From fashion to fish: Alex Lam glams up Hong Kong’s aquaculture scene

Over the past five years, Lin Zilong has transitioned from haute couture to haute cuisine.

Beginning in the early 2000s, Lin, who goes by the anglicized name Alex Lam, carved out a career as a hair and make-up stylist serving some of Hong Kong’s biggest celebrities, including television and movie stars. In 2016, he moved into designing wedding and evening gowns at Monique and Co., with famous clients including author Lu Huiyi and the princess of Bhutan.

But somewhere along the way, Lam’s interest turned to sustainable food production. Noting Hong Kong’s heavy reliance on mainland China for food, Lam said he felt a patriotic obligation to do more to contribute to Hong Kong’s self-reliance, and also a moral pull to do so in a sustainable way.

One day, while out on a water skiing trip, he chanced upon aquaculture rafts in Sai Kung’s Three Fathoms Cove, which he thought would serve as great moorings for his ski boat. He bought several, and slowly, he began to formulate an idea of becoming a fish farmer.

“It’s something like 90 to 96 percent of Hong Kong’s food comes from mainland China. And China is not the most reliable source of food,” Lam said. “At the same time, I wanted to raise fish that were good food, and a good food choice – local, no chemicals, ethically raised.”

Lam said after years of researching aquaculture in his free time, including classes provided by the Hong Kong Fisheries and Conservation Department, he successfully grew his first marketable fish.

“It took many years of learning to achieve results,” he said. “I looked at it as homework. I wanted to grow healthy, nutritious food and I worked hard to figure out how to do it.”

Despite his success, Lam wasn’t satisfied. He began experimenting with raising different species, all native to Hong Kong waters, such as yellow carp, star snapper, cobia, sea bass, rabbitfish, and the uniquely shaped batfish.

“I try to grow food for all people of Hong Kong, fish that people know and want to buy,” he said. “Batfish is unique. The middle and the edge muscles that taste completely different, but both are delicious.”

Additionally, Lam began rotating the types of fish he raised based on their natural growing seasons, with some fish taking just a few months to grow and others up to two years.

“Some fish are OK to grow all season, but some are best for winterime and others are best in summertime. So we cycle through them based on when they do best,” he said.

Lam also began experimenting with custom feed mixes, incorporating bile acids to aid fish digestion, and then yakult, a Japanese yogurt beverage rich in probiotics. Encouraged by the results, Lam then added an immunity-boosting compound made from isatis root, and cinnamon and lemongrass to enhance the flavor of the fish. And he began premixing his aquafeed with water before feeding it to his fish.

“I’ve never had any problems with disease,” he said, attributing it to the medicinal benefits of his natural feed additives.

When ready to harvest, Lam uses the ikejime kill method to dispatch the fish quickly and painlessly.

“It’s an ethical issue, but the taste is better too because there's less stress,” he said.

Even though fresh fish is more popular than frozen product in Hong Kong, Lam insists on freezing all his fish and packaging them in skinpacks.

“I don’t trust the fresh markets’ quality of water they use to wash their fish. It changes the texture and the taste, and it can potentially be unsanitary,” he said. “Within two hours of harvesting, we vacuum-pack the fish and freeze them at ultra-low temperatures. And our customers, once they try the fish, even though it’s frozen, they love it because it retains its original flavor.”

Appropriately on theme, Lam describes his operation, which he's dubbed Hong Kong Aquaculture, as …

Photo by Cliff White/SeafoodSource