Chinese New Year Feasting @ King Crab, Petaling Jaya

It's been a great weekend: met a few food bloggers or what is known explicitly as Floggers. No pictures from me as there'll be lots from the others with the hawker food crawl we did (pretty mild as it was only 3 outlets) and a dinner organised by Audreycooks in honour of Rasa Malaysia who visited from the USA. It was good to catch up with people who love food and amusing to see the cameras out in force to record every momentous bite. Definitely need to get another gathering of Floggers together as it was full of fun and good food.

Since I don't have any tempting chicken wings and balitong pictures, you just have to settle for last week's traditional Lou Sang instead. It's a yearly affair we have with my friends. The original plan was to head towards Cheras (totally uncharted territory for all of us) and indulge in highly recommended chinese food somewhere near Cheras Leisure Mall. Unfortunately we had to ditch that plan since that place was fully booked. Hence we decided to head here instead as tables were readily available.

This time round, I managed to snap pictures of the kitchen in action. The last time I was there, I had no idea I could observe the ongoings of the kitchen from the side of the restaurant until my friend informed me of it after the dinner. There's a line of cooks each manning a wok and constantly churning out dishes. After each dish is cooked, the wok is cleaned with a wooden brush and water. Since they're using cast iron woks, it's always important to avoid removing the layer of oil with detergent or soap. Sorry for the not too fantastic picture as I had to snap it through the glass window which wasn't too clean.

First dish was the Yee Sang (RM38++) which was served with raw salmon sashimi slices tossed with lime juice. When the waitress added the five spice powder and pepper which came in red and green packets, she uttered New Year greetings. Since the belief is tossing yee sang or what we call lou sang can grant your wishes, we were boisterously yelling out what we wanted - good health especially for my friend's mother who's going for her bone marrow transplant next week, prosperity and lots of luck. Even my friend's young son, Nicholas joined in the fun although most of what he tossed around almost ended up on the table. The Yee Sang here is pretty good with slices of preserved lemon peel and lots of pomelo sacs in their mix.

Marmite Pork Ribs (RM18++) came next and it was so sinful and good especially with that sweet and slightly saltish taste which reminds me of my childhood meals. I especially like the teeny crunchy black bits that were sticking to the ribs, absolutely delish.

We wanted to order the barbeque fish as my friend had it before which was very good. However they don't serve it during the festive season so we settled for the perennial favourite, steamed fish. When the dish arrived, we were all puzzled with what fish it was since it didn't look like anything we usually ate. Turns out it was a Silver Pomfret (RM45++) and it was extremely good. This was voted the best dish of the night as the flesh of this fish was fine and sweet tasting.

Another favourite was the fried baby french beans with garlic (RM15++). I love these french beans as they're nice and crunchy but not chewy like the normal french beans.

The last time we ate here, we tried their Salted Egg Yolk Crabs (RM38++ per kg) and felt the crab pieces needed to be cut smaller to allow the salted egg yolk to permeate the meat. The restaurant seems to have taken that feedback to heart as the crabs now are so much better - it's in smaller pieces and well coated with lots of salted egg yolks. This elevates it to the best Salted Egg Yolk Crabs we have eaten so far.

We also tried their Claypot Butter Crabs (RM38++ per kg) which came highly recommended by food bloggers, Precious Pea and Life of the Food Lover. Although the crab meat for this dish was good, we felt the sauce was not as tasty compared to Pantai Seafood's butter crabs. The sauce was also quite spicy with the addition of green chillies. We finished up with a bowl of Honey Lemon Sea Coconut (RM18++) and platter of fruits(RM18++) which was refreshing.

I must admit the food here is really good, my two visits here have been really satisfactory. Now I know why Precious Pea keeps returning here. If you're dining here during the festive season, they do two sittings - 6 pm and 8 pm but do book ahead as it's usually full of people.

King Crab
No. 103-105, Jalan SS25/2
Taman Mewah Jaya

Petaling Jaya

Tel No: 03 - 7808 2388

(Non Halal. The restaurant is right outside the Taman Bahagia LRT Station.)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Malaysian Food + Yee Sang + Crabs