Big Eater

In case you thought that this blog has gone off on a "domestic" tangent altogether, I thought I'll write about a pretty good crab restaurant that my CEB and I chanced upon a couple of weeks ago. Or rather, one that my CEB had heard about and thought would satisfy his peckish wife who was demanding to go to somewhere different for dinner instead of the usual haunts.

The name of the restaurant sounded pretty awful - like a direct translation of a pretty decent Chinese word/phrase to English without thought to how it would turn out in a different language. And the location of the restaurant, near some large factory building and among a row of shophouses with extremely limited parking (we had to park at the back of the restaurant at the residential area) wasn't the most, well, asthetically pleasing.

All that aside, we had a good enough experience there which prompted talk of going back for a second time. As per the pic above, the restaurant menu has a page devoted to listing just its specialities to make for easy ordering.

My CEB ordered the Hokkien Noodles which turned out to be unlike the yellow/white noodles that we were expecting. While the dish was not easy on the eye - coiled wet worm-like noodles heaped in very dark looking liquid, the aroma wafting from the dish sent both of us digging in without second thoughts. We agreed this dish was yummy - not too salty despite the sauce, but tasty and wet as good hokkien mee should be. I would definitely recommend this dish to folks going to the restaurant.

I was debating between 2 of the chef's recommendation - the Claypot Herbal Mutton or the salted egg crabs. My CEB was pretty firm about not trying the latter, having had an unpleasant experience at another restaurant before with this dish but when the server told us they were out of the mutton soup, my CEB surprised me by ordering a crab cooked in salted egg (My CEB seems to be less fixed in his ways and more open to trying, and to giving in since the EE course).

The Slog Reviews: The salted egg crab was not the least bit too salty and the dressing (salted egg) surprisingly did not detract from the sweetness of the crab which was as fresh and "meat-packed" as the one we had in Malacca. This dish was extremely well done - the salted flavor of the sauce was a subtle contrast and brought out the full flavor of thecrab's natural flavor. A must try!

The total bill came to about SGD50+ for the noodles and the crab (abt 900gm) which was lower than what we had expected (too much of eating in Malaysia I guess!).

Address: No. 34 Jalan Pari Burong (Upper Changi Road) Singapore 488700.
Tel: +65 6245-7268

Restoran Lee - the best crabs in Melaka and breakfast at The Majestic

Having heard the fabulous experience I'd had at The Majestic before with my beloved ex-boss and ex-colleagues (click here to read my earlier review), my CEB chose to spend our pre-Valentine Day weekend there. As it was still the Chinese New Year period, the lunar decorations were still up at the hotel when we got there.

The room and the service was excellent of course but I've already written about that. What I hadn't written about was the buffet breakfast spread which cost RM70++/pax. Thankfully we had booked a package that came with breakfast which was less than SGD20 for the 2 of us. 

Other than the extensive spread laid out which included porridge, nasi lemak, cereal etc, one has the option of choosing more food (such as omelets and sunny side ups) as well as juices (freshly squeezed orange juice etc) from the menu on the table. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Definitely get a package which includes breakfast if the cost is not more than SGD 30 for two! Paying RM70++ per pax is far too much though despite the quality, selection and quantity available.

The reason I say that is because of an absolutely gem of a place we found that serves the best crab that both of us have ever had. I would absolutely advise you to spend RM150 on 2kg of crab (1kg is about RM74) at this restaurant than breakfast for two at The Majestic.

The place I'm talking about is called Restoran Lee I had the good fortune of reading about on the famous Chubby Hubby's blog. The restaurant, or rather should I say, coffee-shop because it really isn't anything more than that, is less than 2mins walk from The Majestic's back carpark. We got there about 8.30pm and the restaurant was 3/4 full but we managed to get a table. This is a Chinese-operated coffee-shop and although the server was brief and to-the-point (no smiles), service was decent and we were served quickly starting with the crackers below (keropok) which my CEB finished in a flash after holding up just 1 cracker for my photo. Hah!

At Chubby Hubby's recommendation, I also ordered the fried bean-curd with minced-pork which he said was the place's specialty. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. Although this dish cost only RM6 and isn't awful in any sense of the word, it is incredibly oily and unremarkable. Save your stomach and good money for the crabs here.

Speaking of which, one has the option of ordering bread to go with the crabs. Now, the bread isn't anything like the kind of buns that we have in Singapore to go with our famous chilli crab. In fact, I was quite appalled to find out that the bread looks like this below - the kind of bread that I would use to feed swans or birds which I did in Switzerland and China b4. Ugh!!!

In any case, my CEB and I found that the crabs that we had, were amongst the the fleshiest and biggest crabs that we've ever had. Even our favorite seafood haunt at Kong Kong pales in comparison when it comes to the quality of the crab. Restoran Lee's crabs are excellent and done so well that the white meat in both the claws and bodies of the crab is firm and sweet. Not shreds of crab meat, or soft mushy bits but firm full chunks of crab meat. That's good quality crab we're talking and as my CEB claims even today, worth every damn dime he spent. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Crab heaven! The milk sauce is slightly spicy and not cloying at all and we both can't wait to get back to Melaka (prob 2nd week of March) to try out the other crab dishes that this coffee-shop serves!

The address of this great crab place is 55 Jalan Bendahara, 75000 which is diagonally opposite Bayview Hotel and, it would be a great pity to any true crab lover to miss eating at this great place if one is ever at Melaka.

Day 2 in Penang on 7 Nov 2010 - Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe

I believe firmly that there is some truth to the saying that locals know where the best food is. And my friend P proved me right when she brought us to Sea Pearl Lagoon Restaurant located somewhere at the far end of Gurney Drive (not along the hawker food street area). The restaurant is apparently very popular among the locals and only accessible by car. However be warned that the ambiance of the place is rather dismal - it isn't a restaurant where you should dress up to go to - you would fit right in to the rather dirty-looking place in a pair of slippers and home shorts. But the food....I rarely say this given how much seafood I eat, the food is GLORIOUS, food fit for a seafood god.

I'll start with the best item - the salt-baked prawns. The Slog Reviews: Off the scale. Have you ever had salt-baked prawns? I've never had prawns so exquisitely fresh and sweet and baked to perfection such that the meat within remains tender yet moist. And there is just the slightest hint of saltiness that comes from the shell...the pic above shows just the first plate we had - we ordered another plate of course (500gm per plate).

The restaurant however doesn't specialize in doing prawns but rather, crabs. Pic above shows the salt-baked crabs which the 3 of us shared and were they good! The Slog Reviews: Off the scale! Salt-baked crabs filled with sweet roe and fresh firm meat. I owe P such a huge one for this sensational experience.

My CEB who likes Lala (clams) ordered a plate of clams and while they were nothing like the crabs or prawns, they were done in a different style and sauce (compared to JB) which lent the dish a unique but not unpleasant taste. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Despite our satisfaction with this dish, I would still advocate that one should fill all available space in one's stomach with the prawns and crabs instead.

There are also other stalls at the restaurant which sells other type of food. Like satay. Mediocre at best so the advice above holds still - don't waste good calories or stomach space on these.

Alright, alright...I know. The table below is one of the few pics I'll post which shows the aftermath of The Slog's encounters with good food. My CEB likes taking pics like these which I feel are pretty gross and a testimony to our gluttony. But facts are facts, and so, we three gluttons polished off everything on the table - prawns, crabs, lala and satay.

After dinner and after meeting P's boyfriend who let slip that there might be durian ice cream at Penang's local ice cream parlor, we dropped by one of Maxim's outlet but alas, there was no durian ice cream. P bought us ice cream which was really sweet of her given how she had been driving us around most of the day. Although there was a sign board explaining how the ice cream in the shop was special (something about what ingredients went in and how it was made), I thought it was rather over-priced and unremarkable. Give me my favourite Haagan-Daz anytime!

We ended the night at Batu Ferringhi where there were loads of night markets and hawker food but being stuffed with the prawns, crabs and satay, we could not eat a bite more. There were lots of fakes and pirated stuff being sold at the very touristy stretch but as we didn't have much time to explore this area of Penang, when we go back there in a few weeks time, I'll have more to write about.

In any case, take note of where the best salt-baked crabs and prawns can be found:

Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe
338, MK.18 Tanjung Tokong, 10470 Penang
(Next to Tua Peh Kong Temple)
Tel: 04-8990375

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

I haven't written for a week since the last post because I pretty much lost the inspiration/will to get up in the morning, much less blog or write. No prizes for guessing why - I am the champion of wallowing - I could hit rock bottom and scrabble for some time there instead of bouncing up.

A friend of mine who had met my CEB told me to go hang out with my CEB because that "Bag of Nonsense" would make me laugh again. And indeed, despite my best efforts to bemoan my current situation, my CEB cheered me up considerably in no time at all, enough for me to burst out laughing even. We also went to Kong Kong Taison Seafood Restoran and needless to say, the RMB164 meal revived my spirits. Nothing to put a person in a better mood than food! We had 2 large crabs (more than 1 kg each) cooked in 2 different styles

Chilli sauce:


Black pepper:

And for once, we were allowed to sit in the air-conditioned area because we had breached the RM150 mark with all that food - crabs, lala and kangkong

After lunch, it was off to his favourite hotel in JB and despite us vowing not to have dinner at all after all the "pigging-out", we ended up driving out still about 8.30pm, at his behest, to have porridge at Tang Shifu at Sutera Mall. I wanted something different so I ordered the Shi Quan Mee Suah with Ginseng and Fish Maw (RM 16.90) and that, was pretty good!

Because they forgot his order, we waited a full half hour more for the food to be served, and by that time it was too late to get my craving for the white chocolate macademia nut cake fulfilled. Believe it or not, Secret Recipe would not sell me any cakes at 9.50pm on a Sat night because they said the cashier had gone home. So, we decided to head back and when we tried to start the engine, we found the batt was flat. I'm not kidding. There we were in an open-air carpark in a foreign land (without the same standard of public transportation as SG) with a car that wouldn't start. And oh yeah, it was raining to boot. My CEB found a guy who had the one of those jump-start cables but the cables were too weak (wrong voltage). Thankfully my CEB had the presence of mind to run into Carrefour just when they were closing and buy a pair of jump-start cables with the right voltage. The next morning, I was praying that somehow the batt would start up but no such luck. And, the brand new cables didnt work - the car batt was so low that the usual beep sound when I click the unlock doors button didn't even sound! I suggested asking the hotel for help and one of the staff found a cab driver who drove over and using that same set of cables, he managed to jump start my car by pulling on the trottle bit of the old cab's engine. Apparently the cables didn't work with the first two cars we tried with because the air con in the cars were turned on while they were revving the engine. After that, I drove to the Autobac place and paid RM250 for the battery to be replaced - it was a particularly nasty experience, esp when the batt first went flat in the night - but I think that my CEB and I are getting slightly better at handing stressful situations together after laying down some basic ground rules.

So when I read the book After Ever After a few nights ago , a book which was obviously meant for a different target audience (teens), one part of the book stuck with me. Ok, context first - the book is told through the eys of a young teen who is a cancer survivor (Jeff). Jeff has a best friend at school who isnt past the 5 year mark for cancer (Tad). When Tad has a relapse (and yes, he eventually dies), Jeff beats himself up for it and his school's guidance teacher asks him for his application form. Jeff is suitably puzzled (as was I). The teacher explains that the application form is the one he filled up to get cancer. Obviously there isn't such a form. The teacher then explains to Jeff that one doesn't always get to choose the cards one is dealt with by a higher power - one just has to play one's cards as best as one can, even if one is dealt a lousy hand. (As my friend, The Slug (not The Slog, mind!) would say "Go down fighting always rather than roll over and show your belly").

So this timely reminder that life is indeed a series of accidents and choices (both of which can be either good or bad), together with my CEB and my beloved boss's advice/plan, has set me right back up on my feet again instead of scrabbling at rock bottom. :)

I am The Slog, hear me roar...:D

Restoran King Crab (black pepper crabs) (second time)

I like the pic below. :D All the photos I have taken (except photos on holidays) thus far have been with my trusty Sony Ericsson W995 phone and this is one of the few photos that I am extremely pleased with because of the clarity of the image. Clams. Lala, to be specific. Ordered at Restoran King Crab which visited less than a week later because I had recovered slightly and we both wanted to try the black pepper crab there. This dish wasn't my idea but it turned out to be absolutely smashing. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. I would have given the dish a perfect score if not for the many empty shells in the dish! The server had recommended this cooking style which is the restaurant's speciality and the soup turned out wonderfully herbal-tasting and perfect for someone with a cold/cough or a rainy day. The meat was cooked just right and not rubbery tasting the least but sweet and full of flavor. As mentioned before, the cost of dishes at this restaurant is on the steeper side and this cost RM20

We also ordered a beancurd with eggs dish. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. The beancurd came with pcs of mushrooms and some green veg along the sides. Nothing remarkable and the gravy appears to be from a bottle with shrips of dried oyster within.

We made the unforgivable mistake of ordering only one crab (600gm @ RM7/100gm) and it proved to be insufficient for the two of us mad crab lovers. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Not sure what kind of black pepper paste was used to cook this crab but it didn't leave a fiery burning feeling in the stomach. I'm almost too embarassed to post that I did ask my food companion if I could lick the shell because the sauce (there wasn't much of it sadly) was that good. The crab we had chosen was of course fresh and nothing beats the white meat of a crab cooked together with black pepper sauce. I want more, and soon!

Total cost of the 3 dishes, a pot of jasmine tea for two, rice and towels came to RM 91.50 of which RM 8 consisted of the govt service tax and service charge of 5% each.

The address of this restaurant can be found in my previous entry (click here).

Restoran King Crab (creamy butter crabs)

Even though I had been really sick, I was struck last week by an inexplicable desire to eat crab. Despite the advice from well-meaning friends, I meant to have my way and persuaded a fellow seafood lover to take me for crab. He was low on gas and we both went in to JB for fuel for the car and our bodies.

I'd heard about this restaurant for some time but never had the opportunity of being there before so we decided to look for "Restoran King Crab" based on directions from the web. We found it without any problem at all - turn left right after Jusco, keeping Jusco on the left of the car at times and one can see the bright large yellow signboard of the restaurant easily along the row of shophouses on one's right side.

The restaurant was empty on a weekday night at about 8pm except for one table so service was pretty prompt. It appears that there might be two levels to the place as there was a staircase at one corner of the restaurant but since the place was empty, we had our pick of tables on the ground floor. Service was prompt given the number of wait staff around and the menu rather extensive with meat dishes, various types of seafood (prawns, prawn mantis, crabs, fish), veg and beancurd. However, based on my experience at various JB restaurants, I would say that the prices could be said to be very steep given the lack of ambiance and the type of food (veg dishes are double normal prices!). For example, a small-sized serving of vegetable with eggs which we ordered per the pic below cost RM15. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. Athough the veg was fresh and the dish rather tasty, the price was prohibitively expensive for a very simple dish.

What would be worth ordering IMHO would be what this restaurant is good for, and specialises in - crab. Because I was coughing rather badly, my food companion and I decided to have the crab baked with creamy butter in claypot instead of black pepper. This is how the dish looked like.
And was it good? The Slog Reviews: 9.5/10. Finger licking good! A million, or rather a billion calories in this dish alone given the amount of butter and milk that went into making the thick sweet gravy that the crab was served in. I tried to moderate the amount of gravy that I was slurping up given the lack of exercise the past few weeks ( because I'd been sick) but it was so good that resistence was futile. Crab was fresh of course and priced at RM7/8 kg. The cost of the meal was about RM80 with 5% GST and 5% Service charge. Towels and tea are also chargeable.

Restoran King Crab
No 1 and 1A, 3 and 3A, Jln Harmonium 23/12 Taman Desa Tebrau
81100 Johor Bahru
Tel: 607 3513333

Kong Kong Tai Son Seafood Resort (2nd time)

The drive to Kong Kong Tai Son Seafood Restaurant isn't that difficult when done during the day, unlike in the night. In fact, it is quite a pleasant drive with a goat farm along the way and scenary like the one below (took it out of the car window). One has just to head in the direction of Pasir Gudang and from there follow the signboards that say Masai, and then, Kong Kong (if both options appear, choose Kong Kong) - you know you are headed in the right direction when you pass the ScienceTek (science tech, I suppose but that's how the word is spelt in Msia) Park.

It was a blazingly hot day when we turned right at the end of the long stretch of dirt road towards the direction of the restaurant. The restaurant looked relatively empty at about 12pm but it quickly filled up around 1pm with large groups of families (including Malay familes so I suppose this restaurant is halal). We asked for a table in the air-conditioned area but were told that we could not have the same unless we spent RM300 at the restaurant. Bugger that.

So we ended up sitting on the outdoor deck with a fan blowing directly at our table and enjoying the view from our table per the pic below.

First up, the sambal kang kong. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. A rather generous helping of fresh greens for just RM6. However, nothing remarkable about the dish. Will try another veg dish the next time.

The next dish, my food companion's favourite - herbal prawns. At RM 8 per 100gm, we ordered 400gm of prawns which they caught before our eyes and weighed. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. A must order if one loves fresh succulent sweet prawns. No wonder prawns make such effective baits - a sweet morsel for both man and fishes alike! This dish was done so well that my food companion has been bugging me to go back for more but alas, my weekends are fully packed.

The only dish which we were entirely not satisfied with was the mantis prawn. The restaurant insisted that we had to order 2 of the creatures as the kitchen would not cook one. Having no choice in the matter, we selected 2 mantis prawns, each about 150gm and asked the restaurant to cook them in the style they deemed best. And this, this below is what they came up with. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. There was so little meat in the mantis prawns and this method of cooking the prawns did not bring out the flavor of the prawns at all. In fact, having the prawns steamed brought out the hideous purple color of the creatures which was quite an appetite killer. So far, the best way of cooking mantis prawns seems to be the way this restaurant cooked it for me at Kota Kinabalu which made the dish (fried with salt or chilli) a delight.

There was a promotion for the lala at only RM 8.80 so we had those fresh out of the tanks too. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Order these if not anything else if you are a shell lover. We had them fried with chilli and they were so fresh and mouthwateringly good!

And no, I'm not done yet. It's amazing how much 2 people can put away but my food companion being a fellow seafood lover wanted to have crabs too and at RM8 per 100gm, we ordered 2 of the crabs cooked in black pepper. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Freshly caught from the tanks, stir fried with spicy black pepper, white soft sweet flesh contrasting with the slightly fiery taste from the pepper - just one word. Order!

Below, a pic taken (as usual with my Sony Ericsson W995) of all the dishes that 2 of us put away that afternoon - note that 4 out of the 5 dishes were live seafood dishes.

And the price of the seafood feast which was fresh right from the tanks? See the receipt below inclusive of 3 cans of coke, fruit juice, rice, peanuts and towel - only, and I mean, ONLY RM 141.60 which equates to SGD 60. Msia Boleh indeed! :D

Restoran / restaurant New Lucky at Tmn Sentosa

This restaurant, Restoran New Lucky, has been around for more 30 years according to the owner. And I believe him since I'd eaten there with my family when I was really young and my dad would do the weekend supermarket/petrol driven-drives into Malaysia - my dad loved the drunken prawns at this restaurant which the waitress would bring in a covered glass bowl to our table and swirl the still alive prawns about in whiskey. My dad did like the roasted pigeons at this place too although he finally agreed that the creatures didn't have much too meat on them.

Anyway, after a 12 year hiatus, I finally returned to this restaurant sometime in November 2008. Locating the place isn't a problem - the restaurant is most prominently located at Tmn Sentosa - there is no missing the restaurant on the left side of the road when one turns in. The pic below is of the dishes we ordered - crabs, toufu and veg. The bill came to almost RM 90 and I remember being most disappointed at the quality of the dishes, in particular the toufu dish - never ever order this toufu dish. As for the steamed crabs, nothing exceptional at all.

So, because I am the queen of second chances, and because my food companion wanted to have drunken (and not herbal) prawns and I distinctly remembered how this restaurant did the covered bowl with prawns swirled in whiskey thingy, I suggested that we go to this restaurant for dinner. It was almost impossible to find parking at 8pm at Tmn Sentosa and we had to walk all the way back down to the restaurant after we did. The restaurant was about 2/3 occupied but the service staff came over after we seated ourselves (they don't show you to the seats here) and we ordered the following 4 dishes per the pics below.

First up - the "drunken" prawns which appeared to be prawns cooked in herbal soup - drunken indeed! No glass bowl materialised with live prawns drenched in whiskey. My friend who, as I'd said in a previous entry has a craving for herbal prawns too, pronounced this dish highly unsatisfying, not just because it wasn't what we were expecting but because the soup's standard was pretty low too. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. The cost of the prawns was RM9/100gm with a min order of 300gm and the dish above cost RM25 which is about SGD 11. While not expensive or nasty-tasting, the prawns did not have the sweetness that truely fresh prawns have and the soup/ingredients of the soup failed to enhance or bring out the flavor of the prawns. Instead, presented this way, the prawns ended up being cooked to the point of being too hard.

As for the clams (la la) which cost RM 15, The Slog Reviews: 6/10. The clams were really small, the meat shrunken and tasteless and there appeared to be more shells than meat. When compared with the clams I've had at other seafood places in JB, like Grand Straits Garden, and Kong Kong, this dish cooked in bland black pepper pales in comparison. Waste of $ ordering this.

The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. The fried kong kong priced at RM 10 was plentiful and tasty enough. We could not help comparing the quantity for the price against the kong kong we had at Serangoon Gdns a few days earlier for dinner but that's the cost of living for you.

If there was any dish which we agreed was worth ordering, it would be the toufu with minced meat priced at RM 10. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. The sauce and meat on the toufu which was fresh with a crisp outer layer was rather satisfying, being not too salty or too sweet. Do note though that this restaurant does not have menus but one has to order based on the large pics of the food put up on the billboard near the kitchen area.

The total cost of the meal above was RM73.65 inclusive of 5% govt tax and 3% svc charge. Was it worth it? No. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone at all. The standard has fallen far from what I remembered from my childhood days and I suppose the cooks of yester-years are long gone. In any case, if one wants to try out this place still for whatever reason (I can't think of one given that there are so many better places around), here is the adddress and tel no.

1-5, Jln Keris, Taman Sri Tebrau, 80050 JB, Johor
Tel: 07-3337519

After the meal, because it failed to hit the spot for both of us, we went to good old A&W at the Jusco located at Permas Jaya and had a rootbear float each (and a connie dog for my food companion). Like the restaurant, A&W is a reminder of childhood days (there aren't any more A&Ws in Singapore now) but our experience there that night was definitely more satisfying than eating at Restoran New Lucky.

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.