CRIZ BON APPETITE

Mud crabs which are found in the estuaries and mangroves of Africa, Australia and Asia, are often sought after as a seafood delicacy, mostly in the South Asian countries. They can grow up to a few kilograms with lots of meat to savor. With a large crab sanctuary through its mangrove reserves especially in the east Malaysia, Pang (Hainan) Restaurant had decided to import such mud crab for the huge appetite of the Penangites on top of other seafood such as the grouper, mantis prawns, lobsters and so on. Presently, the mud crabs available in this restaurant are priced at RM58/kilo with a minimum order of two crabs (approximately 1.2 kilograms) with a choice of 6 flavors such as Baked Crab, Sweet & Sour Crab, Black Pepper Crab, Steamed Crab, Chili Crab and their latest addition of Kam Heong Crab.

We took the opportunity to try out 3 of the 6 options. The first was the Black Pepper Crab. The crabs were stir fried with a generous amount of black pepper, onions, capsicum and curry leaves. Although the crabs were fresh, the taste was somehow overpowered by the over usage of sliced onions and capsicum which subdued the spiciness from the black pepper. Thus, it lacked the required fragrance to pep up the overall taste of the crabs. Sometimes, I do think that simplicity such as the usage of just some plain butter, curry leaves and black pepper would do more justice to a more flavorful bite.

The Sweet & Sour Crab on the other hand was more flavorful compared to the former except that it had that strong and sweet chili sauce after taste. The restaurant again tried to create their own recipe by implementing lots of sliced onions with some traces of bird eye chilies (cili padi), stir fried with some beaten eggs. It was basically quite dry without much gravy. Moreover, the gravy lacked a slight sprinkle of vinegar for those wonderful sweet and sour flavors to boost up the appetite.

The next version was the Kam Heong Crab. The name itself spelled out that the dish should be spicy and fragrant. Although the traces of sliced onions had reduced substantially, the usage of curry leaves and traceable dried shrimps somehow did not provide that flavorful “kick”. One reason could be that the dried shrimps they were using were rather big and thus did not omit that fragrance as required. The next reason was that the dish was not sautéed dry enough to get the flavorful “wok hei” (high heat cooking).

You can also order some Mantou (80sen each) to dip in the gravy. They would normally come deep fried to have that crisp on the surface with a soft bun-like texture within.

Other than just crabs, there are other side seafood dishes that you can order here. One of the dishes would be the Assam Prawns (RM11/100gms – 5 prawns ~ 200gms). I wonder if that was the intention of the restaurant to serve the prawns as a whole without slitting the back for the flavors to seep right into the flesh. Somehow, the usage of tamarind plus some sugar and salt did not marinate the prawns at all. The flesh was rather bland in taste. Moreover, the prawns were not fried as dry and tasty as the Nyonya Assam Prawns.

You can also order some Deep Fried Squids (RM11/RM17/RM25). This was a lovely dish, considering that every single cut were evenly covered with batter and maintained that crispiness. The only thing I would prefer would be the slight touch of spiciness from either turmeric powder or chili flakes to pep up the flavor.

It does not mean that you would need to have just seafood as your meal as there are also rice, noodles and porridge dishes for you to order. We tried out the Fried Rice (RM9/RM14/RM19). Well, it was just normal without the “wok hei” I preferred but with lots of small prawns and chicken cubes in it.

Overall, the seafood dishes served here are no doubt fresh but the firmness of the crab meat would depend on the season. As for taste wise, the restaurant has their own recipe with a touch of fusion which might not be the traditional way of preparation as per your preferences. Anyway, the whole meal was still a hearty one for the few of us, considering that everything served was super fresh.

Drive all the way up to Tanjung Bungah. Immediately after the curve at the UDA flat traffic lights, keep to your left. Drive on until you see Viva Café then Chinese Swimming Club on your right, slow down and watch out for the Pang Seafood neon signboard on your left right after the Thong Sin Building.

Name: PANG (HAINAN) SEAFOOD
Address: 501-K&L, Jalan Tanjung Bungah, 11200 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-899 4863, 017-452 4863
Business Hours: 11.30am-2.30pm, 6.00pm-10.00pm
GPS: 5.462728, 100.303191

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7.5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Since I did not have the opportunity to visit another seafood restaurant that was much recommended by the Kuala Juru village folks as it was closed during my visit to Kuala Juru earlier, a small group of us decided to go for another food hunt to the small fishing village deep into the outskirt of Juru. This time, I had revisited Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru as well as the much acclaimed Warung Pak Su. I won’t touch much on my earlier trip as I had updated the post itself with some new information and photos. Let me share what I had dined at Warung Pak Su instead. Somehow this visit had a few hiccups as the sky was pouring heavily and the pricing for the food was a bit of surprise to us but these hiccups did not did not deter us from savoring some of the good food around that area.

Being a well established restaurant, Warung Pak Su surprisingly did not provide any printed menus and indeed it was a risk we had to take when ordering a few of the dishes. As most of the seafood items were freshly bought daily, all the items were based on market rate. The first dish that we ordered was the Ikan Siakap Bakar (Grilled Perch – RM30). The fresh fish was cut into halves, marinated with some spices and wrapped in banana leaves and grilled for a certain period of time. The end product was a nicely cooked fish, mild in spices taste and fresh in juiciness. The grilled fish would go well with the special sauce which consists of sliced onions, chili paddy, lime juice, soy sauce and sugar but I personally found the sauce to be a bit overpowering with lime taste.

While waiting for the fish to be grilled, we also ordered some satay to try out. Although we were still quite full from the earlier meal at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru, the juiciness and fragrance emitted from the chicken on skewer boosted up our craving for more. The taste of the large sized satays were great and it was only at 60sen each.

The restaurant will also have Kerang Bakar (Grilled Cockles – RM5/plate) but we did not order them as we were scared of food poisoning after seeing how cockles were harvested. 😛

Since the villagers highly recommended the Mee Udang (Prawn Noodles – RM10) and Mee Goreng Udang (Fried Prawn Noodles –RM10), we decided to order a plate of each. The difference between this restaurant and the one at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru was the use of different species of prawns. Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru uses Udang Rotan (Cane Prawns – thicker shells) whereas Warung Pak Su uses Udang Kertas (White Prawns – paper thin shells).

I found the prawns here to be fresher compared to the ones down at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru but somehow the noodles were not up to my expectation. Both the fried and soup based noodles tasted kind of sweet without the taste of prawns in them. They tasted just like those you can get at any tea time Malay stalls except that here you will have huge cooked prawns being nicely decorated on the noodles. Luckily, the fresh prawns complimented the noodles or else it would be a total disappointment. My preference would still be those delicious prawn taste enriched noodles at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru.

It would be easier to reach the restaurant if you know your way to Auto City. As you come to the Juru Interchange, you would pass through 3 traffic lights to reach Auto City. At the last traffic light at the T-junction (McDonald’s), turn left and drive all the way up Jalan Perusahaan/Jalan Tok Kangar until you have reach a traffic light at Jalan Juru (Map A), turn right into Jalan Juru (Juru Villa Show House) and drive all the way until the end. You would pass through a few sign boards of the district on your left namely Kampung Sekolah Juru (Map B), Bagan Nyior (Map C), and a sign board showing direction to Sungai Sembilang and Kuala Juru (Map D). At the T-junction (Map E), turn right and you will see the restaurant just on your left (Map F). You can click to enlarge the two maps below for a clearer direction.

Name: WARUNG PAK SU MEE UDANG
Address: 385, MK12, Bagan Nyir Juru, SPT, 14000 Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 12.00noon-10.30pm (Closed Thursday)
Contact: 012-409 0771, 012-493 5771
GPS: 5.326817, 100.414767

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)