butter prawns – sixthseal.com

hoi fu restaurant

My father celebrates his birthday today and also his retirement day
from the education sector. I’m glad for him coz working in that sector
is often unappreciated and hard work. Well, we went to Hoi Fu
Restaurant for some “home cooked” meals coz my dad has been eating at
restaurants constantly due to his farewell retirement gatherings.

dad bday fern

The first dish that came out is some of the largest ferns (?) I’ve
seen – it’s a staple over here, and the locals call it something that
sounds like “billion”.

dad bday mapo tofu

Ma po tofu (a spicy tofu dish) was the next item on the menu – it’s
great, most places skimp on the chilli to suit local tastes, but I like
my stuff to be hot, hot, hot so I’m glad they didn’t.

dad bday pork

Next, came the clay pot cooked pork leg – it’s salty and delicious,
very nice implementation by Hoi Fu Restaurant. This was the only dish
we didn’t manage to finish though – it’s a family affair, with just my
gf and my parents, and they’re not exactly big eaters.

dad bday prawns

We also ordered a side dish of buttered prawns. It’s not as good as the ones in Kuching, but it’s alright.

dad bday cod

Finally, what meal would be complete without the obligatory fish?
This is steamed cod and it was delicious! I always like the fish
steamed with soy sauce from Chinese restaurants.

dad bday dad mom

Happy Birthday Dad, and Happy Retirement! Now, it’s time for some long due and well deserved rest. 🙂

abc seafood

ABC Seafood (also known as Ah Seng Seafood) is arguably the most
popular seafood restaurant at Topspot Seafood, which is a whole level
dedicated to produce from the sea, located at the top of a car park.
ABC Seafood Restaurant is Stall #10, but you can’t miss it – it’s the
biggest stall in the place with garish neon lights that makes sure you can’t miss it. 😉

abc choices

There are a lot of choices to make the “main dish”, which would be
pickings from this large display of items. I usually head here first.

abc fish display

It has a large fish display, which we choose a fillet from. ABC
Seafood is popular due to their fresh seafood. There’s a large range of
fish on display, from small to big, whole to filleted.

abc lobster

There is also a wide range of large lobsters and prawns to choose from…

abc bamboo clams

Of course, bamboo clams are aplenty over here. You can’t miss out on
this if you’re visiting Kuching – it’s only available fresh from the
mudflats of Kuching.

abc pick

The best thing I like about eating here is the memorable ritual of
choosing what you want for the obligatory “vegetable” dish. There are
crab sticks, various fishballs, quail eggs (my favorite!), baby corn to
“sweeten up” the dish, peas in a pod, carrots and non-magical mushrooms.

abc pick mix

This is the dish that we had. You basically grab whatever you want
to eat and everyone does the same and piles it into the same dish. It
gets cooked by the cook and is the first one to be served. I remember
doing this even when I was little, while visiting Kuching. Nostalgic.

abc mixed dish

Here is what the mixed dish looks like after it’s cooked. There’s
quail eggs (of course), crab balls, crab sticks, sea cucumber, prawns,
pod peas, broccoli, baby corn etc. The restaurant always sprinkles
cashew nuts on top of the dish before it’s served. This imparts a nice
crunchy texture to the dish and a sweet aftertaste.

abc bamboo clam cooked

The second dish to be served is the acclaimed bamboo clam. Bamboo
clams tastes like mussels, and it’s usually cooked in curry powder.
This stuff is great, I tell you…

abc fish cooked

Next up, came the fish. We chose to have the fillet deep fried and cooked in sweet and sour sauce.

abc butter prawn

The butter prawns came next and I just love this stuff. ABC
Seafood’s butter prawns come with chilies, which adds a nice
spicy-sweet aftertaste. I must shake the hand of the person who thought
of deep frying prawns with butter. There’s this sweetness to the
“butter scrapings” that is just so memorable that I salivate just
thinking about dinner last night…

abc o chien

Of course, no seafood dinner is complete without “O-Chien” or oyster pancake.

abc giant fishhead

It’s a great meal, but I wish we had enough room for that gigantic
fish head. It looks radioactive blue and I bet it would be good in a
radioactive curry fish head dish…