Lim Yong Kee Seafood Restaurant @ Muara Tebas, Kuching

Mr & Mrs Host picked us up from the hotel at 7 pm , throughout the drive, the conversation was dominated by my colleague ( C) who was a bit pi**ed  of being called Ah Pek ( a term reserved for an older uncle) by Mr Host’s colleague,  and that he will retaliate by calling her ‘Ah Phor’ ( grandmother ) when he sees her – and I thought only the women folks are sensitive to things like that – e.g scenario at the market place where –they might not buying vegetables from the seller that called them Auntie but prefer to buy them from someone that call them ‘ Leng Leng ‘ (pretty miss )

 It was about a 30 minutes drive , we traveled from big roads with traffic lights, to smaller roads without any street lamps  flanked by mengkuang ‘forests’ and later come to  a narrow road passing through a malay village and then we reached the end of the road- and any further we would be in the sea lah.Mr and Mrs Host are regulars at Lim Yong Kee , they come here to eat and also to buy seafood. So, we left it to them to select the menu.

First up- Balitong with vermicelli – the balitong ( a kind of shellfish , aka bamboo clam , the English term was rather apt although a bit too descriptive – something to do with the private part of the monkey, go figure )  were medium sized- which was a good size as then they wouldn’t be tough, this was steamed with shreds of ginger and garnished with parsley and chilies , the vermicelli was full of flavour as these had soaked up the sweetness from the steamed balitong plus the seasoning  .. 

Next up : Ikan India ( Mr Host had actually used a rather non 1Malaysia term)  stir fried with dried chili and onion. The fish was meaty and fresh ( fresh seemed like a no-brainer term here ) and the combination of the flavour  was superb- lemongrass, finely shredded ginger, onion, parsley, dried chili, black pepper ,  plus seasoning , Yumyum

 

While we were digging into the Bollywood fish, we saw a fisherman coming from the jetty heading towards the kitchen ,  holding a very big fish , Mr Host quickly consulted his wife and then shot up from his seat and headed towards the kitchen and came back to our table with a big grin on his face ‘ I cancelled the ‘tau dei chong’ ( pomfret), and replaced with the fishhead of that big fish ’.

 Steamed prawns – when the seafood are fresh, you would probably want to enjoy them in their pure form without any adulterations. Ah..need I say that the prawns are very fresh, sweet, firm and crunchy, I stopped at 3 but was  told that : eating deep sea prawns will not increase my cholesterol level as they contain lower cholesterol levels than prawns caught at the shallow area, and that beer can wash away cholesterol. Got this sort of theory mehh ? sounds like those Internet hoax that tell you that I am the sole survivor of civil war in Africa and have access to a few billions worth of cash that I will part with if you help me blah blah blah…anyway, just in case they were right- I had another 3 prawns

Steamed fish head – this was the catch that we saw earlier, the stand-in for Mr Pomfret . the fish was steamed with ginger shreds, mushrooms, pickled vegetable ( kiam chye) and garnished with parsley! Mr Host said the fish was  called Ngor-fish, which he thinks is = ikan kurau . I mentioned before ( somewhere, some old post) – I am not a fish person , but even for a non-fish person – this was a really really wonderful fish, it was all a person could ask for from a fish ( actually, I am not too sure about this, since I don’t speak their lingo I hadn’t ask anything from a fish before) . Mr Host dug into the fish eye socket and plunked the gooey slimey extract on my plate , I dutifully scooped it up and slurp it , smooth and gooey as expected..euuuuu…wasted on me. i guess..

 

Fish belly and liver- Mrs Host say that today was a lucky day and even for them as regulars, it is not often that they get to eat the fish belly as only big fish would have these belly – when dried – these are called fish maw, do we call them fish maw when they are fresh ?  The cooking style was similar to that of the earlier Indian fish. Fish belly had a chewy, crunchy , elastically kinda texture – interesting. The fish liver was very rich and the texture was kinda like chicken liver except that it was finer and doesn’t have that sandy grain –kinda like agar-agar. Taste wise, it was a fishier version of chicken liver.

 

I couldn’t move … too much food… Superb meal !!

 Lim Yong Kee Seafood Restaurant

Muara Tebas, Kuching

( next to the  Kuan Im temple ( Goddess of Mercy temple)

Ah Chung Restaurant @ Pantai Bersih, Penang

HL (ex-colleague) and family picked me up from the hotel at Seberang Jaya,  and said that they  will take me somewhere special for  dinner, hurrah…what is there not to like about food .

Our destination was  Pantai Bersih, the restaurant was  just by the sea…nice… you hear the waves lapping the shore, the twinkling lights and occasionally the sea breeze will mess up your hair.. and chase away the mozzies. You can dine  indoor ( brighter and less mozzies) or outdoor (get to hear the waves and the breeze but more mozzies) , majority of the crowd were sitting under the stars.

We had crabs fried with salted eggs…yummmmm…this was not very salty and there were more batter on the crabs that what I have tasted at other shops, the crabs were fresh , which was a big plus point… my fellow diners seemed very proficient in eating crabs with their utensils but alas, I am hopeless, but I would seemed so kampong ( which I am) if I use my hands..so what to do..one must do as the romans when in Rome lorr….so that deducted maybe 5% of my enjoyment from eating the crabs…maybe i  should have just shown my true ‘kampung colours’

Steam fish Teow-chew style-  the gravy was sweet and tasty and the fish was fresh, this was nicely done

Stir fried kailan – this was average , the kailan was kinda tough

Prawn rolls – the prawns were coated in a batter and then deep fried, the batter was quite thick but luckily crispy  so that it didn’t spoil the bite into the fresh and succulent prawn.

Kum Hiong Lala –the gravy was thick , slightly sweet and the kum-hiong flavour wasn’t that strong.

Best dish of the night – this would be between the crabs and the fish

I  look ed around the place for the name of the restaurant, but I only saw 2 sighboards with ‘thank you very much’ , I continued to search for a name as we were exiting the place ,  and even at the entrance of the restaurant, there wasn’t a name ( maybe I didn’t look in the right place ?), anyway, HL’s hubby said that the locals refer to the shop as ‘Ah Chung’s restaurant in Pantai Bersih’, so there !

Restoran Sin Chua Kee 新蔡記海鮮飯店@ Kuchai Lama

It was a cold dark stormy evening, amidst the strong  thunder and lighting , suddenly there was s growl, and it grew stronger and stronger…err..it was only my stomach growling lahh..

Wikipedia Lim spoke highly of  Sin Chua Kee , smacking his lips as he mention the beer pork ribs  and with a reminder – go early, best to be there by 6, if not, be prepared for a long wait… as the clock was already showing 6:45 pm-I wasn’t so keen to go to SCK , but considering that  it was a rainy day – not that many people might ( should)  be out guarr, with that in mind we headed towards Taman Lian Hoe.

It must be our lucky day as there was one small  empty table available and the rest of the restaurant filled to the brim with noisy happy diners ( I assume they were happy lah)

One comment I would like to make is that the lady who took our order was very pleasant…like this maaa…service with a smile, you happy, I also happy! We ordered Assam fish ( house special) , beer pork ribs and also one vege, smiling lady also recommended the house special tofu, but we decided not to be greedy and stuck with  the 3 dishes.

While we were waiting and looking at the food at  the other tables, saw that most of them ordered steam fish ( not asam fish worr)  and also pork ribs. A chap came around our table and asked if we want some good quality/ guaranteed good, durian…err…does this mean we are in for a long wait ?

It didn’t took that long for the dishes to arrived ( another plus point) . The Asam fish arrived, covered with parsley leaves , there were long beans and pieces of tomato too. And the taste..Oh la la..yummy, the fish was fresh  and cooked just nice and and the asam gravy..ahh… perfect ..

The pork ribs…what can I say about the pork ribs except that  it was very good pork ribs, they were deep fried and covered in some thick sticky gravy, the flesh came away easily with each bite,  the meat wasn’t dry and didn’t stick to the bones, and I really really really wish there were more of this..

The stir fried vege with garlic was tasty, the vege was succulent and not overly cooked ,this simple dish was a good compliment for the ribs and fish both of  which had pretty strong flavours.

 

The meal, plus 2 rice and a pot of chrysentimun tea cost us ~RM45, which was quite reasonable for a very satisfying meal. Hoorahhh for Sin Chua Kee !

As we were preparing to leave ( also noticed this while we were eating)  there were a dozen of people standing around waiting for the tables..maybe they should have some durian while they wait ? ( this was not helped by the rain, which meant that they couldn’t ‘open’ the tables by the roadside)

Address and Location :

Head towards the Old Klang Road Market, turn into road leading to Jln  Kuchai Lama, about 500m away ( FYI i am a bad judge of distance, so don’t take my word for it ) look out for SCK on your left ( row of shop houses on a small slope).