Tanka on the table: preserving the flavours of Hong Kong’s seafaring past at Kam Tung Kitchen
The Tanka, sometimes called “boat people”, or shui shang ren (水上人) in Chinese, were born and buried at sea. They were Hong Kong’s floating community, families who cooked, sang and raised children on the water, a culture shaped by salt and tide. Wooden sampans were their homes; the South China Sea was both provider and punisher. To survive, they salted fish until it could outlast the summer heat, dried squid on the decks, fermented shrimp paste so the ocean’s abundance could stretch through storm season. From necessity came continuity, from survival came flavour.
In Shau Kei Wan, where fishing boats once crowded the harbour, Kam Tung Kitchen has become one of the last public custodians of that heritage. Opened in 1990 as a canteen for fishermen, it has grown into a restaurant that draws anyone hungry for food that still carries the soul of the sea.
Historic photograph of Tanka families living aboard their sampans, once a common sight along Hong Kong’s waterfront (Photo: kamtungkitchen.com)
At its heart is one family. Po Yau-fai, Fai to his regulars, is the executive chef, keeper of flavours drawn from his childhood at sea, but also an inventor who folds in ideas from his own travels and experiences. Ada Kwok Yin-lai, his wife, is co-chef, refining those traditions with lessons from elders and a quiet insistence on intention. Their son, Marco Po Ho-sang, runs the floor and serves as the storyteller, the bridge between his parents’ unspoken dedication and the curiosity of a new generation of diners.
This year, the family marks Kam Tung’s 35th anniversary by opening The Treasure, a private kitchen one floor above the bustle of the dining room. “Downstairs at Kam Tung Kitchen, it’s about vibrant, shared energy—the bustling warmth of a family meal. Upstairs at The Treasure, we want to create a sense of reverence and discovery. It’s more intimate and leans into a more elevated omakase-style experience where every dish is presented to the guests with a story,” says Fai. Marco puts it more succinctly: “Downstairs is the novella, upstairs is the novel. Each dish is a chapter”.
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The Po family behind Kam Tung Kitchen: executive chef Po Yau-fai, co-chef Ada Kwok Yin-lai, and their son Marco Po Ho-sang
Fai’s own story begins long before the restaurant, in Po Toi O. “My earliest memories are not of a kitchen, but of the sea itself. I spent quite a lot of time hopping from one boat to another to try different dishes cooked by the different relatives. Every Tanka family has their own secret recipe. We used to cook everywhere. One example from my childhood is that I used to cook on the beach, starting a fire with dried grass and using an empty tin can to cook wild sea urchins that we caught ourselves. Food wasn’t something you bought; it was something you caught, shared and preserved”.
You taste it in his salted fish pot, where house-cured and sun-dried fish collapse into a broth dense with smoke and umami, the sort of flavour that seeps into rice and memory. “It highlights the Tanka people’s preservation methods, a necessity from our days of boat dwelling. We couldn’t afford any refrigerators on the boat, so we had to add salt to preserve the dishes”. His sea urchin toast, golden and briny, honours his father’s livelihood. “My father used to harvest sea urchins for a living, and this dish is our family’s way of honouring his hard work and the incredible, briny sweetness of the urchins from Hong Kong waters. It’s a direct taste of our heritage”.
Salted fish drying in Po Toi O, a traditional preservation method central to Tanka cuisine
Ada’s contribution is equal, though her emphasis is gentler. “We don’t overpower the seafood; we honour it, always emphasising the original flavour of our ingredients. Steaming, quick stir-frying in a hot wok, and slow cooking are all fundamental techniques. But preservation is the soul of traditional Tanka cuisine. Salted fish, fermented shrimp paste, dried pickles and dried seafood were not just ingredients; they were a means of survival on the boat. That umami, that concentrated taste of the sea, is the baseline flavour of our history”.
Her stir-fried clams with pork liver traces back to her husband’s grandmother. “Her original recipe was not a restaurant dish, but a nourishing tonic: pork liver stir-fried with rice wine, ginger and spring onion. Her lesson was about intention: understanding that food is more than taste; it’s about well-being. That principle of creating dishes that are both delicious and purposeful guides me”. With clams added for sweetness and vermicelli to soak up the sauce, the dish has become a restaurant signature: briny, silky, restorative, and bold all at once.
Kam Tung Kitchen’s sea urchin toast, created in tribute to Fai’s father, who once harvested urchins from Hong Kong waters
Steamed crab pork patty, a Kam Tung Kitchen signature that blends pork with the sweetness of fresh crab
Marco grew up with a very different view of the restaurant. “My parents worked nearly 22-hour days when we were open 24 hours, and I resented the restaurant for taking them away from me,” he says. Finance was his escape. That was until he brought colleagues to the restaurant and caught the awe in their eyes. “I’d take colleagues out for meals and suddenly understood that the stories my parents told and the unique flavours I’d taken for granted were nowhere else to be found. Seeing the look of wonder on people’s faces when they tried our food and heard its story was my turning point. That’s when I truly understood: Kam Tung Kitchen isn’t just a business; it’s a living museum and an archive of a Hong Kong that is rapidly disappearing”.
Now he calls himself the storyteller. “My parents’ generation shows their dedication through action—their stubborn insistence on using the freshest, most authentic ingredients is a given for them; it’s simply what must be done. They seldom explain the hardship behind it. My job is to give voice to that silent dedication. I need to tell the story not just of the chefs, but of the entire community: the fishermen who caught the seafood, the relatives who still sun-dry the squid and make the shrimp paste by hand. I’m connecting the silent ‘why’ of their generation with the curious ‘what’ of mine”.
Kam Tung Kitchen’s stir-fried pork liver and clams, a dish that transforms a grandmother’s tonic into a modern signature
The hardest part of preservation is not the cooking but the sourcing. “The biggest challenge is the sourcing,” Fai admits. “The traditional flavours depend on ingredients painstakingly made by hand by our family and community: local sea urchin, sun-dried squid, homemade shrimp paste and wild-harvested seaweed. The younger generation isn’t continuing this work; they are becoming office workers. We face a dilemma: do we compromise on quality and use factory-made products to keep prices low, or do we insist on traditional methods and explain why our food costs what it does? We choose the latter”.
For those who eat here, the result is clarity, not just nostalgia. “The essence of Tanka cuisine lies in its reverence for the seasons, for seafood and for unadulterated flavours,” says Fai. “We hope to keep that memory alive, so the next generation can still taste echoes of our lives at sea”. Ada adds her note of warmth: “Each dish isn’t just created from thin air. It’s been shaped by our elders and refined over 35 years of experience. I hope our guests don’t just find it delicious, but can feel the sincerity and warmth unique to the Tanka way of life”.
Fish hot pot with pickles, a Tanka classic prepared with tomatoes and salted vegetables from Sai Kung
Marco looks to the future. “My passion is for sustainability: ensuring this legacy continues for another 35 years. The ultimate goal is to build a structure that protects their artistry, so that one day, if I do step into the kitchen, it will be to continue their work, not to replace it”.
Hong Kong is full of restaurants chasing the next new thing. Kam Tung Kitchen is one of the rare few reminding us where the city came from. Every pot and plate is a rebuke to forgetting, proof that flavour can be carried through storms and generations. Here, it arrives at the table hot, salted and rooted in heritage, a taste of what endures, offered before it slips away for good.
Kam Tung Kitchen and The TreasureAddress: Shop 5, G/F and 1/F, Eastway Towers, 59-99 Shau Kei Wan Main Street East, Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong
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