Grand Straits Garden Restaurant / Restoran

My boss has suggested going to JB for seafood one Fri evening and if there is any one restaurant which I would take the department to, it would be Grand Straits View Garden Restaurant located about the Danga Bay area. The restaurant which has huge (and I mean, really huge) convention halls for co events/weddings, as well as ample parking with security, boasts a really comprehensive menu with one of the widest selection of seafood I've come across in JB such as French Turbot Fish and the Alaska King Crab. Take note though that not ALL the seafood listed in the menu is available all the time. Hence, one would do well to make reservations/call beforehand if one is minded to try the more unusual items on the menu.

The restaurant has outdoor and indoor sitting area. During dinner about 7pm, there is some sort of a live band performing outdoors while those who prefer the airconditioned comfort can enjoy the Singaporean channels playing on the LCD TVs indoors. The live seafood is kept in these tanks and one can pick out one's meal from the tank.

I brought a seafood-loving friend to the restaurant one of the weeknights when petrol was low and we decided to each take out RM100 to indulge. We chose the largest crab with the largest claws in the tanks which was priced at RM 9 per kg. They did not weigh the crab in front of us which on hindsight, we should have asked them to. It was rather hard for me to believe that the crab below weighed more than 1kg (they charged us RM 108 for the critter below)!

The pic below is of the hapless critter chopped and cooked in black pepper sauce. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. The problem with doing reviews more than 1 month after eating is that the memory if blurred somewhat...I don't remember having any complaints at all with this dish. The crab was fresh (at SGD 40 it should be!) and the black pepper sauce satisfactory. However, we thought that for JB standards, this dish was...expensive!

Mouth-watering kangkong! I love kang kong and have ordered this dish at almost every Chinese restaurant I go to . And if anything, the kangkong at Grand Straits View Garden Restaurant scores 10/10 in The Slog Reviews. The veg is cooked to the right degree so that it isn't a soggy mash and has the right degree of crunchiness (stems) and wetness (the leaves). Even the belachan chilli is fresh and unqiue in the sense that it isn't a paste smeared (as with some other kang kong stores) but actually pretty crunchy too. Strongly recommended.

My food companion has, as a result of us ordering the herbal prawns (see pic below), developed a woman-like craving (haha) for herbal prawns ever since. He also finished most of the herbal soup which he claims is..."very good". The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Order at least the Medium-sized dish! It seems considerably larger than the Small version and the prawns are fresh and cooked to the right degree of firm sweetness. We did not see any live prawns in the tank so either these weren't live or they were kept in a tank elsewhere.

The last dish we put away was the large white clams priced at RM4 per 100gm with a min order of RM 300gm. One of the cheapest dishes on the menu. Fresh and good but the chilli isn't spicy though.

The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. This is probably one of the more/most expensive seafood restaurants in JB but the price may be said to be justifiable given the quality of the food, the service standards, the ambiance and security of the restaurant. Not a place to go if one wants cheap good seafood, but a place to be if the aforementioned are of concern/importance and if one wants a wider (and more unique) range of seafood to choose from.

Botak Jones at Marine Parade

I'd first heard of Botak Jones back in 2008 but had never eaten there until early this year with another food companion. It was an impromptu decision to drive all the way to the Marine Parade outlet but it was I who had a craving for steak, and more importantly, it was I who was in the driver's seat. :D

The outlet in Marine Parade, as is the case for most of the other outlets, is located in a coffeeshop surrounded by HDB flats - truely a case of bringing steak/western food to the heartlands. The service at this outlet was reasonably good given the youth and enthusiasm of the servers. We were shown to a seat and given a menu each. Given the rather limited selection, deciding what to eat was easy but one had to get up and go to the order point (see pic below) to order one's food and pay before eating. The servers politely refused to take orders from seated customers. I wonder why. That would have improved the experience considerably given how difficult it is for inert objects such as an ass on the chair to be displaced.

We each ordered the 200gm Botak Jones NZ Ribeye Steak (SGD15.90). The server informed us that there wld be a discount of 10% if one paid with a Citibank Card for orders above SGD 30. While waiting for the food to come, we noted that there were quite a number of customers who ordered takeaways such as fries.

The wait for the steak was about 13mins but there was a television at the coffeeshop so the waiting time went by pleasantly enough. The Slog Reviews: Without taking into account the service (the servers were friendly and even offered more sauce), I would rate the food 7.5/10 based on the price and taste. I wasn't expecting Astons Prime's standard or even close but this steak by Botak Jones was really nothing to shout above or dig into with great gusto. It was more oily/greasy than tasty and therefore not satisfying ie did not hit the spot. I'm all about second chances though so I'll probably give Botak Jones another go but at a different outlet.

U.S Kurobuta Pork Chop and Aged Beef by Astons Prime

If my last meal on earth had to be Western food, I would choose to have the U.S Kurobuta Pork Chop from Astons Prime. The first time I tried the pork chop was back in 2008 and the experience was one of such undescribable pleasure that I have been minded to repeat the experience a limited no of times so as not to diminish each experience or the size of my wallet for that matter.

The last time I had the Black Pig Pork Chop (Kuro means "black" and Buta means "Pig" in Japanese) was last week when we were out to celebrate our boss's birthday. I'd suggested new alternatives (the dept has been to Astons before) like Uluru, Bedrock and Hogsbreath but she stuck to the true and tried and to Astons we went. At our persuasion she ordered the special which was Aged Beef at SGD 40+. This is a pic of how it looked like with her choice of sides. Unfortunately this was one of the rare occasions when I left my HP in the office so all the pics in this entry are taken with my colleague's 2megapix sony errisson hp.

Our boss's action (of finishing everything on the plate) was in sync with her words (she said it was excellent!) and given her discerning palate (which unlike mine has tasted better and finer food and on a more frequent basis), I would proclaim with great confidence that Astons Prime's aged beef rocks and is a must-try. One day, I too shall test out the restaurant's claim (on a small placard on each table that "the savoury tastes of dry-aged beef are often associated with "buttery and rich", "superb in taste and texture", "mellow and intense" and "earthy and nutty". In the mean time, I was most satisfied with the black pig pork chop which came with my favourite sides of cheesy shells and mashed potato. Pork chop? It hardly tasted porky!

The Slog Reviews: 10/10. How exquisite, tender, melt-in-mouth each "done-to-perfection" piece of pork was. As I type this while looking at the pic below of myUS Kurobuta Pork Chop sliced to show the thickness and juicy perfection of the meat, my saliva glans have gone into major overdrive. Eating such food makes me never fails to make me grateful to be alive - ah, the small affordable (SGD 29.90) pleasures in life!

We ended the meal with dessert of course, despite all of us cleaning our plates with great relish. The famous mudpie which is reasonably priced at SGD6.90 and big enough for 2-3 pp to share was a sweet ending to a smashing meal.

Bukit Mata Seafood at Permata Kuching on 6th March 2010

I had some time in the evening after visiting the Cat Museum, so I decided to drop by the largest and most modern mall in Kuching - The Spring. This is a pic of the building which I took from the car. The place was packed full of cars as well as taxis along the mainroad and I heard that the parking situation could get so bad that visitors would have to park across the road. The Spring doesn't sell branded goods (LV,Prada,Chanel and the like) but other mid-market brands like Levis, Mango and MPH. There is also a supermarket at the basement level and a cinema on the top floor - if I am not wrong, that's the only mall in Kuching which has a cinema.

After shopping, it was time to go for dinner at Bukit Mata Seafood Centre located at the top/6th floor of Permata Carpark. I had been here before (click here), and read all about it (click here) so I thought I knew what to expect but nah, I was wrong. There was massive renovation and upgrading works going on which meant that the popular stalls like ABC were closed in March 2010. A sign near the lift informed us that the renovation works would only be completed in July 2010 (if I rem rightly). (One should also note that the Centre doesn't open for business during lunch hours but about 6pm for dinner.) So, our group of 4 ended up patronising this stall "Ling Long Seafood" instead.

This vegetable below is unique to Sarawak (tried it for the first time in Sibu) and isn't available in Singapore at all. This is how the vegetable/fern looks before it is cooked.

And this is how the vegetable looks after it has been cooked. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. The taste isn't bitter at all if cooked well and is rather tasty and mushy. But then again, I am partial to dark green vegetables. Still, it is very affordable (RM 10) and well worth a try. I can't figure out though why this veg isn't sold in Singapore and can't be grown here or in West Msia. Readers of my blog, please enlighten me.

The picture below shows the first four dishes which arrived - sweet and sour soup, the unique sarawak veg and another kind of very dark green veg cooked with egg. The other dish was ordinary butter prawns. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10 for the cereal prawns which wasn't too bad but tasted pretty much as any such dish from a local coffeeshop would. It might be more worthwhile for travellers to order the river prawns with blue claws instead.

Forgetting my less than excellent encounter with this species of prawns in KK, I ordered the biggest prawn available at the stall. The prawn filled the entire plate! I think I am into oversized prawns bigtime. :D

And here's a picture of the prawn after it was cooked. The Slog Reviews: 3/10. Do not, and I repeat do not order this dish from Ling Long. While the prawn was not stale (it was dead compared to the live one which we chose at KK), the method of cooking below as recommended by the stall, failed to bring out the flavor of the prawn at all...but then I'm assuming that the prawn should be sweet to begin with. The black sauce and ginger did not go with the prawn thus rendering the eating process a chore rather than pleasure. The cost was RM12/100gm.

I also ordered a fish from the many dead ones packed in ice arrayed nicely at the stall. The stall holder suggested a type of fish popular in Sarawak and which had fish eggs. This is how the fish looked like after it was cooked. The Slog Reviews: 2/10. Again, do not, and I repeat tiredly, do not order this fish with its unique scales - it was terribly bony without much meat and whatever meat there was was cooked to dry blandness. As for the fish eggs (see top left of the plate), the stall overcooked the eggs resulting in flaky tasteless clumps of eggs instead of the delight that this dish is supposed to be. I guess Shee Yaan Restaurant at Muar has spoilt my taste buds thoroughly - that is the restaurant to go to for the best fish eggs (and how cheap they are!) , assam fish head and otak /otah.

The next dish - black pepper crab. The Slog Reviews: 6.5/10. The black pepper sauce was so cloying and the style of cooking so poor that pne could not taste the sweetness of the crab meat at all. I have eaten black pepper crabs where the smooth slick freshness of the crab meat (esp the crab legs) contrasts pleasantly with the black pepper sauce on the shell. Unfortunately, like the many other nicer and higher-end places that one goes to, because of one's wealthy, well-bred and lofty food companions then, it is not quite possible to take photos of the food. Still, the subconscious has filed away the sights and sensations of the experience and I can say with utmost certainty that the cooking skill of the person who prepared this dish leaves much to be desired indeed.

And the last dish - 2 female crabs. As evident from the picture below, the crabs did come with plenty of orange eggs but....The Slog Reviews: 6.5/10. The eggs were overcooked and the meat so ordinary tasting. What a complete disappointment! All the garnishing did not serve any purpose or add any flavor whatsoever except pose as an additional step to clear away.

To sum up, one would be able to deduce by now that I would not recommend ordering one's fresh seafood from this stall if ever one goes by Bukit Mata Centre in Kuching. Try Stall 25 - that's the best, absolutely best stall for cheap and good seafood. The wait is worth it.

Kuching Cat Museum and 360 Hotel on 6th March 2010

Due to the change in flight timing by Airasia and my reluctance to take an extra day of leave, I ended up with less than 24 hours in Kuching. The shuttle bus to 360 Hotel didn't show up at the airport which caused a great deal of trouble and angst (the cost of a taxi to the hotel was RM30 vs the cost of the shuttle bus RM6 per pax). The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Without taking into account the shuttle bus which never showed, 360 Hotel at Kuching is value for money indeed. For RM88, one gets a clean spacious room with a comfy bed and clean sheets, a mini-safe, LCD TV and hairdryer. Although the room lacks a window/view, an alarm clock, refrigerator, minibar or bathtub, given the price and location of the hotel, I would highly recommend this hotel to travellers who are in Kuching for a short trip.

During my last trip to Kuching, I did not have enough time to go to Kuching's Cat Museum so for this trip, after leaving the bags in the hotel, I headed straight for the Cat Museum which is located quite some distance away from the main city and up a hill. The picture below shows the building where the museum is located with the state's flag fluttering at the top of the dome.

As per the picture below, the opening hours are from 9am to 5pm daily and while there are no entrance fees payable by visitors, if one wishes to use one's camera, one has to pay a nominal fee depending on the type of camera one uses. A sticker to be adhered to one's camera is given upon payment and it was quite a pain to scratch it off later so I would advise against pasting the sticker wholly on one's nice shiny camera.

Just outside the entrance to the museum (but within the buildling), three flags representing the state of Malaysia (left), the state of Sarawak (middle) and the town/city of Kuching (right) can be found side by side.

As I've said, the city is really into cats. The city's flag has not one, but two rather feminine looking cats eyeing a bird-like creature centered between them. Cat City indeed!

The pic below is of the entrance to the museum which is one level above the carpark. I had wondered about the vampire-looking fangs but after googling "cats and yawning", I realised that the structure of the entrance contains no hidden meaning but reflects accurately a cat with its mouth wide open. Despite the turnstile at the entrance, there are no entrance fees payable and therefore no tickets are required.

Near the entrance, if one is minded to capture one's face with ears atop a cat's body, one can play with the exhibit below although I would think that to get into the position for the bottom holes would be most uncomfortable indeed. Maybe the exhibit is meant for kids and the other folks who are not so particular about hygiene issues and willing to contort one's body so as to be captured on film with one's face above a cat body. Much as I have wondered about having a different sort of body, I was not tempted to play with this exhibit at all :D

As one walks further into the museum, one would come across a medium-large friendly-looking yellow cat mascot in a glass case. We learn from the little signboard that the exhibit, safe behind the glass walls actually has a name. The signboard reads "The mascot of Kuching Festival is "Alca" the cat. The name Alca is derived from the first 2 letters of 2 flowers - "Allamanda", the official flower of Kuching North City Hall and "Canna Lily", the official flower of Kuching South City Council."


Unlike Alca the Cat which has one hand on the hip, the other statues of cats which do not display such crone-like characteristics are not quite as well-protected and one is able to take photos of and with them. Below is a pic of the large cat statues placed near the escalator leading to the second floor of the museum which I left my fingerprints on, having being kept from doing the same with Alca the Cat. The second floor appears to be closed to the public.

The Cat Museum is filled with statues, drawings and paintings of cats and out of the thousands of cat/cat-related paraphenalia, one item is chosen as the artifact of the month. For the month of March 2010, the painting/mosaic below of a rather fearsome cat was chosen. One of the more interesting paintings I thought.

And then there is this section below which one should absolutely stop by and read "How Kuching City Got Its Name". A reading of the materials enlightens one that it was in 1876 that the town was officially named as Kuching and this was probably due to the abundant number of cats along the riverbank or due to a river flowing through the town center known as Sungai Kuching.

If one is minded to take a memory of the Cat Museum back at a rather inflated price, there is the souvenir shop located near the entrance/exit (both are located next to each other).

I was tempted for a monent to buy one of the charming bags below sold at the souvenir shop but common sense prevailed and I managed to keep my wallet closed. I didn't notice anyone buying anything from the souvenir shop at all and I really do think it has to do with the prices. I suppose a picture of what I might have bought agrees better with my wallet. :D

The Slog Reviews: 6/10 as an attraction. Recommended only to those who have time to kill in Kuching and those with a deep prevailing interest in viewing all things cat-related. The museum contains a lot more cat-related stuff than that I've posted obviously but unless one is really keen to see/read about cat-related materials, one could give the cat museum in Kuching a miss without any regrets. And no, there are no live cats in or around the cat museum at all.

Before leaving Muah - lunch at the best restaurant in Muah!

Where we would have lunch the next day after checking out of the hotel was a given. No fight, no contest, no dispute, no other feasible alternatives. Shee Yaan Restaurant (which is stored under the Favs Folder in my GPS) we headed for in an unspoken common understanding. This is a pic of the exterior of the restaurant. Note that the restaurant does not face the main road but is behind the row of shophouses housing Pizza Hut and The Look Hair Salon.

I have to say that the restaurant seems to be immensely popular, not just for dinner but also for lunch. We had to wait for a table and were asked nicely to move twice to smaller tables because there were larger groups (abt 5-10) which arrived later. The young lady boss was not surprised to see us again but her employee was most surprised when we insisted on ordering 2 packets of otah for lunch. She suggested half a packet, we reiterated that we wanted 2 packets and she countered with 1 packet. However, we insisted on having the 2 packets and her eyes grew wider still when we ordered other dishes like fried egg, fish eggs, kangkong and a big slab of fresh fish for the assam fish head. The pic below is of the dishes that arrived first minus the fish.

The assam fish (as per the pic below) came about 10mins later, fresh and tender in a soup so pleasantly warm and sour. I would recommend ordering the fish meat instead of the fish head because the meat is extremely fresh and tender. I think the meat is cooked seperately from the soup because the fish retains its own fresh sweet flavor which provides a thrilling contrast to the sourish soup. The cost of the dish below was RM 17.90 only.

The total cost of the meal below came to RM50.20 (SGD 21 only!!!!). Incredibly cheap for the sheer amount and kind of food. Two of us were more than satisfied (as we should be) after having cleaned every single plate. The assam fish cost RM17.90, the sambal kangkong RM4, the two packets/plates of otah RM16 and the fish eggs RM4.90. Rice was RM0.80 per bowl and can drinks RM1.70 each. I'm not sure if the egg dish was wrongly priced at RM2.40 as it says on the receipt though. The dessert in a bowl (iced longan) was complimentary.

Hand on my heart, I would solemnly declare Shee Yaan restaurant to be one of the best, if not the best restaurant to have a meal at if one goes to, or drives past the little town of Muar. The Slog Reviews: 10/10 for the food. The only thing one needs to be prepared for is the waiting time for a table and the even longer waiting time for the food (15mins) but as is clearly evident from the crowds and the pics, each morsel more than makes up for the waiting time. I'm counting the days till June when we next plan to go back to Muar!

Restoran / Restaurant Onn Kee Jaya

The result of 2 hungry individuals unable to decide on where to have lunch even after clearing the Msia customs = trouble. I knew what I didn't want, and yet what I wanted to have for lunch would mean a long waiting time so in the end, so I left it to the other to settle the issue of lunch, trusting in his familiarity with both my food taste and the city of JB.

Just after Plaza Angsana, he made a turn and we drove past the plaza's carpark to a rather rundown area of JB with narrow crammed streets and cars parked haphazardly along both sides of those streets. My impression of the place was rather unfavourable but the other assured me that the bak kut teh here was v good according to his colleague. This is the same colleague that intro-ed the other to Qiu Bo Curry House so I should have guessed, given how far apart our tastes are, that I would most likely be disappointed.

After parking the car along the road, we walked past a dingy coffeeshop which seemed immensely popular in the direction of the bak kut teh store when the strong smell of curry coming from this restaurant (?!!?) opposite the said coffeeshop stopped me in my tracks. Noting the air-conditioned dining area inside, I refused to walk any further in the blazing sun to the recommended bkt stall and insisted of having lunch here instead.

The young lady assistant was very helpful and friendly, and the air-conditioned area was a blessed respite from the merciless sun. We enquired about the origin of the delicious smell which turned out to be a huge pot of curry chicken that the uncle-chef was whipping up in the cooking area near the main road - what a way to attract customers! :D Although the restaurant had only 1 other table which was occupied when we came in, within 1/2 an hr, 3 other tables were filled, and not just with Chinese customers but Indians too!

The pic above is the chicken curry which enticed us to the shop. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. This curry is the dry sort so there is quite a bit more oil and quite a lot less gravy. The meat was alright - not too hard but sadly, not too tender either. However, the meat didn't appear to have absorbed much of the curry flavor so this dish would be at best, passable. We also ordered the shop's speciality which would be the klang-style of bak kut teh.

The Slog Reviews: 7/10 for the bak kut teh which came with innards and extremely chewy pieces of meat which gave our teeth quite a work-out. I prefer the soft melt-of-the-bone type of bak kut teh so I didn't enjoy the tough chewy meat in this pot at all. The tau kee, butter mushrooms and overall taste of the soup itself was, like the dish above, passable and nothing that one would be likely to develop a craving for. However, the service is good - the uncle noticed that we had finished most of the soup and on his own accord, added more soup.

The total cost of the 2 dishes above as well as 2 cans of drink and 2 bowls of rice was about RM25 (SGD 11).

Name: Restoran Onn Kee Jaya
Address: 78 Jalan Dato Toh Ah Boon, 81000 Tampoi Johor
Tel: 012-7560795, 016-7426978

Shee Yaan Restaurant in Muar - the best Assam Fish Head and Muar Otah!

I'm crossing my fingers that I will have a chance tomorrow to eat something that I've been craving for for quite some time (almost a month!). Nope, it isn't the assam fish head below (although this dish will most certainly be ordered too)...

Rather, it's this dish below - Muah Otah! As per my earlier post, I'm absolutely dying to eat this right now and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will be going to Muar tomorrow! And now that I know I can actually dream and drool over a dish, I probably will buy a lot of this back home to keep in the fridge for a couple of months and for the folks that matter! How can any dish be so simple yet so "orgasmically" delicious? The Slog Reviews: 10/10. The taste, how do I even begin describing that! The blend of fish meat, the right amount of paste and spice - savory, yes, the word is savory. Muah is famous for its otahs but there is no place that serves better otah IMHO.

Here is a pic of the dishes that we always order when we go to this restaurant for lunch/dinner - the assam fishhead, sambal kangkong, fried fish eggs and the muah otah. It is a good thing that we do not reside in Muar or in JB...or maybe it is a bad thing, because I probably would spend most of my free time eating there. The restaurant's setting is simple but it is air-conditioned and clean. There are more dishes of course, other than the ones we always order but because these are so good and Muar is a few hours drive from JB, we always order the same items and never once has the standard fallen. The Slog Reviews for them is of course 10/10. Do drop by this restaurant if you are at Muar but be warned though that the place can get very crowded with huge groups waiting for tables. It is extremely popular, esp among locals. One has to pick some of the food items (the fish head, fish meat, otah and fish eggs) from the fridge next to the cashier. The restaurant's staff are helpful (a mix of local chinese and malay employees) and the waiting time is reasonable - 15mins if the restaurant isn't crowded.


The Address:
30&31 Jln Pesta Baru 1
Pusat Perniagaan Pesta Baru
Jln Bakri, 84000 Muar Johor

Tel No: 06-9539014

Opening Hrs: 10am - 9.30pm

Restoran / Restaurant Pekin at Taman Sentosa

Wiser from the last experience when we lost our way looking for the place, getting to Restoran Pekin at Taman Sentosa this time was a breeze even without a GPS. Once out of the customs, we kept right and turned towards Stulang Laut. At the end of the road, we turned left, went pass a temple and and then took the costal road past the gated compound all the way in the direction of Permas Jaya. The restaurant is located on that side of the road (in the direction of Permas Jaya) so turning off the main road to the restaurant was relatively simple.

As was the case with its sister outlet at Sutera Mall where we had dinner before, the service was impeccable, the menu was impressive-looking and the food was priced much higher than if one had eaten at any other restaurant in JB. The variety of live seafood was rather limited on a weekday night - tilapias, groupers, oysters, ordinary mud crabs, crayfish and clams. There are three eating sections - the airconditioned area, the outdoor and without shelter area and the open-air non-airconditioned but sheltered area (for smokers probably). The second option should not be considered during dinner time because of the numerous large winged creatures buzzing about (attracted to light).

So, the dishes. The first dish we ordered and was served was lala (white shell clams) cooked in sambal chilli. There are other cooking options for this dish stated in the menu like chinese wine. Take note though that one has to order a min of 800gms for lala and given the price of RM 3/100gm, the dish below cost RM 24 (SGD 10). The Slog Reviews: 9/10. The chilli was mouth-wateringly delicious (mixed with rice) and the clams were cooked just right that one could taste how juicy and fresh each pc of meat was. As said, the staff service is impeccable and they cleared the plates very promptly. I would give this dish 10/10 cept that from the portion below, we were quite doubtful that this was 800gm worth of lala...maybe the shells which were indeed considerably large, weighed quite a bit.

We were temporarily torn between ordering kangkong and hotplate beancurd but after looking at the price of the veg which was 40-50% more expensive than elsewhere, and given my food companion's craving for beancurd, we had the hotplate beancurd with shrimps below. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. Would not recommend ordering this dish at the restaurant. Nothing exceptional in terms of taste or presentation and each toufu wasn't "melt-in-the-mouth" quality.

Now, a word of advice on the next dish below - priced at RM10/100gm (which was more expensive than crabs which were priced at RM5.80 - 7.80/100gm), we had expected the three crayfish we selected live from the tank to be of outstanding quality. The Slog Reviews: 5/10. We had asked for the crayfish to be cooked in butter and indeed it was but ah, what a disappointment the dish turned out to be for the price (total RM 30 = SGD 12). Talk about way-overpriced for the tiny little strips of meat in the shells which while fresh and sweet-tasting, was absolutely unremarkable in taste and badly presented. Give this dish a miss.

As the name of the restaurant implies, the place to have pekin/ Beijing duck in JB would be pekin restaurant of course. They also serve duck dishes like pipa duck on the menu. Anyhow, we ordered half a pekin duck (RM 23 which is SGD 10). The duck came with the thin beancurd sheets. I couldn't take a better photo as both dishes were placed on the opposite end of the menu and I didn't want to get up just to take a pic since most of the tables at the air-conditioned area were filled with working pp (middle-aged and elderly uncles) and familes.

We realised the reason for the dishes being placed so far away from us was so that the waitor could prepare the dish in front of us. He started by putting on a facemask and one side of the glove. Here is a pic of him placing the meat on each thin layer of beancurd skin along with some veg and sweet dark sauce.

The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. The duck was cooked well enough but the meat was not tender or tasty enough and in fact slightly too dry. We asked for more beancurd sheets for the rest of the meat but were told that we had to pay for those so we declined. Still, this dish is very reasonably priced (could you have pekin duck at a nice restaurant in SG for just SGD 10?) and is worth having as a meat dish if one goes to this restaurant.

The total cost of the meal was RM 98+ (about SGD 42) inclusive of tax, 2 bowls of rice, 1 coke and 2 wet towels. While reasonable by SG standards (for live seafood and pekin duck!), this is expensive by JB individual-living standards indeed.