Tidings of Comfort & Joy..!

XOXO,
Cumi & Ciki


See ya'll in 2009!

If I Could... (ish)

Congratulations to my buddies... Flo & Sean...

The food, was near flawless. The best thing about Chinese weddings held in a Chinese restaurant, is by far... the PIG. Halal hotels are gorgeous and full of ambiance and all, but the food is at best, a far second to the real Chinese deal ;D

The suckling pig was a case of ' Now you see it, now you don't ..!' I wanted the head, but something told me that polishing off the pig's face with my bare hands, would not look appropriate in my evening dress...

( Hmmmm... next time, lil pig.. i still have a bone to pick with you.. ;P)

The dish I liked second and third best were the glutinous rice (no photo, just satiated stomachs.. burp) and the butter prawns. Both were excellent. The Chocolates for the guests were a nice touch to end the evening on a sweet note...

The girls.. the girls.. who will be next I wonder... ? (If you are real nice to me, I may give you her number.. oo-er.. lol)

If I could.. (1927 ish)

If I could paint
I'd paint a portrait of you
The sunlight in your eyes
A masterpiece of truth
And a single tear
Like a silent prayer
That's shining so much brighter
Than a diamond ever dared
If I could do anything at all
I'd do it for you


If I could write
I'd write a book for you
A tale of hidden treasures
With an I.O.U
And a million words
Couldn't say a thing
That won't be said in three words
Where love's the central theme
If I could do anything at all,
I'd do it for you


Darling can't you see
What you mean to me
Anything that I can do
I'll do it for you
And darling don't you know
Just how far I'd go
Anything that I can do,
I'd do it for you

(One of my all time sappy fav songs from Ish... dedicated to my dearest friend! Here's to happily ever after... I always cry at the part where prince charming sweeps the princess off into the golden sunset... sniff..:))

Add:
Jaya Palace,
Wisma LYL,
12 Jln 51A/223,
Petaling Jaya,
03-7968 2000
Food:7/10
Service:6/10
MSG levels:moderate
Salt levels:moderate

Oh, for the love of Fish Head!

We were on our way here (Jalan Kuchai Lama), to eat this (Cao Cao Lamb), when something far more interesting and distracting caught our eye..

Actually, everytime we drive past this place and see the crazy number of cars lined outside, the energetic, gesticulating old men who help park the cars and the massive sea of people eating at this outdoor restaurant, we always swear we will be back to try the food. Somehow, we never manage to get to this restaurant... Today, finally, was our day!


See what I mean.. We had to look real hard to find a place to sit. No one cares as they are just too busy looking at their plates and wolfing down their food...

Tables everywhere even under the bridge...

You know the food should be good, if people are reluctant to put down their bowls even when standing.. !

So what is the specialty here? Two things.

Bakuteh and Fish Head (done any way you like)!

Since the lady told us that the small fish was completely finished and they just had medium size left (like for 4 persons!), we had to go easy on the Bakuteh.

We ordered a small bakuteh for two...

The pork ribs were good. Sweet and chunky with a real meaty taste. The soup was average. Not herbally at all. Just porky. Not bad, but not knock your socks off, great , either.

RM8.00 for 6 pieces of small pai kuat! A bit steep.

Then came our huge fish. So, two of us had to finish this fish for four. Not an easy task but when the aroma of the fish caught our noses, we decided we were up for the challenge!

The Assam sauce was fantastic. Sour, spicy with that KILLER petai stink, that packed a chlorophyll punch at the end! Even if you don't eat the petai per se, the smell still permeates the entire sauce and fish. Fantastic... do not miss this Assam version, I tell ya.

Speaking to the boss lady, they only serve one type of fish here, and it's for the fish head. It is affectionately known as Soong Yui Tau, and is a reared fish... not wild. The flesh while super sweet and chunky, lacks a little bit of that tautness that you get in wild fish. No matter, all in all the Assam fish was still damn fresh and good!

Soong Yui Tau - RM24.00 (medium sized - ideal for 4 persons to share)

Don't worry .. if you miss dinner, this place stays open till 4.00am! We did not leave till every last fatty, slithery, neuronal bit was sucked out of that fish head (by me!)

Walking back to the car, we saw some interesting sights... This was one of them..

A streetcar named Excellent... (note the dent :P)

Add:
Ah Wang Bakuteh,

Batu 4 1/2, Jalan Kelang Lama,

Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 013 -228 2288

Bakuteh:4/10

Fish Head:7/10

Service: Fast! (eventhough packed)

MSG levels : high in the BKT soup

Salt levels: moderate

Sekinchan

Sekinchan is the rice-bowl area of Selangor. It is located in the Sabak Bernam district and is one of two major rice producing districts in Malaysia.
For you fish lovers, just a short drive further along from the paddy fields, will bring you to the fishing village of Sekinchan.


Driving around, we noticed that this area is a predominantly Chinese village.

The main town area can be covered by car in 10 minutes. Lots of ice-factories(for fish) can be seen along the main road.

As this is a predominantly Chinese area, the restaurants are predominantly Chinese seafood restaurants... I guess that pretty much made up our minds for us, what we were going to have for lunch.

There is one modern strip of shops in this rural town, and later we will see that Guan Seng Loong is actually a franchise of seafood restaurants. (high end and low end.. i.e. aircond with tiled floor or no aircond with wooden planked floor!)

Obviously being in a kampung-ish place and all, we wanted to eat at the non-aircond with planked floor version, so we went a hunting...

This house was really cute - modern brick with kampung-like attachment and outdoor loo! From this angle it looks like a brick house on stilts huh?


Further down that road, we see a few signs of seafood restaurants. As the rain started to pick up again, we ran for shelter into the nearest one.

Well what do you know... ? Another Guan Seng Loong!

The place was pretty packed, and since it looked authentic enough for us, we decided to order our lunch.

Cumi: Grumpy lady waitress.
Ciki: She pretended not to speak Cantonese, just Mandarin. Finally, she changed her mind and spoke to us in fluent Cantonese. Attitude!


As you eat, enjoy the Scenic view along the river!


On the way to the loo, the massive kitchen comes into sight. It is HUGE! This place could cook for like the FIVE thousand..


One thing about authentic wooden planked floors, everytime a guy walks by, it shakes my bones to the CORE... Talk about unsteady floor..


Our first dish arrives.
"Tarn(Tahn?)" /Razor/Bamboo Clams. Disappointingly unfresh and not cleaned well. Very bad servings from a restaurant next to the sea! The sauce wasn't much to compliment either.

Tahn - RM11.00


Enter second dish.
Oyster Omelette (Orchien? Orchen?). Looks good but tasted bland. We prefer ours with a bit of crisp and chewiness. This had too much corn flour and the oysters weren't very tasty. Ciki had sand and MUCK in one mouthful!

Orchien - RM11.50



Fried Onion Siakap. We only received one side of the fish hence it wasn't a big serving. This was the best dish since it was fresh. A bit heavy handed on the salt and garnished with too much onion. It might have tasted just as good if they only grilled it and served it with just the lime.

Fish - RM22.00
.
.
.

With lunch in our stomachs , we decided to explore the town some more.

Being a fishing Village and all, the fishermen come in throughout the day to unload their catch to the middlemen.

Lots of activity - fishermen, middle men, tourists... and US!

Not exactly Tsukiji Market... but good enough by my humble standards.. lol, Fresh Eels for Japanese restaurants... 'Slithery Fresh!'


A close up of that evil looking eel...


Baby, baby shrimp...

Fish with FEET! So weird.. if you look closely at shark looking fish had feet!


The hardworking fishermen.

Weighing their catch and getting their pay.

The hard working aunties and their children... cleaning and sorting the fish.

baby squid?

We learnt some new techniques in boat maneuvering. Instead of reversing, a crewman just jumps into the dirty polluted river to anchor the boat around the tree trunk. Well, it looked like he was enjoying it though.


Note the top layer of oil.




The Fishermen's earnings for the day displayed proudly for all to see.

Sekinchan was cool. We may not have picked the best restaurant to have lunch at, but I am sure we will be back to try the many other places that offer Seafood.

THE END.

Add:
Restoran Guan Seng Loong,
No. 73, Lrg 3, Bagan Sekinchan,
45400 Sekinchan,
Selangor
Tel: 03-3241 0494

Food:3/10
Service:4/10
MSG levels: high
Salt levels: high