Sunday 5 August 2012

San Low Seafood Restaurant 三楼海鲜园 (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

San Low Seafood Restaurant 三楼海鲜园 with over 30 years of experience first started out in a small hawker stall  before relocating to where they are now at Taman Pelangi. The current location is around 15 minutes journey from City Square / Causeway and will cost less than RM10 (make sure you request for the metre to be activated when you board the cab). It can difficult locating this restaurant as it is sited at a private residential area. 
Besides serving fresh seafood, San Low Seafood Restaurant 三楼海鲜园 is also well known for their  signature San Low Fried Bee Hoon. Alight and when you see the place above.
Even on a weekday evening, there were several Singapore plated cars parked on the sides of the restaurant. 

Big, wide and spacious open concept kitchen that allow customers to have fully visibility of the chefs and the ability to cope with the orders when there is a full house. As you may notice, it was not crowded on a weekday. However, I have heard that on weekend nights, this place is likely to be a full house with a mixture of Singaporeans and locals.
Menu
Menu (a)
Menu (b)
Menu (c)
Selected portion of the menu.


Chinese Tea 
San Low Fried Bee Hoon RM12 (L)
When the signature San Low Fried Bee Hoon (rice vermicelli) was served, my first thought was that it look so ordinary. It was another case of 'never to judge a book by its cover'. It was fried with prawns, vegetables (chye sim), egg, fish cake and chicken meat. The bee hoon was infused in seafood broth and fried to perfection. It was charred and crisp on the outside, yet moist on the inside. Furthermore, it was not oily. An unique dish that was incredibly delicious despite the simplicity of the ingredients! A must try. 

The San Low Fried Bee Hoon most essential step towards the end of the cooking process is to press-fry the bee hoon under high heat to get this end result. This dish is so appealing that many other restaurants in Johor Bahru has copied the cooking method and serve this dish.

I did not know that there are so many methods of cooking delish bee hoon! Another bee hoon dish that has impressed  me is the one by Sembawang White Bee Hoon (in Singapore).
Hong Kong Kai Lan RM12 (S)
Stirred fried Hong Kong Kai Lan was ordinary. It was well fried and the vegetables still retained the crunchiness. However, it was on the salty end. 
Chilli Crab RM98
We also ordered, two Chilli Crabs weighing close to 1kg. San Low Seafood Restaurant serves a mean plate of Singapore-Style Chilli Crab that will put some of our Singapore restaurants to shame. 

I was most impressed with the gravy. Robust spicy, sweet eggy gravy with the right amount of starch (to thicken the sauce). The spiciness and sweetness were perfect for me with the spiciness kicking in towards the end. Slices of onions were add and cooked along in it too (probably to enhance the sweetness). Moreover, the crabs were fresh and meaty. The meat easily pulled out from its shell was sweet, juicy and tender. Furthermore, the meat had absorbed the wonderful gravy. It was a delight savouring this dish! 
Man Tou RM2
The Man Tou (Buns) to complement the chilli crab gravy. Heavenly, yummy.

My day trip to JB certainly did not disappoint! Cheap, good and fresh seafood again. The two must order dishes here are the  San Low Fried Bee Hoon and Chilli Crabs. No wonder Singaporeans keep visiting JB for seafood haunts. 

San Low Seafood Restaurant 三楼海鲜园 (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)
Jalan Biru off Jalan Merah, Taman Pelangi
80400 Johor Bahru
Tel: 07 332 3869 / 07 334 3623
Opening Hours: Daily 430pm to 1am

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Thursday 2 August 2012

7-Eleven Singapore: Buy 1 Get 1 Free Magnum Ice Cream (till 31 Aug 2012)

Source: 7-Eleven Singapore
7-Eleven Singapore: Buy 1 Get 1 Free Magnum Ice Cream (till 31 Aug 2012)

- Valid from 1 to 31 August 2012
- While stocks last

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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