To celebrate the graduation of my two brothers and Soon Ann’s birthday, we set out for seafood dinner near Petaling Jaya. Initially, Soon Ann suggested Kepong but most of us were reluctant to travel that far and hence, we settled for somewhere nearer, Pantai Seafood Village at Kayu Ara.

I patronized this restaurant before, during November 2006, together with my sister, Jamie, Kai Hong and Fat Lady. As long as you don’t order those super expensive seafoods that they displayed in the aquariums, you can have a very decent seafood meal for a cheap price.

Apart from four of us, we have Soon Ann and his girl friend, Rui Ying joining us this time.

Upon reaching the restaurants, I went to look for a table and sit down while the rest (first timers) went to have a look at the aquariums. They got freaked out when they saw the price tag and even wanted to bail out last minute. The look on their face was priceless. Anyway, it was too late to bail out as the waiters have poured our drinks.

Ah Yong opened the menu and had a quick glance. He let out a huge relief and told the rest that the prices were reasonable and it won’t cost them an arm or a leg. Happily, everyone ordered their favourite dishes.

Kai lan fried kai lan. Shredded and deep fried kai lan leaves and then stir fried with its stem again. Finally, garnished with fried small shrimps before being served. It is one of its signature dishes of the restaurants. A very simple vegetable dish yet with a unique taste.

I didn’t like the batter they used to deep fried the cuttlefish. It wasn’t crispy at all and tasted a little weird. They should change the taste of the batter to dish out tastier deep fried cuttlefish, that’s for sure. The topping of cili padis is more than welcomed though.

Mantis prawn cooked with dried chilies was absolutely delicious but not spicy at all. Boss, more dried chilies, please. I always thought kung bow 宫保 has a bit of gravy, but theirs were all dried up.

Ah Yong ordered a pot of tau fu with seafood in X.O. sauce. Honestly, I didn’t taste any X.O. sauce in it but Ah Yong said he tasted. I guess it depends on individual and your taste buds. The tau fu was soft and smooth and it came with a generous amount of seafood and other ingredients like prawns, squids, sweet corns, beans and carrots. If you ask me, I prefer their clay pot tau fu (bottom pic).

We also ordered a plate of Thai style chicken. Delicious, sweet and sour at the right level, poured with home restaurant made lemon sauce.

Last but not least, crabs. The crabs, priced at RM35 per kg is slightly on the high side compare to the average RM20 - RM30 price tag for other restaurants in KL, it’s still worth it as their other dishes are relatively cheap. Not to mention, the crabs were fat and meaty. We ordered 2 types of crabs, salted egg yolk and marmite.

Look at that condensed egg yolk chunk! Li Sui loves salted eggs a lot and she totally adored this dish. She couldn’t stop eating those condensed egg yolk chunks even though it was heck salty. It seemed like they cooked a whole pot of beat salted eggs and then cooked until it turned from liquid to solid form.

Marmite crabs were even better, sweet and a little salty at the same time. Finger licking good.

Bon appetite!

Such wonderful meal deserved to be ended with dessert. Hence, dessert, it was. We had a little bit or arguments as what dessert to order. After majority vote, we ordered honeydew with sago and sea coconut with lemon.

I protested the honeydew with sago initially but 4 out of 6 wanted that. Served them right when it turned out not that delicious. According to them, it was too milky and thin flavoured.

I actually wanted to order the glutinous rice ball (tong yuen) 汤圆 in ginger soup but they protested as it was a hot dessert. Hence, the sea coconut with lemon. At first, the sour taste in the sweet sea coconut water tasted a little out of place. After a few sips, the sour taste became a refreshing taste. It made me wanted more and more. The amount of sea coconuts and longans were literally uncountable. Not to mention, the waiter said one would get to eat lesser if you order a big bowl (RM15) instead of a bowl for each person (RM6 per person).

The bill? RM193!

I am very sure that all of us went back home with a big grin on our faces.

Related posts:

1. Pantai Seafood Village, Round 3
2. Thai Express And Pantai Seafood Village
3. Kampung Styled Seafood, Alai
4. Seafood At Tanjung Harapan, Klang
5. “Slaughtering” Crabs Of Seremban