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.