July 2013
Tucked in the comfortable neighbourhood of Tanjung Bungah, this restaurant is within a small collection of shop houses facing a playground. A little more comfortable in terms of interior as compared to the usual Chinese seafood places, it’s a popular one for families to dine in and may cost a fraction more.
What’s different about this place is, their Chinese fare is prepared in a hodge-podge of style to sum up home cooked flavours.
We enjoyed their beans stir-fried with chopped dried shrimps and dark sauce at RM18 for a large portion. There’s texture and a dominant yet light smokey flavour due to the high-fire frying of the dried shrimps and dark sauce that’s perfect with rice. Another one’s good with rice is their char-siew styled pork ribs at RM30 for a large portion. It’s crispy and very moist while balancing a sweet-savoury flavour.
Their yellow noodles in savoury broth with a generous serving of half-shelled prawns has mild but comforting flavour at RM48 and this portion is enough for around six people. Staying in the comfort food zone, the traditional dish of stir-fried sliced bitter gourd stirred into half-boiled eggs and drizzled with light soya sauce is a must try at RM12.
Protein wise, their large fried fish drenched in light soya sauce and wearing a pretty blanket of vermicelli is interesting in both visual and taste. Although a tad pricey at RM72, the dish is enough for between four and six people.
Our surprise find, however, is a boiled chicken dish called the Empress Chicken at RM33 for a whole bird. What it is, is chicken boiled in a sauce that has Chinese wine in it. The chicken is moist and has a delicate flavour along with a hardly noticeable bitter finish that makes it a unique, memorable dish.
As always, it’s much more enjoyable to go to these sort of restaurants with a group of four or more. It’ll allow you to order more dishes to share, prevent over eating and square up the cost of a meal like this to between RM50 and RM35 per person. Kitty Kaye