My cousin introduced me to this place and it has since then become like our de facto meetup place whenever they are in town. Long ago, it was just an open air steamboat restaurant then it underwent a major renovation. Better tables and most importantly, air conditioning. All that translates to higher price too.
One thing I enjoy most here is their selection of condiments. The red chilli sauce is similar to those you get with chicken rice albeit spicier. The green chilli sauce is like the Chinese version of mustard; only spicier. The only thing non-spicy in this picture is the soy sauce with deep fried shallots and oil. Different food calls for different flavors. Somehow, I love them all.
You can go for a single type of soup but why not both when you can? Although polygamy is illegal in Malaysia
(terms and conditions apply), here you have the option to choose from:
- original
- tom yum
- few more that I can't recall as we don't bother to try them
They have few different sets that ranges from RM 20 and above. You get the standard fare:
- meat balls
- prawn
- fish balls
- scallop
- vegetable
- golden mushroom
- vegetable
That's not a typo, they do give you quite a lot of greens.
Obviously, the more expensive sets would offer more items. Btw, bacon in steamboat is weird.
As tempting as it may sound, the seafood is just so-so but the rest of their stuff are pretty good.
Remember to order their pork belly slices because pork belly!
Thinly sliced with a layer of fat, these are heavenly with the sauces. Doesn't matter which because they are frigging pork belly. How come my belly not as nice? =(
I don't know what's the deal with people who like to dunk deep fried food into soup that it looses its crunch. If I didn't want them crunchy, I wouldn't have ordered them deep fried in the first place.
The dumplings here are commendable too.
Shrimp meat ball. They offer quite a variety of handmade balls, certain to appease everyone.
No steamboat is complete without the
yee mee, rice noodles and eggs. This trio is like the meal filler. But half the time, we'd be so stuff from drinking the soup that these end up untouched. Except for the eggs. Because eggs. And I love them.
An intentional repeat ;)
If you don't want to wait for your food or don't even want to cook it yourself (wtf you doing in a steamboat restaurant? Oh, someone's cooking for you? lucky bastard you), you can order something from the kitchen as well. This is stir fried noodle with
lala. A favorite of my cousin, it does taste good with quite a generous helping of the shellfish shell (the flesh isn't necessarily always there. The shells are like a decoy). My only complaint would be that it could be drier. Like me. Then it'll be nicer. The noodles. Not me.
My steamboat meals would end with a nice hearty bowl of egg soup and sometimes, noodles. Some people like to crack the egg open into the boiling soup and let it cook. Or you could just crack it into the ladle and hold it in the soup so that the egg doesn't disintegrate into the soup. My eggs are usually
not fertilized cracked into a bowl and hot boiling soup are poured into it instead. The cooking is somewhat done and the egg still has that slight raw texture. Add a dash of chilli sauce for some heat or the soy sauce for a mellow finish. Either way, there is no way to go wrong with eggs. You could also put in some noodles and meat to make it a complete bowl of wholesomeness.
Unfortunately, during my last visit, something was amiss as the restaurant which was usually quite packed wasn't that night. Post GST implementation, we thought. But the real reason was more sinister.
For our party of three, we ordered the
Pulau Ketam set for RM 39.
Since my cousins are now on a no rice/noodle diet, we requested for them to change the noodles to veggies. Apparently that diet can help you lose 10kg a month. Anybody interested to lost
at least 2kg a week? Yes,
one week. If not, money back guaranteed.
It's called the don't-eat-dinner-and-starve diet.
They also have deep fried garlic but I steer clear of those. No vampires to avoid. Not because of dates either. I just find them too pungent.
I like their deep fried dumpling much. Or maybe, I am mistaking it from my love of deep fried food. Hmm...
Pulau Ketam is, of course, synonymous with fishing and seafood so the set has more seafood option. The prawns were surprisingly sizable and fresh.
Meat balls RM 5.80, pork loin RM 13.
One thing I don't particular fancy my cousin's no carb diet is how expensive it would be. Since they were famished from all day meeting and cutting off carbs certainly means more of other stuff (in this case, protein), we got more meat. These were good but yea, pricey.
Cooking in full force. Steamboat is quite a team work. But be sure to have it with someone who enjoys the same flavor profile. Otherwise, you end up with a rather lopsided soup =(
Deep fried luncheon meat RM 6.80
A guilty salty pleasure, any Chinese would have grown up eating luncheon meat at least once in their lifetime. What's not to like about salty minced pork? However, due to my rather failed skill at opening canned food, it's quite a rare treat for me. These were good and well worth the overdose of sodium.
Deep fried bean curd skin (top) RM 6.80.
Fuzhou fish balls RM 7.80.
Meat balls RM 5.80
The fish balls isn't your typical, run-of-the-mill balls as it has a minced pork filling in its core. The meat balls were awesome. Also, due to the fact that the last thing I ate was a pear 2hours ago and my last proper meal of half a pack of crackers was at 4pm, my hunger could be tricking me while looking at them.
Sweet chicken wing RM 12.
These took quite awhile to arrive and we were tempted to ask if they are ordering it from the other restaurant at the back. Was it worth the wait? They weren't bad but nothing to shout about.
Total damage for the night.
Somehow, the quality of the soup has decreased and any steamboat lover would tell you the most important thing is precisely that: the soup. Such a shame because they were doing rather well.
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