Oh, btw- i interrupt the usual Japan travelogue for this review of Pulau Ketam. :)
When i first announced i was going pulau ketam- my parents were like -"eh.... u sure ah? very dirty one leh that place.." ( dirty as in not clean - not the haunting kind of dirty ). Ok, so i am a bit of a princess when it comes to cleanliness - but then hey, Pulau Ketam piqued my interest when my auntie told me it was pretty nice. I was imagining a small seaside village. Anyway i will save the travelogue for later - but after reaching the island, our group was hungry. Thanks to me, everyone arrived pretty late - ( got whacked later ) but then we started searching for a good restaurant to eat. Now, the thing is about Pulau Ketam, you will get hassled to try a restaurant.
Since the shops are next to each other- the shop owners will stand at the front and try to get your attention to go their store. For some reason, we picked Restaurant Kim Hoe. By the way, we did not do any internet research before we went. So the first one we saw, we went into makan. Silly people. :)
Most of the menu is in Chinese - but there is one in english - with what we call "prepaid package". Meaning a set. At a specific price- you have fish, crabs, shellfish, prawns, veggie + soup and Sotong. That is all the seafood you want at a price. We pick the RM220 package for 10 persons.
While waiting for the food, CK ordered lala-chien ( yeah, there is such thing as lala -chien ) and Oh-Chien from a nearby hawker. The smell was quite inviting. However, i am pretty much disappointed by the taste.
Oh Chien is normally eggs and batter mixture fried with oysters or lala. However, this serving we had, the Chien was sticky and goey. Yucks. And the taste? Well, tasteless is mildly putting it. I am not into seafood but i still like eating chien but this really does not have the strong taste and flavor of those in penang and melaka. For the Oh and the Lala eaters - they were complaining the oysters were barely visible. And please note -this set us back RM20 for the 2 dishes.
Presentation is not critical in Pulau Ketam.Next, the Kum Heong crabs came out. Everyone was a bit puzzled. Firstly, crabs is normally served last in a meal so you can clear your plates to eat it and secondly, the amount of crabs. Boy, i think it was small. I guess it is about a kg of crabs but for 11 persons, this was a bit small. At this point of telling the story, my mom says we got "tourist conned".
Not sure how to review this but, taste wise ok, the meat however was not easy to get out from the crab. This probably means it was not cook properly enough. The meat was not soft it was just difficult to peel out from the shell.
Ah, i like this dish for it's simplicity. Yue tan. Not sure what fish it was made out off but it was just springy, no fish smell and the soup, with some tong choy was just heavenly. I walloped this dish, and pour rice into my soup to eat soup rice.
Curry fish head was the next order that came. The smell, quite inviting as well but i am not sure, i love my Hong Lim's version better. The curry was a bit heavy in curry powder, but thick enough if you are the kind that likes thick curry sauce. I don't know, maybe the 35 degrees heat was getting to me but things were not measuring up to my taste anyway.
Ah , prawns. This was a much better received dish for everyone. Can't remember the style, but the prawns were FRESH. Taste wise, ok, nothing much to shout about. I think most people go to Pulau Ketam to taste the freshness of the seafood not so much of the style of cooking it.
Siong Tong La La or supreme soup lala was served next. One of the dishes i decided not to partake as well. (Not into shellfish) but lil bro' gave his review here. Clams - fresh, however soup not supreme enough. Hehehe. Someone in the group also complained - not enough soup to go round.
I really like this dish, to me, it was everyone's star of the day. Sotong!! Salt and Pepper version. Sotong was fresh, the taste was good- two thumbs up from everyone. By the way, you must be wondering why there are so many close up rice + food shots. Well, there were WAY too many cameras taking pictures that day , i felt quite bad for those people who did not take and wanted to eat their food. :) .
Steamed Pomfret- Teo Chew style. Can't really remember trying this. So cannot comment. By the way, behind it was a plate of Curry Bamboo lala. Lil Bro says it was ok in taste. I find that dish weird :P.
The total bill was around RM250 including drinks and all. I think it was so so only but places such as Teluk Gong and Tambun in Penang is better than compared to Pulau Ketam. But it is an experience itself. If you have not been there and are curious to see and taste pulau ketam - by all means.
The Locale:
Not sure how to review this but, taste wise ok, the meat however was not easy to get out from the crab. This probably means it was not cook properly enough. The meat was not soft it was just difficult to peel out from the shell.
Ah, i like this dish for it's simplicity. Yue tan. Not sure what fish it was made out off but it was just springy, no fish smell and the soup, with some tong choy was just heavenly. I walloped this dish, and pour rice into my soup to eat soup rice.Curry fish head was the next order that came. The smell, quite inviting as well but i am not sure, i love my Hong Lim's version better. The curry was a bit heavy in curry powder, but thick enough if you are the kind that likes thick curry sauce. I don't know, maybe the 35 degrees heat was getting to me but things were not measuring up to my taste anyway.
Ah , prawns. This was a much better received dish for everyone. Can't remember the style, but the prawns were FRESH. Taste wise, ok, nothing much to shout about. I think most people go to Pulau Ketam to taste the freshness of the seafood not so much of the style of cooking it.
Siong Tong La La or supreme soup lala was served next. One of the dishes i decided not to partake as well. (Not into shellfish) but lil bro' gave his review here. Clams - fresh, however soup not supreme enough. Hehehe. Someone in the group also complained - not enough soup to go round. I really like this dish, to me, it was everyone's star of the day. Sotong!! Salt and Pepper version. Sotong was fresh, the taste was good- two thumbs up from everyone. By the way, you must be wondering why there are so many close up rice + food shots. Well, there were WAY too many cameras taking pictures that day , i felt quite bad for those people who did not take and wanted to eat their food. :) .Steamed Pomfret- Teo Chew style. Can't really remember trying this. So cannot comment. By the way, behind it was a plate of Curry Bamboo lala. Lil Bro says it was ok in taste. I find that dish weird :P. The total bill was around RM250 including drinks and all. I think it was so so only but places such as Teluk Gong and Tambun in Penang is better than compared to Pulau Ketam. But it is an experience itself. If you have not been there and are curious to see and taste pulau ketam - by all means.
The Locale:
Kim Hoe Restaurant
28K, Main Street Pulau Ketam, Kuala Lumpur
50200 Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
P/S: Pulau Ketam is littered with doggy poo all over. Please do not wear your Manolos or Jimmy Choos here. Caution: Open your eyes when walking.
wish I can join you . . . got classes to tech ler!
ReplyDeletei heard if the meat is hard to take out..it means the crab is very very fresh!..dont know which story is true though..not cooked or too fresh?
ReplyDeleteBBO: Next time loh. Larkee you didnt as well - we wanted to murder KTM that day
ReplyDeleteLotsOfCraving: Hello! :) Hmm not sure. It didnt have the mui flesh taste i assume it is fresh but not cooked properly! LOL.