I grew up thinking that seafood had to be eaten near a beach. Call it strange but why do seafood restaurants need to be near a river or sea to be relevant? I would be equally happy eating the freshest seafood in a Japanese restaurant with a skilful Japanese chef.
And so, from a young age kukup was the destination for seafood in a kelong on stilts and the answering the call of nature gave me the most horrific experiences. More than once I feared missing a step and falling into the sea. Subsequent trips to a kelong were equally undesirable.
Someday, I got all excited over eating seafood by the sea again - not sure why and we were whisked off to track down this row of seafood places in JB that is considered obscure for tourist standards. Even the winding roads were short on signages and thankfully well lit.
TKK Seafood is a household name in JB and considered one of the oldest seafood establishments. Old is gold, I suppose when we are greeted with a somewhat dilapidated restaurant sprawling quite a large area over the sandy beach and into the sea.
In its heydays, it must have seen numerous weddings or even monumental birthday celebrations. The caked dirt from the stage carpet is telling of its history.
We first opted to dine out in the open with the stars above us and a dozen flies drawn to the lights like bees to honey but was so perturbed by the winged intruders, dining inside was way more logical.
The breathtaking view - I have forgotten when was the last time I was so taken in by the night scenery in Asia, those at bar tops are not considered. It was so tranquil and vast, Malaysia is really pretty I mused.
No menu and we just ordered off the memory bank.
A snail attempting escape!
Fresh water prawns!
Sambal Lala (RM 20)
Fresh and delicious but missing some kick ass fiery hot action in their sweet based sambal sauce. A great pity, really.
Cereal Prawns (RM 44)
Doused in a copious heap of wok fried cereal, the prawns were uber fresh - straight out of the tank and kept us busy with the prawn heads and cereal crumbs. And I say it's delicious once again.
Salted Egg Crabs (RM 273)
We were informed upfront how much it would cost and at RM 13 for 100grams, it was priced very affordably. Locally, it would be SGD 13 for 100grams. Whilst I should have opted to have these steamed for the best flavours, salted egg was too hard to resist.
1.7 kilograms of large crabs coated with a scrummylicious salted egg yolk gravy, it was every foodie's dream. I gave up being dainty and walloped my crabs in full gusto. The meat was firm and simply shiok prying through the shells. The best part is, the shells are all cracked properly, without further use of a shell cracker.
For once, fried mantous were unnecessary, just the crabs and two bare hands.
Butter Sotong (RM 30)
We all thought it would be just another fresh seafood dish - and butter, proved me wrong. Fried butter is infact, one of the best ways to eat butter. Fried butter strings that melted in my mouth with chewy sotong rings.
Stir Fried Sweet Potato Leaves (RM 12)
Stir Fried Baby Kailan (RM 14)
The vegetables dishes had enough wok hei but the baby kailan was a tad old.
Calamansi with sour plums, a smart choice on my part since it helped with the digestion a fair bit.
The whole meal set us back by MYR 450, very decently priced and best of all it was so satisfying! A kind of dining experience that has been lost in Singapore.
TKK Seafood
Lot 648, Kampung Teluk Jawa, Masai, 81750
Comments
Post a Comment