Chinatown's pride - T&K Seafood!

Ever since my friend (who lives in Bangkok by the way) brought me to have dinner in Chinatown 5 years ago, I was immediately impressed by the food. As a matter of fact, I had already forgotten on the restaurant that he took me to but the only thing I remember about Chinatown was the heavy traffic and the colourful neon lights that lit up the whole area at night! This time in Bangkok, I have learned to utilise Skytrain/BTS/MRT system to get to places. Like my friends said, it's really dumb-proof and I regretted for not learning about this sooner. Once upon a time, I was stuck for an hour in the same spot while taking a taxi to Chinatown :P

The nearest place was Hua Lamphong MRT station and that was the last station where we took the MRT to... and then tut tut for another 70 baht to get us to our destination - T&K Seafood. Total rip-off if I may say as it was so near from the MRT station but then we were too lazy to walk so no choice.

It's easy to spot T&K Seafood as all the staffs are donning green coloured T-Shirt. There is another restaurant directly opposite T&K that wears pink T-shirt. Competition is very high among both restaurants as their staffs would literally shout and asked you to patron their outlet. Since I had already made up my mind to dine at T&K, choice was easy! Note - I didn't know the name of pink T-shirt's restaurant but my friend said that they whipped out equally good quality food so maybe next time I will try them.

For most people, alfresco dining is the way to enjoy the seafood but to those who couldn't stand the heat and stuffyness like me, they have air-conditioned room for you to enjoy your food. However it's located on the first & second floor of the shoplot. As both Jenn and I were rather early, we got our table on the first floor. Do not expect grand decor as both floors were rather small and cramped.. the only good thing is that it's cool!

Their menu was rather funny I'd say - my guess is that both caricatures were Jackie Chan and one unidentifiable guy (Jacky Cheung perhaps?).

Time to engorge ourselves with Thailand's pride - Singha Beer!

Our greed made us ordered more food than we could afford to fill into our stomach.. again! But after reading numerous rave reviews on T&K, our greed triumphed our logic. We asked for their dipping sauce and promptly served with these 2 - personally, I prefer the green spicy sauce which was great to go with the dishes that were about to be served.

Fresh oyster - at 40 baht each, the size was not huge but definitely fresh! I squeezed the lime, sprinkled the oyster with deep fried onion and lastly add some accompanying chilly sauce - the result??? Awesome :)

Finally! T&K managed to came out with fantastic version of steamed squid in garlic, chilly and lime (150 baht). The soup was perfect - spicy, sourish and piping hot! Better than the steamed fish version that we had in Ban Khun Mae the previous night. Coupled with the fresh squid, we finished the whole plate until the last drop!

Stir fried bittergourd tip (60 baht) - despite its name, this dish was not bitter at all. In fact, it was rather sweet and packed with flavour from the garlic & chilly.

Grilled babylonia areolata (200 baht) failed to make its mark. These snail-like creature was so tough to chew that we didn't finish it at the end of the meal.

Grilled spawn crab (350 baht for medium sized one) lived up to its name - full of the delicious artery-clogging roe! They were out of the bigger ones so we had to settle for small size. We loved it so much as the meat retained its natural sweetness and the roe was oh-so-juicy and sweet!

Since we didn't order any rice to go with the dishes - we opted for steamed prawn with glass noodles (150 baht). Served in claypot, the glass noodles absorbed the sweetness from the 3 huge prawns. ORDER THIS!!!! I can't get enough of the glass noodles.

Highlight of the night belongs to a very simple dish - Grilled Prawns (150 baht for small). To our delight, 4 big prawns were served in front of us. You couldn't get 4 prawns this size anywhere in Malaysia with this price.. this I can assure you. Remember the greenish sauce that I mentioned earlier? The prawn and the sauce were a perfect combination. However, it was equally delicious just to devour the meat alone.

Look! The prawns were also filled with roe :)

Jenn was craving for soup so she ordered the fish maw soup - I had it in its original flavour but being Jenn, she added vinegar (lots of it) into the soup.

Paid our bill and left the restaurant only to be greeted with the sight of huge crowds waiting downstairs for tables. Luckily we arrived earlier :) even the alfresco dining area which was rather empty earlier now packed to the brim with more people waiting for their turns!

Live meat crabs waiting to be served!

This is the scene of T&K Seafood from across the street. See where all the people are standing?? They were still waiting for tables when we left! So if you are planning to dine here, please come before the dinner crowd starts to pour in. THis restaurant is very popular among the locals and tourists.

As we walked to next destination for our dessert, I spotted several mobile stalls selling the famous Durian King of Thailand. Since Jenn was too full, she skipped the durian. I can't help but to wonder on the long peduncles.

A few doors away from T&K is Namsing - famous for its bird nest soup. I have read some reviews on this place and what could be better than ending our night with something sweet and nutritious?

I had the White Bird's Nest (3rd class) with Longan - frankly, I have never tried the first nor second class so I didn't know the difference. However, the bowl was full of bird nest and worth the 300 baht paid! Jenn's bird nest with ginkgo was equally sweet.

Leo's verdict - Total bill for our dinner came to more than 1200 baht but I'm not complaining. As a matter of fact, both of us think that the price was worth it. We have come for the all seafood affair & ended up satisfied. Took MRT to Siam Paragon and walked around until they closed for operation as we were too full to sit down.

T&K Seafood
49-51 Phadung Dao Rd,
Chinatown, Bangkok.
T: (02) 223 4519.
Open daily: 4:30 pm – 2:00 a.m.

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

Restoran Siu Siu @ Sungai Besi KL

I wonder how long this restaurant has been in business. The thing is, I have never noticed a restaurant located next to the TUDM Sungai Besi everytime I drove by the highway.. until my sister-in-law initiated CNY dinner here. "What? There's this place?" came my reply :P

And here I was, stood in front of the restaurant in amazement. Such a big establishment next to the Sungai Besi Highway and yet I haven't noticed it even though I passed it countless times!

The place was huge and spacious!

Should you need more privacy, they have a few private gazebos with tables and chairs. We wanted that but since it was CNY and we were a bit late in reservation, all were taken!

Look Ma - they have a standalone stall just to prepare the yee sang

It was fun doing the lou sang with families... each and everyone with their own wish during CNY! Me? I always hope for better & smoother business. After all, it's all about prosperity right? As soon as we cleaned up the yee sang, dinner began!

Taufu kang that only uses crab meat, taufu, fish maw, mushroom and other ingredients.. all but shark meat! As good as the shark fin broth but definitely less controversial. Trying my best to preserve this endangered species :)

Seafood claypot - mushroom, sea cucumber, fish maw and green pea! Full of collagen goodness..

Signature char siew - surprisingly it had the melt-in-the-mouth texture, slightly charred and right fat to lean meat ratio. I didn't know that they whipped out such a delicious meat! Don't miss this dish ok?

Thai style pork knuckle - signature dish of this restaurant. The sauce was both sourish and spicy (perfect combination) but the meat lack those of fork tender and fall-off-the-bone texture. Great to pair with white rice though!

Stir fried prawn with pumpkin and salted egg - tad too salty but to me it was just right. Fresh prawn with the sinful gravy enveloping it. Just lick all the gravy and then devour the meat.

Kangkung belacan - no complains!

Stir fried nai bak - another green dish to balance up the dinner.

Leo's verdict - Heard that their claypot crab rice is very famous! I shall make another trip here soon... Jenn loves crab very much!

Siu Siu Restaurant
No.1, Kampong Satu,
Jalan Sungai Besi
57100 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 012-233 7880/016-370 8555/016-309 8038

Opening hours: 11.00am – 11.00pm everyday.
Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.

Journey to Ipoh Day 1 - Bagan Pasir, Teluk Intan & Kampar (Part 1)

The clock was ticking! Once the prince comes out, Jenn & I knew that we can't afford to travel like this anymore. We will be grounded at least for 6 months... yup! Having children is not easy and requires a lot of responsibilities (as parents), and let's not forget countless of sleepless nights. Throw in the stress when the baby gets sick and it completes (more or less) the nightmare of being someone else's dad or mom :P when Sher Ryn came into my world, she really tested my patience. I admit that being someone with short temper, I got upset whenever she behaved badly... but she also melted my heart when she smiled. Now I can't even imagine on how to take care of 2 little children!

One month or so before Keith came into our lives, both of us had the opportunity to travel to Ipoh - business purpose and to attend my friend's wedding. We took off from PJ after having light breakfast - we wanted to save space for the seafood feast later in Bagan Pasir. YES :) to the one that everyone has been raving about! Locating this place wasn't hard, as I had gone for rekki few months earlier while on my way up North (business trip).

To be honest, this place looked a bit rundown and the makeshift wooden public toilet was still there - you'd know where the residue would end up at... lol! You would also notice that they have renovated part of their restaurants into swiftlet's house.

It was rainy season during the time we went to Suang Le so there wasn't much live seafood to see... all the makeshift plastic tanks that you'd pass by on the way into the restaurant were mostly empty. I only saw some flower crabs and clams. To our worries, we asked the waitress if there was any other seafood available... and we sighed with relief when she said YES.

We chose to sit in the back part of the restaurant that overlooks the river and fishing boats. This part was definitely cooler and windier compared to the front part.

Purposely took this picture in Black & White to make it nostalgic (^_^) love this one!

Feel free to help yourself to get all the things that you need for lunch - spoon & fork, chopstick, glass, bowl, plate, etc...

After taking our orders, they brought in a basket of prawn crackers. I wonder if those were FOC :P feeling hungry, we grabbed a packet and I tore it open with my teeth. Very good tasting indeed!

The first dish - Steamed clams with ginger shreds, cili padi and fried onions - wow-ed us! The fresh and succulent clams were prepared in a simple way and the best part was that the stock (soup) at the bottom of the stainless steel plate was oh-so sweet & savoury!

Next was salt-baked prawns & mantis prawns. In fact, those were the very last remaining mantis prawns that they had, since supply had dwindled during the rainy season. Perfect choice I'd say. Not overly salty, the crunchy prawns were so delicious that I ended up devouring the shell too but since the shell of mantis prawn was harder, I didn't attempt to do so.

to our delight, both meats were fresh, juicy (moist) and sweet. A closer look at the peeled mantis prawn (Jenn was my hand model). A right choice to order the prawns prepared this way as I could taste the natural sweetness of the flesh. If they have any more of those mantis prawn in stock, we would have ordered the second plate.

Instead of the usual white rice, we opted for seafood fried rice that was full of wok hei & non-oily. Throw in egg and prawn bits and it was good enough.

Their Kung Pao baby squid deserved a special mention. This was one of the best Kung Pao sauce that I've ever tasted in my life! The sticky, sweet and not overly spicy sauce enveloped each and every baby squids in the plate. At the end of the meal, I was still turning the curry leaves and onions away in the hope of finding the very last piece of the squids.

Take a closer look at me! You want to taste me.. don't ya? I'm very crunchy you know? :P

The Kam Heong crab came highly recommended by the waitress and it didn't disappoint at all. Lucky for us, the shell was crushed as they didn't provide any utensil to pry open the thick and hard shell at all. Its flesh was good and sweet too!

Our steamed red snapper with soybean paste sauce was the only thing that we did not like. Even though the fish meat was fresh and flaky, the sauce was disappointingly bland and very starchy.

In the end, we finished almost everything except for the fish and some fried rice. The waitress who took our orders earlier was actually surprised as she said that the portion that Jenn & I had could easily serve at least 4-5 people. We were feeling greedy obviously :P

Leo's verdict - we definitely had ordered too much food than we could handle. In the end, the bill came at slightly less than RM100 which we considered dirt cheap.. judging at the amount of seafood that we ordered. even though the river was not exactly clean and you could literally see a lot of garbage/waste washed up the river bank, the great food makes up to the flaws. It was rather windy that day so both of us could dine while the cool breeze swept through our faces. I could not ask for a more better companion when it was Jenn who enjoyed the seafood feast with me.

Directions to Suang Le River Restaurant @ Bagan Pasir (from Kuala Selangor towards Sekinchan/Sabak Bernam) : After passing by Kuala Selangor town, drive for a good 15 minutes or so. Take note of a signboard to Kg. Bagan Pasir on the left side of the road. Turn left at a rather sharp curve to some residential area. Go straight until you reach a junction at the end, and keep to your left. You’ll see a row of houses built on stilts on your right, with reasonable amount of trash washed up on the grounds. After a while, you’ll see Suang Le River’s signboard on the right (taken from J2kfm's blog... thanks bro!)

Other posts on suang Le River Seafood Restaurant:
Precious Pea
Masak-Masak
J2kfm Motormouth from Ipoh

Suang Le River Restaurant & Karaoke
Bagan Pasir, 45500
Tanjong Karang, Selangor, Malaysia
Tel No : +6019-690 6788 or +6019-233 5296

Opens for lunch and dinner.

Disclaimer:
1) I'm not paid to promote/endorse any particular event, restaurant or person in this blog. ALL are based on my unbiased personal opinion.
2) My reviews are based on my personal taste and preference and therefore may vary for others.