Shikai Restaurant

We've been having birthdays galore recently. It was Hub's Lunar calendar birthday on 9/1, Ming's 2oth birthday, Roman calendar, and Yi's 23rd Lunar calendar birthday on 10/1 and MIL's Lunar calendar birthday on 11/1. As usual, I forgot the birthdays, especially Lunar calendar ones. It was MIL's other daughter-in-law who reminded me, so guess who's more favored with MIL.

Anyway, I was given the task of choosing a good Chinese restaurant and in KK, that's as hard as choosing a good spouse. Maybe harder, because there are so few choices. Many times we've eaten at some restaurant and came away fully satisfied but on a later visit the food turned out totally different from the previous visit's. The most recent case was the Dynasty Restaurant at Promenade Hotel. In the end, we narrowed our choices down to Equatorial Restaurant, which we haven't been to in a long time, Port View at The Waterfront and Shikai Restaurant in Asia City.

The name Shikai may mislead many people into thinking this is a Japanese restaurant. I personally think they should make the name more Chinese-sounding and looking to attract more customers who want to dine on Chinese cuisine. Now, I've been to Shikai (in Chinese, it is Si Hai Ting, Four Seas Hut) about 4 times and although I liked the food, Shikai wasn't a place you'd bring old folks to because the lights were too dim and the seats were low backless stools. Places with low backless stools aren't exactly fitting for banquet meals, especially if you want to impress your guests. However, I was told that they have added more lights recently and that they were able to give us proper chairs so I checked the place out about 5 hours before the dinner. The young chef, Ah Pheng, was very helpful and accommodating. When they couldn't serve a whole fish on such short notice, I was allowed to bring my own fish for them to cook for a minimum charge of RM15/US$4.40, depending on the size of the fish. I also brought some large yellow ocean prawns to make up for the smaller prawns the restaurant had.

I will start with the best dish and work down the list.


Crispy skin duck with tang gui, RM52/US$15.

I don't know the difference between this and pipa duck, which is also on Shikai's menu but this was excellent in taste and flavor and the skin was very crispy without a disgusting layer of fat as sometimes ducks can have BUT the meat was quite tough. I gave up on using chopsticks and used my fingers instead while the old folks didn't bother to eat any more after one slice.


Fish maw soup, RM65/US$19 for a large bowl that can feed 10 to 12.

This was yummy and they didn't scrimp on ingredients. For the price I think some crab meat wouldn't hurt.


Steamed lu ton grouper, cost of steaming RM15/US$4.40.

I brought this beauty to the restaurant and requested for it to be steamed simple, with soy sauce and oil. It was excellent, surprisingly tender and sweet. Lu ton groupers are prized for their heads, fins and skin because of the gelatinous fat and flavor, and their meat is firm yet fine and smooth . The bigger lu tons cost more because they have thicker and more gelatinous skins and fins, and I had a memorable meal of a stewed lu ton head in The Sandakan Golf Club many years ago. The fish must've been a monster because the skin was as thick as 2 cm in some places and the flavor was supreme, unbelievable.


Brinjals with salted fish, RM25/US$7.30.

Ah, this was very well done and superb with plain rice. However, the amount was miserly even though we had ordered a large portion.


Creamy butter sauce prawns.

I brought the large prawns and I think Shikai made a mistake with the price. A medium portion would be about RM25 but they charged me RM40 even though half the prawns were mine. Must teach Hub to check the bills before paying.


Long life noodles, RM15/US$4.40.

I liked this although someone said it was rather bland. Be warned that Shikai is lighter on the salt than most restaurants, which suits us fine as we eat a low-salt diet anyway. We also didn't go numb from msg; in fact, we hardly detected msg, compared to most Chinese restaurants. I like that. I intend to age with a full head of hair.


Garlic fried Hong Kong kai lan, RM25/US$7.30.

This was done very well, simple yet refreshing but for a medium portion that was more small than medium, this was very expensive.


Chicken in shao xin wine, RM30/US$8.80.

This was quite ordinary, more home-style really. This would be better with plain rice.


Beancurd seafood claypot, RM35/US$10.30.

A good pot of beancurd claypot should have fried beancurd as the main ingredient but this had way too much a mixture of ingredients and not enough beancurd in a so-so gravy that was definitely way too soupy.


Fried rice with salted egg yolks, RM15/US$4.40 for small portion.

This was more fried rice with frozen peas and corn niblets, which was very cheap-looking and tasting. There was neither the distinct flavor of salted egg yolks nor that of a well-fried rice. A big "NO".

That was a good meal, and I hope Shikai will keep up its standards. The service too was very good, with friendly and polite staff. You get a plate of cut fresh seasonal fruits (watermelon and honeydew) free with the meal. One thing to note is that Shikai has become a 'no-pork' restaurant, which is unfortunate but still, try this place for simple delicious dishes. Their crispy ducks are particularly good, but make sure they cook you either Huey, Dewey or Louie and not Uncle Donald. And another thing to note is while many places impose 5 % service charge Shikai charges 10% and with the cost of drinks and tea, expect to pay another 15%.

Shikai Restaurant

Kompleks Asia City
Tel:088 484242