Wednesday 1 August 2012

Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

Singaporeans always love going across the causeway check point into Johor Bahru (JB) for food and shopping due to the favourable exchange rate. I am no exception. It has been ages since I last stepped into JB for food (due to safety issues and heavy traffic along the causeway). This time round, I made my trip on a weekday (Monday) to check out the food!

Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant located in Taman Sri Tebrau Hawker Centre is a popular seafood haunt which many Singaporeans patronise. It is fairly easy to come to this place from the Causeway / City Square as it is nearby. The easiest way is to just take a cab down (you just need to say Taman Sri Tebrau). It is a 10 minutes journey and will cost around RM7 (Request for the metre to be activated before boarding cab.)

We arrived at 1110am. Although the restaurant opens at 11am, we were the first customer! It was practically empty except for a few staff. We were told the chef was late (probably Monday Blues haha =P). We walked around for 10 minutes before heading back. Luckily by the time we went back, the Chef came in.

Menu (a)
Menu (b)
Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant's menu.
Sugar Cane (small) 
I will give the Sugar Cane a skip the next time I am there. It was diluted and tasted weird.

As we were the only one, we were served within 10 minutes upon ordering. 
Hot Plate Beancurd RM10
The Hot Plate Beancurd was served pipping hot with mixture of ingredients such as mushrooms, carrots, minced meat, egg and tofu on top (Be careful not to touch the hot metal plate). The different flavours of the ingredients were well mixed and cook as the different flavours were infused together. Moreover, had fully absorbed the sauce which was so tasty. This dish paired off very well with plain rice. In fact, the combination of the sauce with plain rice was heavenly.
Fried Dou Miao RM10
The Fried Dou Miao was fried with garlic. Such a well fried dish that fully brought out the flavour of the garlic. Simple yet so delicious.  
Bitter Gourd Salted Egg RM10
Bitter Gourd Salted Egg was yummy. Each slice of bitter gourd was well coated with the salted egg. Moreover, it was not oily. 
Sambal Stingray RM16
The Sambal Stingray was disappointing. The stingray was fresh and cooked perfectly such that it was soft, tender and juicy inside. But I felt that the sambal chilli was the main reason for the let down. There are better ones in Singapore. (Maybe I am too use to the type of sambal chilli in Singapore. Hiang Kee's version was too dry, not as fragrant and spicy)
Butter Crayfish RM56
The star of the day meal: 10 (half) pieces of Butter Crayfish
Butter Crayfish
The control of the wok and fire was shown here. The Butter Crayfish was well executed! Big, meaty and succulent flesh that was so fresh that it was easily pulled out from it's shell. Despite it being fried, the meat was still juicy inside and the timing was grasped perfectly. In addition, the buttery fritters (crumbs) fried with curry leaves were so fragrant and addictive. Reminds me of the Butter Crab from Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood. The good news is that it was not oily (thanks to the chef's control of the wok and fire).

The Butter Crayfish is a must order. Other recommended dishes will be the Hot Plate BeancurdBitter Gourd Salted Egg and Fried Dou Miao (surprised? Well, it was really very well fried in my opinion). Moreover, where else in Singapore can you get such fresh seafood at this price. Overall, a very good experience, if I have more time to spare, I will certainly want to come back again.

The down side is that you are advised to savour your food fast, before the houseflies zoom into on your food. 

After your meal, there are several options you can take.
1) Walk out to the main road to take a cab to City Square or anywhere else.
2) Walk to Taman Sentosa and savour the famous Paper Wrapped Chicken from Teck Sing. And also Plaza Sentosa Shopping Centre for shopping.
3) Walk to KSL Shopping Centre for shopping or catch a movie.

PS: From Singapore to JB, the cheapest and fastest way to get to the checkpoint is to go to Kranji MRT Station and take bus no. 160 or 170. The bus goes directly to the Causeway Checkpoint, a ten minutes bus ride.

Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)
Jalan Keris, Taman Sri Tebrau (Hawker Centre)
80500 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Tel: 012 798 9303
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 3am
Location
Location
A - Location of Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant (Taman Sri Tebrau Hawker Centre)
B - Location of KSL Shopping Centre
C - Location of Plaza Sentosa Shopping Centre
D - Location of Teck Sing Restaurant

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Tuesday 31 July 2012

Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood 万隆华和海鲜菜馆 (Casuarina Road) - 2nd Post

Another visit back to Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood 万隆华和海鲜菜馆. We visited the Zi Char restaurant on a Saturday evening too. The place was packed and all the tables were occupied.

Huge crabs in tanks. This is essential as almost every table has crab dish on it!
Menu (a)
Menu (b)
Part of the menu. As this was our 2nd visit, we had a rough idea on what to order and what not too. The first post can be found here.
Hot Plate Beancurd $10
 The Hot Plate Beancurd was as deletable as before. The sauce is best paired with plain rice. 
Prawn Paste Chicken Wing $12
Prawn Paste Chicken Wings (Har Cheong Gai) was served pipping hot. The chicken wings were coated and marinated with prawn paste before being deep fried. On the exterior, it was crispy and fragrant. In the interior, the meat was fragrant, tender and full of natural juice.
Birthday Noodles (Mee Sua) $12
The Birthday Noodles which was essentially Mee Sua fried with prawns, squid, beansprouts, quail eggs and fish slices. An interesting dish that suits our palate.
Stirred Fried Baby Kai Lan $12
Their stirred fried vegetables here are surprisingly good.  The Baby Kai Lan was still crunchy. The dish as a whole was tasty and not overly salty. Simple and good.
La La Clams $10
At last, we get to try the La La Clams. This dish was excellent! The la la clams were bigger than what is normally served in the other restaurants and were very fresh and 'meaty'. (Why did we order only $10? We should have ordered more!).
Black Pepper Crab
Huge Black Pepper Crab which did not disappoint. I like the sauce as it was finger licking good as what I described in my last post. The crab was very fresh and meaty!  
Butter Crab
Butter Crab
Leaving the best for the last. The Butter Crab was amazingly delicious! It was not the usual creamy version that most restaurant serves. Instead it was deep fried. Each piece of crab was well-coated with the butter batter and fried till fragrant. Despite being deep fried, the crab was still incredibly tender, juicy and sweet. Adding on, the crab was huge, meaty and fresh. Amazingly, meat did not stuck to the shells (which is not the norm for a fried crab dish). There were lots of buttery fritters at the side. They were crispy and sinfully delicious. The unique buttery fragrant made the buttery fritters so addictive that once you start, you can't stop. A must try! (Bern from The Hungry Bunny mentioned that this is their best dish. Totally spot on! Thanks for the recommendation!

The  Butter Crab and Black Pepper Crab cost $86. Well worth the price.

The food here is real value for money. There are two dishes that are a must try over here. They are the Butter Crab and  La La Clams. This time round, the service experienced was not as smooth sailing as before. The lady taking the order was showing an attitude and was impatient. It was also hard to get the attention of the staff. Worth coming down more often for the food here despite the service? The answer is a resounding Yes!

Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood 万隆华和海鲜菜馆 (Casuarina Road)
122 Casuarina Road
Tel: 6452 2824
Opening Hours: Daily 5pm to 130am

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Monday 30 July 2012

McDonald's Singapore: $2 6PC Chicken McNuggets, $2 Cinnamon Melts, $3 Quarter Pounder with Cheese(till 5 Aug 2012)

Source: McDonald's Singapore
McDonald's Singapore: $2 6PC Chicken McNuggets, $2 Cinnamon Melts, $3 Quarter Pounder with Cheese(till 5 Aug 2012)

- Valid till 5 aug 2012 
- Offer not valid during breakfast hours
- Print or flash coupon to redeem
- One redemption per transaction
- Not valid at institutional stores and iFly Singapore
- Not valid via McDelivery 

- While stocks last


Other offer: McDonald's Singapore: $2 Sausage McMuffin with Egg, $2 Egg McMuffin (till 5 Aug 2012)
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