb with brown sauce (10/24/21). Star anise and black cardamon.
Lettuce Cup Chicken (7/14/19). Yeah, PF Chang’s didn’t invent it wholesale!
The lettuce cups and hoisin sauce.
Frog with chives (10/24/21). Delicious.
Chilies with ground pork (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). I’ve never seen Jalepenos per se in China, but they do have lots of peppers. Regardless, this was a fabulous dish as the pork was cooked in a great black bean sauce and the combination of the mild heat and the slightly sweet meat was wonderful.
Special Chiu Chow Style “lettuce” (2017 and 7/14/19). Evidently a classic. It head a bit of a porky taste so there must have been something in there with the veggies. Not bad.
Rice porridge soup (7/14/19). A sort of congee-like concoction.
Special glass noodles with meat (earlier and 10/24/21).
Salty garlic fried rice. Excellent fried rice with a salty fishy taste.
White guy shrimp (aka walnut shrimp). Very heavy mayo’d version.
Scallion beef (7/14/19). Slightly different, very succulent.
Cumin lamb or beef. Really tasty full flavored nuggets. Pretty tender too.
Sweet and source pork nibblets (10/24/21).
Sweet and sour pork ribs (7/14/19). Someone ordered the sauce on the side. Salty crunchy pork slabs (with some bone) with the sweet sticky stuff.
Chili sauce.
As usual now-a-days I brought some home made gelati from Sweet Milk, my private gelato label. Green Apple Moscato Sorbetto.
Rosemary Chocolate Gelato. Valrhona chocolate and milk infused with rosemary from my own garden.
The 7/14/19 gelati:
Chocolate Peanut Pretzel Gelato — testing a new 80% chocolate fondant base made with Valrhona and Callebaut Chocolates — then layered that with a house made salty peanut pretzel ganache — you can’t see the base, it’s under the ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #chocolate #valrhona #Callebaut #ganache #pretzel
Testing out two variants on a theme, first one: Bellini Sorbetto! — French White Peaches and Prosecco — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — I love the Pozzetti (round tubs), but I do need to figure out how to decorate the small batches in an attractive way — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #Bellini #peach #Prosecco
Testing out two variants on a theme, second one: Dark Mimosa Sorbetto! — Blood Orange and Valencia Orange juice mixed with Prosecco — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — I love the Pozzetti (round tubs), but I do need to figure out how to decorate the small batches in an attractive way — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #Mimosa #orange #bloodorange #Prosecco
The 10/24/21 gelati:
Strawberries & Mascar-Creamy Gelato — A base infused with Mascarpone Cheese then blended with house-made Strawberry Curd — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato — my vain attempts to pipe a pretty decoration on top were uttery foiled by timing –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #mascarpone #cheese #strawberry #cream
Overall, Seafood Palace is just like Seafood Village and there is nothing wrong with that because it’s still great. Last time we had a few “more interesting” dishes and in 2017 there was a LOT of fried. Still, awesome meal!
Back again on 7/14/19 I thought execution was even better. This is probably my favorite Chaozhou place — a bit like Cantonese but not exactly the same, slightly more “unusual”. Lots of garlic!
Our return visit on 10/24/21 was also spectacular. Just a really great place.
It’s not really worth writing up the “motley cru” of wines that come to Chinese, so I’ll just list the photos here.
