There’s a new café in town serving Hong Kong classics. Our Food Co-Editor, Julia Head, AKA Nottingham Food Guide, met up with owner Johnny Tam to find out how he brought the flavours of Hong Kong to Nottingham with The Seafood Guy.
Castle Boulevard might not scream cosmopolitan Hong Kong at first glance, but wander a little further down and you’ll spot the bright yellow doors of The Seafood Guy – and there’s plenty to discover once you step inside.
The café hums with chatter as local Hong-Kongers tuck into nostalgic dishes. Specialising in fresh seafood, the menu also offers non-seafood options and includes a small store at the front where you can pick up your favourite Asian snacks and drinks to take home.
The forty-seater café is all the vision of Johnny Tam – a warm, high-energy entrepreneur and family man who moved to the UK with his wife and three children just over three years ago. He describes it as a ‘Cha Chaan Teng’ – a classic Hong Kong-style diner known for fast service, fuss-free food, and an East-meets-West blend of dishes.
While a Cha Chaan Teng is a cultural staple in Hong Kong, Johnny knows things move at a different pace here.
“In Hong Kong, people are always rushing so they just want to sit down, order a drink, eat something quickly and go,” he explains. “Here, we slow it down a bit so diners can take their time to enjoy their meal and socialise.
The Seafood Guy offers an eclectic menu: sizzling pots theatrically ignited at the table with a splash of Scottish whisky, leaving behind a bubbling, sticky sauce with bold, peppery depth; traditional steamed scallops with garlic and vermicelli noodles
“Hong Kong is a very modern city. Every day there is a rush and running around, with lots of commercial buildings around. It’s very tense and you don’t have time to relax. We chose Nottingham because we wanted to move somewhere in the UK that was less busy, where we could get a nice garden and play with the kids,” he explains.
Johnny grew up surrounded by food. His father ran a frozen food wholesale business, supplying many of Hong Kong’s famed, top-tier restaurants, including some famous ones, and Johnny spent his childhood helping out at markets. Unlike most restaurant owners however, he didn’t train as a chef – his skills were honed in the family kitchen.
“At the beginning, cooking was very boring for me because it was a task,” he laughs. “But I had to find something interesting in it, so I started asking our suppliers how they made certain dishes, and the elders were always happy to pass on the skills to the younger generation.
“Kitchens are a very difficult industry for young people, because it’s hot, it’s tiring, there’s tension. So this is how I learned to make some of the dishes here at The Seafood Guy.”
Nottingham isn’t short of Chinese takeaways, but Johnny’s aiming for something different. With Hong Kong’s proximity to the harbour, seafood plays a central role – something that certainly shows when you visit. The Seafood Guy offers an eclectic menu: sizzling pots theatrically ignited at the table with a splash of Scottish whisky, leaving behind a bubbling, sticky sauce with bold, peppery depth; traditional steamed scallops with garlic and vermicelli noodles; and one of their standout dishes – the oyster omelette.
What sets them apart isn’t just the menu, but the ingredients and method too.
“In Hong Kong, we don’t use MSG. We use something critical to our dishes, called chicken powder,” he explains. “We use this as a seasoning, so that’s probably the biggest difference between our style of food and Chinese food. So when you finish your dinner, you’re not so thirsty,” he adds, with a grin.
There’s no fast food here either, as dishes are carefully made to order. The fire chicken pot, for example, uses six sauces, each cooked separately before being stirred together at just the right moment.
Alongside the classic milk tea, the most popular item on the menu is the Hong Kong-style French toast: soft white bread deep-fried until golden, oozing with molten custard, velvety chocolate, and salty peanut butter. While Hong Kong French toast is gaining popularity in the UK, Johnny’s version stands out – made using only egg yolk to ensure top crispiness, and dipped quickly to avoid a soggy centre.
His passion for Hong Kong culture is infectious. Located on the road leading to Nottingham Castle, the café has already built a local following, especially among nearby residents eager for something fresh and different.
When it comes to the community, Johnny says Nottingham has been nothing but welcoming. His fresh food suppliers have been especially curious, impressed by his unique way of preparing seafood. While Brits typically grill or pan-fry, Johnny steams his scallops the Hong Kong way with soy, garlic and vermicelli, allowing their natural sweetness to shine through.
So, what else makes The Seafood Guy different?
“It’s not just our dishes, but our presentation and the ceremony around it,” he says. “We want you to feel like what you are being offered here in Nottingham is exactly what you would be offered in Hong Kong, making it a really authentic experience to taste something special.
“A lot of people haven’t ever been to Asia, so when you come here you can see what we are doing, what we are eating. I just want to show people our culture and have them enjoy it.”
Find The Seafood Guy at 101 Castle Boulevard, Nottingham NG7 1FE. They’re open Thursday - Monday, 12pm-9pm.
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