Harbour Seafood Restaurant is a Chinese seafood restaurant in the China Cluster of International City, Dubai’s unofficial China Town. Step inside and one is greeted by a wall-to-wall collage of aquariums. Turn left and you’re into the modest but clean main dining area – everyone but my food adventurers and I were Chinese – always a good sign. If good Chinese food to you means PF Chang’s (American) or Chin Chin (Indian) or Hakkasan (top end fine dining) then be forewarned, you may struggle here – Harbour, like most of the Chinese restaurants in the China Cluster, is hard core, authentic Chinese food. It’s what the Chinese call…um, food.
A view from the street 
Entrance and cash counter 
The main dining area 
The Aquariums
We started our meal with a cold lamb dish called White Cut Milk Lamb. It wasn’t something I would order again. Trust me, don’t. Served in a coconut shell and known as Tonic Soup, the Original Coconut Stewed Chicken (a soup) which followed, however, was very interesting. It had a peculiar taste which none of us could quite decide if we liked or didn’t. I’d probably avoid it if I went back. The rest of the meal was far better; the Cantonese-style Roast Duck was very good (bear in mind this is not Peking or Crispy Duck and doesn’t come with pancakes, etc.) as was the Szechuan Chilli Chicken, Stir Fried (vermicelli) Noodles with Three Threads and the South Asia Sea Style Fried Rice. And finally, served on a sizzling platter, the Fragrant Tea Prawns were brilliant.
Original Coconut Stewed Chicken (a soup) 
White Cut Milk Lamb 
Cantonese-style Roast Duck 
Szechuan Chilli Chicken 
South Asia Sea Style Fried Rice 
Stir Fried (vermicelli) Noodles with Three Threads 
Our table 
Fragrant Tea Prawns
Thankfully some of the wait staff speak English. And because we could communicate, I found them far friendlier than most of the other restaurants in the area. Our experience at Harbour would have been much more memorable were it not for the cold lamb starter and the herbal soup. That said, the rest of our meal was good enough for me to look forward to going back. If you are in the international city area and fancy a really good Chinese seafood meal, I definitely think Harbour should be one of the options you consider.
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Xerxes (pronounced Zûrk’seez) physically dines at, or orders from, each and every venue he reviews. He pays in full for whatever he and his companions eat, drink, take away or occasionally throw at each other. Xerxes accepts no money, gifts, discounts or free meals in return for reviews or favouritism. What you have read was NOT influenced in any way by the venue. Join his culinary journey on Instagram: @ravenousxerxes or reach out to him via email on xerxes@dellara.com.