We are back in Shenzhen to spend an afternoon with little nugget’s friend and his family. All of us didn’t have a clue what to do during our time in SZ but we all agreed to spend it indoor away from the nasty heat.
After deciding to meet up at 中洲灣 C Future City above Xiasha station (下沙站), we took the subway from Futian and didn’t take long before arriving at the upscale shopping mall. Once again, Jelloman suggested we have Hainan coconut chicken hotpot for lunch and that’s where we were heading – COCOFOUR Hainan Coconut chicken (四季椰林海南椰子雞), a hotpot restaurant we had very fond memory of from our previous time there.
The calling card for COCOFOUR has always been their really concentrated broth made with coconut water and chicken without a single drop of water.
Coconut chicken broth (椰子雞湯) (¥109) – The coconut broth with about half a chicken. Not really cheap in SZ standard.
Coconut juice (海南鮮榨椰汁) (¥16) – Didn’t think it was freshly squeezed but it was on promotion for half price.
Fatty beef in “volcano” platter(?) (火山肥牛) (¥49) – The most popular dish here with about 8 thin slices of fatty beef for just 49 RMB. The beef was pretty succulent and for that price alone, a real nice bargain. Sorry, I am making up the English translations along the way so bear with me here! 😅😅
Sliced wagyu beef (原切和牛雪花牛肉) (¥98) – Presumably, Australian wagyu beef. This came with slightly better marbling but the meat was also a bit more rough. Would most definitely choose the cheaper one since the portion was more or less the same.
Restaurants in Shenzhen (and China overall) are known for their attentive service but today, that was sorely missing. Our servers left all these here and disappeared for nearly an hour leaving us hanging to dry. I know it was almost 2pm, a very late lunch for everybody’s standard so they would be looking for a break before dinner starts, but there were still 5-6 tables full of customers with hardly any servers around…..anyways…..
Handmade cuttlefish cakes (手工墨魚餅) (¥19) – Not the best texture but for 19RMB, I was complaining much.
Crispy bean curd roll (三秒響鈴) (¥15) – Admittedly, I overcooked it a bit for a few more seconds but still very nice bite from the bean curd sheets. A must for hotpot!
Luncheon meat (午餐肉) (¥13) – The kids love these and not ordering them would likely cause a riot. 😂😂
Claypot rice with Chinese preserved meat (金牌臘味煲仔飯) (¥69) – I recalled this was so goooood when we had it last time. It was a little more moist than the usual claypot rice but the texture and flavors were more soothing and comforting to my palate (for an old man like me). But different chefs have slightly different interpretation obviously (even for same restaurants in different locations), and the rice here was noticeably more on the hard side, and disappointingly with fewer cured meat.
While a hotpot meal is always undeniably delicious, its preparation often requires minimal cooking techniques. The success of the dishes lie heavily on the quality of the ingredients which, unfortunately, were only decent but not exceptional today. And once you add in the subpar service, you begin to realize that there are far better choices out there for the taking.
Food Rating: 4.8/10
Price: ¥¥
Address: Shop No.205, B2F, Zhongzhou Binhai Commercial Centre, 9283 Binhe Boulevard, Shenzhen, China
深圳市上沙滨河大道9283号中州滨海商业中心一期2栋负二层205号
Closest Metro Station: Xiasha (下沙)
Tel: +86 (755) 8626-9953
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily
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