Ah Shun's Kitchen

There are plenty of showy seafood restaurants around Cheung Chau but at Ah Shun's Kitchen, you get the real hole-in-the-wall experience and down-to-earth, well-prepared seafood. After picking out your choices from the nearby wet market, take it to Ah Shun, where they will prepare you some top notch Chinese dishes according to how they see fit. Ah Shun's Kitchen turn almost every critter from the sea into a dining feast, from clams braised in fiery spicy wine broth to geoducks swimming with cooked vermicelli.
• 47 Tai San Street, Cheung Chau, +852 2981 0569 (all for reservations). Around £20 per head

Aberdeen Fish Market Canteen

Opening at the crack of dawn, the unassuming Aberdeen Fish Market Canteen sets up shop to mostly serve the folk who work around the fish market. This restaurant, opened by Ar Lo, is quite a gem because of its location and opening hours. If you can score a table for lunch, do so because here is where you will be able to nosh on the best seafood in town, which the restaurant snags from the market, for bargain prices. Tell the owner, Ar Lo, how much you want to spend per head (between around HK$200-HK$400) and he will whip up a seafood meal to fit your bill.It's best to call to reserve a table.
• 102 Shek Pai Wan Road, Aberdeen, +852 2552 7555. Around £16-32 per head. Open 5am-2:30pm

The Boathouse

A three-storey blue house with white trimming that stands apart from the other restaurants lining Stanley Main Street, The Boathouse is a prime spot to enjoy a luxuriously long lunch or dinner after spending some time roaming around Stanley Island. Serving western cuisine with an emphasis on seafood, be sure to order the black mussels bathed in a white wine and garlic cream sauce and the king prawn jambalaya. The restaurant's nautical theme, oceanfront view and menu of comfort food will make you feel like you're on a boat.
• 88 Stanley Main Street, Stanley, +852 2813 4467. Around £39 per head. Open daily, 11.30am-10.30pm (from 11am Sat and Sun)

Chinese Legend

Sam Shing in Tuen Mun is a favourite haunt for foodies. Like many restaurants in the area, guests buy their favourite catch and bring it to the Chinese Legend for the chefs to cook up, whether its cheesy lobsters served over instant noodles or sauteed crawfish. End your meal with one of the restaurant's top desserts, including the delicate chrysanthemum tea jelly.
• Shop 1,Sam Shing Market, Tuen Mun, +852 2955 1313. Around £18 per head. Open daily, 11am-11pm (from 9am Sat and Sun)

Hamayaki Taisho

Consciously decked out to resemble a gritty fish market, with stools made of plastic crates and a plastic curtain acting as a front door, Hamayaki Taisho is the place to go for fine barbecued seafood. Fresh fish arrive at your table's portable grill, where a grill server will cook your shellfish, squid and fish to order. If you insist on taking control of the grill, they're attentive and offer advice. Known as fisherman's cuisine, all of the seafood is simply seasoned with an extra side of salt – so it goes down well with alcohol. Be sure to give the grilled scallops and the seasoned deep-fried octopus a try.
• 8 King Street, Tai Hang, +852 2895-5000. Set menu for two around £46. Open daily 6pm-11pm(from 2pm Sat and Sun)

Hee Kee Fried Crab Expert

Hee Kee serves typhoon shelter crab dishes which originate from the boat dwellers that used to live in Causeway Bay and are made with black beans, garlic and chili. The first restaurant opened in Wan Chai, on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, alongside other restaurants that serve the famous under bridge dish. What makes this restaurant stand out is the stately wooden furnishings and the excellent chilli crab, a favourite with local celebrities and even French culinary giant Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Other inspiring dishes include the kau fish and the mantis prawn doused with salt and chilli.
• Several locations but the original is at 379 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai, +852 2893 7565, heekeecrab.com. Around £32 per head. Open 12pm-1.30am

Shun Kala Typhoon Shelter

Located at Causeway Bay typhoon shelter, where there was once a thriving nightlife out on the hundreds of small boats that used to dock there, including plenty of floating seafood restaurants, Shun Kee is one of the first to return to the site to serve fresh seafood to hungry diners. The restaurants consist of eight individual boats which pick up guests at the Causeway Bay pier and then row to the floating kitchen and anchor there for the rest of the night, serving as the dining table for a maximum of 12 people per boat. Shun Kee offers a set menu, though that can be a bit flexible. From simple steamed shrimp to crispy deep-fried fish to the standout typhoon shelter-styled chilli crab, chef Leung serves up hours-old seafood (the kitchen lacks a fridge so everything is bought the morning of the meal) that smacks of all the hot, straight-out-of the-wok taste that goes down so well with a cold Tsing Tao beer.
• Causeway Bay typhoon shelter, +852 8112 0075, reservations a must. Around £29 per head. Open for dinner

Jumbo Kingdom Restaurant

Those who visit the Aberdeen area will be hard pressed to miss the massive Jumbo Kingdom Restaurant, one of the world's largest floating restaurants. Refurbished to look like an imperial palace, the 2,300-cover restaurant offers a selection of more than 100 Chinese dishes, and is famed for steamed garoupa, fresh lobster salad and flamed drunken shrimp. Be prepared to face the hustle and bustle that encapsulates Hong Kong's busy city life while dining here.
• Shum Wan Pier Drive, Wong Chuk Hang, Aberdeen, +852 2553 9111, jumbo.com.hk. Around £23 per head. Open daily, 11am-11.30pm (from 9am Sun)

Rainbow Seafood Restaurant

Claiming to be the largest open-air restaurant facing the waterfront of Sok Kwu Wan, this popular restaurant has its own ferries to shuttle guests back and forth from Central and Tsim Sha Tsui to Lamma Island. After picking out your seafood from the giant tanks at the front of the restaurant, take a seat at one of the giant red and green round tables and wait for your food to arrive – from baked lobsters to bamboo clams to the famous rainbow fish garoupa. The portions are large, perfect for sharing among big parties.
• 17 1st Street, Sok Kwu Wan, Lamma Island, +852 2982 8100, rainbowrest.com.hk. Around £24 per head. Open daily, 10am-11pm

The Glasshouse

Enjoy the rare opportunity to hot pot while taking in the views at The Glasshouse, a sigh-worthy restaurant atop Braemar Hill in North Point. The Glasshouse is literally that – open and spacious with an alfresco terrace offering spectacular views over Victoria Harbour. It's a different kind of hot-pot experience to downtown – less rowdy and more about enjoying the natural surroundings. Glasshouse sources fresh produce from all over the world but wholly supports Hong Kong's local seafood industry so be sure to give their seafood-filled hot pot broths like the tom yum kung soup base a try. You'll find hints of scallops, mussels and prawns in the base, a perfect blend for fishballs, shrimps and fish meat to be dropped in to. If you're not feeling hot pot, the barbecue as a sizzling alternative.
• Shop 13, 45 Braemar Hill Road, North Point, +852 2807 3131, glasshouse.com.hk. Around £16 per head. Open daily, noon-midnight
Janice Jann writes about food and lifestyle for Time Out Hong Kong