Seatown Seafood Restaurant

This restaurant is located within the premises of a temple located along Jalan Reko, close to where gd lives. We’ve been frequenting this place over the years and seen several changes in management. Some were more successful than others and this is the first time we were eating here since the current management took over (which is a few months ago).

We chatted with one of the bosses (BIG guy, literally) and learnt that they used to operate in Semenyih for a short while, and prior to that in Kajang Utama (as a steamboat restaurant). So they’ve been in the food business for some time now and have had the opportunity to come up with some specialities.

Here’s what we had:-

Shark slices in a curry sauce with ladies fingers. Now this was really good. Almost as good as our mother’s shark curry. Coming from an Indian, that is the greatest compliment for a Chinese cook! According to the BIG guy, they sell over 300kg of shark a month and is one of their signature dishes.
Verdict : Excellent

La-la fried with egg. And no, it’s not “oh-chien”. It’s more like the Chinese omelette; “fu yong tan”. The la-la used is the small variety. It was tasty enough to be eaten without chilli sauce. Anyway, they gave us a bottle of 'Maggi' chilli sauce when we asked for sauce, which means that they did not expect a sauce to be used.
Verdict : Very good.

Sin kong fau-foo. It was a Friday so we skipped the meat on this dish. Despite the lack of meat, the results were pretty good. Would have been better with some slices of siew yoke.
Verdict : Good

Four beans fried with sambal. The dish was tasty but a bit dry. Quite generous with the petai too. But it somehow lacked the sambal “kick” normally associated with this dish.
Verdict : Good

Note to self : Must try the Guiness pai-kuat next visit. The next table had this dish and the aroma was mouth-watering.

Location : 1-6-39A, Batu 16 Jalan Reko,43000 Kajang (after Taman Seri Langat on the left side of the road as one travels towards Bangi).
Tel : 016-2459431

Steamboat Restaurant at Kajang Prima

We've been to this place a few times in the past and have generally found the food here to be good. The name of the restaurant indicates that it specializes in steamboat but a quick look around would reveal that many patrons here order from the a-la-carte menu. On our last visit, we decided to try a few of the house "specialties". Here's what we had:-

1. Braised pork leg
This was rather disappointing, considering that it is their specialty. The pork leg was tender but but had not absorbed the flavors of the gravy, which was a little flat. The dish here pales in comparison to the version at Min Kee.
Verdict : OK

2. Herbal fish head soup
Now this was a rather unusual dish. The fish head (was it the wan yee ?) was chopped into pieces and cooked in a soup consisting of various Chinese herbs including tong kwai. The soup was mild and flavorful.
Verdict : Good

3. Deep fried "special" taufoo
The taufoo is mixed with fish paste and deep fried. It was tasty, crunchy on the outside and moist inside. The chilli sauce to accompany tasted like it came from a bottle and was unexciting.
Verdict : Good

4. "Pakis" vegetable with sambal belacan
The fern shoots are stir fried with a sambal belacan paste. The version here is quite good, and even tastier than the version at Wan Fatt
Verdict : Very good

This is a good place for a decent steamboat in Kajang. It is located at a corner lot in the row of shops behind the HSBC Bank at Kajang Prima (we'll update the correct name later)

Note to self : Must try the steamed fish on our next visit. The aroma of the dish from a neighboring table was truly enticing !

Puchong Yong Tau Foo

Gd has been frequenting this place for a long time and swears that it beats the Ampang Yong Tau Foo flat. I was a little sceptical, taking into account that the Ampang YTF is pretty good, freshly fried on order (or at least some of the places in Ampang still do this). How much better can the Puchong YTF be ?

Well I found out recently that it is A LOT better than the Ampang places I've tried before. Here's a few reasons:-
1. The YTF is only stuffed on order. You pick your choice of fresh ingredients such as brinjal, lady's finger, fu chook, chilli etc in a small plastic basket. Everything looks fresh. An 'army' of 'stuffers' gets the job of stuffing the ingredients with fish paste done in a jiffy.
2. The freshly stuffed YTF is then fried by a second 'army' of 'fryers'.
3. The taufoo and other soup items are quickly thrown in a boiling fish stock and a handful of sayur manis (sweet vegetable ??) is thrown in to enhance the taste of the soup.
4. The fried YTF reaches your table whilst crispy, especially the foo chuk (stuffed soy bean paste sheets). Other crispy items include the fried wan tan, fried stuffed yau char kway (crullers),

5. Their sweet sauce and chilli sauce are specially made and are thick and tasty.

6. Service is always fast, even when the place is crowded (which is every weekend and public holidays).

The soup is very tasty and I learnt from Gd (who has been chatting with the owners) that they use the ikan parang fish bones to make the fish stock. And the fish paste is nice and springy (a sign that it is fresh and lots of fish has been used) and you actually taste the fish in the paste. Each YTF cost RM1.00.

You can have the YTF with rice, noodles or pan mee (handmade noodles). They do a pretty good curry mee here using thick chicken curry. I love dunking in some crispy fu chook to soak up the curry. There are many Hakka people living in the Puchong and Seri Kembangan area so the quality of their YTF is generally pretty good since YTF is synonymous with the Hakka people.

The food is good enough to get us to take the 30 minute drive from Kajang for some good YTF.

Location : Batu 14, Jalan Besar, Kg Baru Puchong opposite the SRJK(C) Han Ming.

Nasi kerabu Taman Sentosa, Sg Jelok

I wrote about the Best Nasi kerabu in Kajang before and this was the top choice. I described it as a decrepit shack and here's what the stall looks like:-
The blue nasi kerabu (rice with raw vegetables and herbs) comes with half a telur asin (salted egg). They are generous with the chopped ulam (raw vegetables and herbs) and taugeh (bean sprouts). The addition of budu (a preserved fish sauce) and chilli sauce make for the perfect nasi kerabu. This is what the nasi kerabu with ayam goreng looks like. The chicken is tasty and flavorful, thank to a spicy and slightly sweet marinade.
The daging bakar (grilled beef) too is tasty and flavorful too, though the meat cuts had some tendons in it, making it a little tough and chewy.
Both the nasi kerabu ayam and daging were RM3.50 each. Much better than some of the so-called Nasi Ulam and Nasi Kerabu specialty restaurants that seem to be sprouting up of late.
The stall is located at Lorong Sentosa 1, Taman Sentosa, Sg Jelok, Kajang (off the road leading to the Penjara Kajang).