Groundswell 浪谷 — Restaurant in Hong Kong

A Danger to Diners

If you enjoy playing Russian roulette with your allergies, this restaurant is the place for you. As someone with a seafood allergy, I was horrified to discover that even their so-called "vegetarian" dishes are laced with fish oil—because apparently, in this establishment, "vegetarian" is just a meaningless label slapped on by a kitchen that either doesn’t care or doesn’t know better.

"Fish Oil in Everything" – A Death Trap for Allergy Sufferers When I politely informed the server about my seafood allergy, they responded with the kind of blank stare usually reserved for someone who’d just asked them to explain quantum physics. After a long pause, they cheerfully declared, "Oh, but fish oil is in all our dishes, even vegetarian ones! It’s for flavour! "Excuse me? In what universe does a vegetable stir-fry or tofu curry need fish oil? This isn’t just negligence—it’s reckless endangerment. If your kitchen can’t accommodate basic dietary restrictions, you have no right to serve food to the public.

Service? More Like a Comedy of Errors The staff’s incompetence was only matched by their indifference. When I asked if they could modify a dish to exclude seafood, the waiter sighed like I’d asked them to reinvent Thai cuisine on the spot. "No, cannot change. Everything has fish sauce." Fantastic. So your entire menu is a minefield for allergy sufferers, and your solution is "just pick around it"? Absolutely disgraceful.

One can only speculate at the reasons behind such rigidness. Could it be that the executive chef prepares large batches of dishes, perhaps with pre-mixed sauces containing fish oil, leaving the sous chefs to merely reheat them using a microwave? This would explain the inability to customize orders and cater to basic dietary needs. And this should definitely not be the standard in an otherwise great city!

Conclusion: Hong Kong is a city with exceptional dining standards, but this place is a blatant health hazard hiding behind the guise of "authentic" Thai food. No allergy awareness, no care for customer safety, and no respect for basic culinary integrity. If you value your health, your wallet, or your taste buds, stay far, far away.

Would Not Recommend....

🇭🇰 Kai Tak 啟德｜Groundswell 浪谷

For those who like or want to try surfing, this place is definitely for you! 🏄 This restaurant has a huge wave machine indoor for surfing! Even during such freezing cold 🥶 weather, you can enjoy surfing without worrying about the temperature! As for the food, here are what I’ve tried:

•𝐆𝐚𝐝𝐨-𝐠𝐚𝐝𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐝 Vegetables tossed in peanut butter sauce with garlic crackers surrounded on the side, definitely a great starter to enhance your appetite 😌

•𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐲 The chicken is perfectly grilled, and you can smell it from afar! 😍 The satay further elevated the flavour to another next level!

•𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠 The beef reading is so soft with some fat in it! I love that beef is submerged into the sauce fully, the sauce was heavy in coconut flavour too 😆✨

•𝐏𝐚𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐢 𝐍𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬 The pad Thai tastes fantastic with the peanuts mixed! The size of those prawns are massive as well! 🍤 There are some tofu shreds in it as well which I adored 🥰 I really like that they put the spices on the side so you could control the spiciness of this dish 😃

•𝐊𝐮𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐫 𝐆𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠 As for dessert, I highly recommend this traditional Thai dessert! The pandan flavoured crepes are sweet and remember to try it along with the ice cream too! 🍦inside the crepes were filled with coconut shreds 🥥

•𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞 & 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐨 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢 Both drinks are very satisfying to have and I especially love the coconut 🥥 shake since it has a lot of toppings inside, including corn, jellies, beans and more! Mango Lassi on the other hand was more refreshing!

📍Shop L601, 6/F, AIRSIDE, 2 Concorde Road, Kai Tak, Kowloon City 💲Price per person: $397 + 10%...

Went for flowrider. The flowrider office is actually upstairs behind. At first I thought there was nobody because the restaurant actually opens later but the flowrider opens at 10am. I would suggest putting up a sign to direct flowrider people to the office and avoid this confusion.

So I booked a 9pm slot and arrived at 8.45. the staff was great and showed us around the locker area and available amenities.

1. RFID wristbands for lockers
2. Towels provided
3. Clean shower with body wash, shampoo and hair conditioner and a clean toilet.
4. Powerful hairdryer
5. The best of all, the clothes dryer, to dry my shorts and rashguard.

The instructor Ben was awesome 👍.

Just take note:

1. You're required to sign a waiver regardless of your surfing experience.
2. The flowrider surface is very slippery and will take a while to re-adapt for experienced riders.
3. No splashing of water towards the front (there's no barrier and there are diners right in front).

Overall, this is the best maintained flowrider venue I've ever been to. The surface was clean with no algae, toilet, locker room were also very clean. Even the water pressure was good. Keep up...