MENU FIT FOR A KING.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

The menu at the new Seafood King in Canoga Park lists items in English, Vietnamese and Korean.

But don't look for pho or bulgogi dishes here. It's strictly Chinese fare.

The menu is about as big as you'll find around these parts, numbering 222 in plate possibilities, which include live lobster, crab and fish from a tank, fresh clams, oysters, shark's fin soup with crab meat, hot and sour soup with catfish, whole fish, several pork chop options, and even four frog-leg dishes.

Like most Chinese restaurants, the best way to enjoy Seafood King is with several dining companions, allowing you to be seated at a round table with one of those Lazy Susan-style tops. This way, you order numerous plates that everybody can share and it's a veritable seafood feast.

Although at lunchtime the size of the dishes is reduced significantly, along with the cost, you can still have a bonanza time as a twosome by ordering a few of the lunch specials like spicy clams ($5.95), scallops with garlic sauce ($5.95) and a vibrant vegetable like sauteed pea sprouts ($5.25).

One day, we added a 3-pound crab from the tank ($13.50), cooked in the house special manner, which means lots of onion and a peppery garlic sauce -- messy but good.

Orders of both the hot-and-sour and corn soup with minced chicken ($6.50 each) one evening gave us the immediate clue that there was obvious skill in this kitchen. And on another occasion, even the lowly egg flower soup ($5.50) impressed.

Seafood King lists a surprising number of soup options, actually 17 of them, nine with at least one seafood ingredient.

Shrimp on entree plates come forth attractively pink and crunchy with a velvety exterior. The kitchen doesn't seem to ration them.

A dish of shrimp with broccoli ($10.50) was almost too much to finish.

Another large portion was the salt and pepper rock cod ($9), battered lightly, well-seasoned fillet pieces, crisp on the outside, lovely and tender inside, a true delight.

Oyster fanciers can enjoy a lilting dish of their favorite shellfish, black bean-sauced, with vegetables ($11.50) also with a slightly crisped exterior.

For those who shun ocean fare, chicken is handled well here, arriving carefully cut, nice and moist with a slew of fresh mushrooms ($8.50).

Tofu lovers will find at least half a dozen bean curd offerings, one of the better ones being Szechwan style ($7.50). It can also be ordered with the addition of ground pork ($2) for the traditional ma-po recipe.

Untried to date are any of the numerous beef plates, squid dishes, lobster platters, noodle concoctions and quartet of hot pots.

Seafood King seems to have it all, even abalone ($29.99) and sea cucumber ($18.95).

Well, almost all.

Just don't bother to leave room for dessert.

We did and there wasn't any available.

Not a scoopful of green tea ice cream in sight.

Larry Lipson, [phone]

[e-mail]

SEAFOOD KING

Food: Three stars

Service: Three stars

Where: 20425 Sherman Way, Canoga Park.

Phone: [phone].

Meals/hours: Open for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Lunch specials from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Food type: Chinese.

Cost: Appetizers and soups from $4 to $24, main-course items from $7 to $30, plus live crab, lobster and catfish from tank at market price. (Currently, crab at $4.50 per pound, lobster at $10 per pound.)

Credit cards: All major.

Patio dining: No.

Parking/valet: Free in shopping center lot.

Full bar: No hard liquor. Beers, limited wines and sakes available.

Music/entertainment: No.

Takeout/delivery: Yes on takeout. Delivery service within three-mile radius.

Reservations: Taken.

(1 -- 2) Live prepared lobster is on the vast menu at Seafood King. Above, chef-owner Yong Ng, left, with manager Tiffany Vu, holds a pair of seafood dishes at the Canoga Park Chinese restaurant.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

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