Ocean Seafood Restaurant

We had a seafood feast two nights ago at Ocean SR, which is next to Promenade Hotel near KK's Waterfront. Ocean SR's prices are meant to rob from the tourists but sometimes locals like us willingly walk in to give our $ away and then complain about it after.

Many tables were occupied by eager Hong Kongers and I find that really odd because the live seafood in HK costs about the same but is definitely cooked better.


These slipper prawns are known as 'peeing prawns' in Chinese. I have no idea why. There are 3 types : the Moreton Bay bugs, which have hard shells like crabs and are the meatiest of the lot (love them), the striped ones that are long like caterpillars with a medium-hard shell and these ones with not much meat and soft shells. We ordered the caterpillars type (RM90/US$28 per kg) cooked salt and pepper-style. They were not worth it at all because not only was there very little meat, the chef didn't do a good job too.


This is new to me: stone fish. I'm told the flesh is tough and I'd be surprised if it isn't. What a loser when it comes to looks. I bet it has inner beauty.


This is pat chat loh. Too fancy to eat so I just couldn't order them.


Baby geoducks clams. I like these; nice chew. These should be called peeing clams because they, ah, never mind.

Tropical lobsters, RM250/US$77 per kg. At this price, I should spear these myself next time I go snorkeling.


The soon hock (RM100/US$30 per kg), a river fish that is another loser in the beauty department. In fact, this fish has python-like skin that put me off. I picked up a peanut-sized morsel just so I can tell you how it tastes. It was very fine but not sweet so I won't miss not eating this. If you want the best steamed fish in KK, Port View at the Waterfront is the best. I had a really fantastic steamed grouper at a recent company dinner there. I know one of the restaurant's captains and it is my quest this year to get her to tell me what soy sauce they use, because their sauce is unbeatable.(I had wanted to bring my camera but was shy about taking food pics at a table full of strangers. To my amusement, everytime a dish landed on the table (borrow your words, Greg), cameras were aimed at the dish like it was Angie and Brad.)


House tofu. Didn't eat it because it was all gone by the time I took the pics.


Grass prawns (RM60/US$18 per kg) are farmed prawns, so they aren't exactly healthy to eat. But these boiled grass prawns did taste fresh, sweet and springy.


Grass prawns cooked "dry butter style". The golden shreds are egg yolks deep fried in butter!


Local mud crabs (RM38/US$12 per kg) cooked in butter cream. Yum. My waist swelled by 4 cm because of the cream.



I think it's too expensive to eat at seafood restaurants meant for tourists. Everything is about 30 to 40% costlier than other non-tourists restaurants.

Reminder on Plastics N Stuff

Remember my post on plastics? Now they've found phthalates (pronounced "thowl-ates") in baby talcum powder, lotion, wipes etc. I'm glad I did not dust my boys' little you-know-what with Johnson's baby powder, like most people do in this hot climate, because I just didn't find it necessary. I'm glad now that I didn't have a confinement lady for my 2nd and 3rd child because these ignorant ladies are the ones who love to use talcum powder. I've seen some people talc their babies so much I felt sorry for the babies who were thrashing wildly in a cloud of talc, breathing all that powder in. So, as I told Derrick back in Melb, go simple. Don't have a dozen fancy detergents, softeners and what-have-you when all you need is just one detergent to wash your clothes. Sooner or later the researchers will find out that this or that is harmful. Simplify.

Quality Delis

In Melbourne, if Vic Mart is closed, go to the deli at 293-297 Lygon St (intersects Faraday St.) called King & Godfree ( tel: 613 93471619) for parma ham. Never buy parma ham and - Hub says I'm too fussy - bacon, ham and such from Coles or Safeway to bring home to Malaysia. The quality stuff is only available at delis. Of course if you eat there, Coles or Safeway bacon is okay.

This shop carries a lot of wines, liquors and aperitifs. In fact, this is probably a place you'd go to to get your special bottle of wine (wonderful service: you just tell the guy what you are eating/serving and your budget and he'll take you on a tour. Wish they allow some wine-tasting too) and buy some cheese and ham on the way out. I wanted so much to get a beautiful bottle of limoncello but reluctantly had to put it back because of the restrictions on liquids in carry-on luggage. This is the shop where I can get dried and ground porcini. They have a good selection of the finest hams and cured meat, and cheeses from the best producers around the world. Chocolates too, but not a big selection.







I fell for the tin ('fruits') although I'm not into country style. Wanted to leave behind the panettone (after all, that's just bread with raisins, so no big deal?) that it held inside but am so glad I did bring it home because the panettone was SOOO delicious - soft, moist, smelling of candied orange peel and raisins. I had black coffee with it, and each time I thought : make sure to buy this again next year! It came all the way from Milan, Italy. If you live in Melb, run King & Godfree's and see if they still have it. It was only about A$21/US$18/RM60 but now it's probably half price or less. The little packets are dried porcini.

In Brisbane, CL directed me to this wonderful deli in Eight Mile Plain called Plenty. Plenty has plenty (couldn't resist that) of quality foodstuff (even more than King & Godfree) mainly from Europe. You can buy almost anything European here. We had a blast tasting their wide range of quality olives, stuffed with blue cheese or anchovies etc. Prices are higher than supermarkets, but hey, these are quality kalamatas. The surprise is, the shop is run by a Malaysian couple from KL who only took over about 2-3 months ago. A premium European deli owned and run by Chinese-Malaysians is so unexpected. As if to widen my mind, I went into a large Asian grocery store in Harbour Town, Gold Coast and the white guy at the cash register spoke China Mandarin perfectly. So to all those Chinese-Msians who smugly proclaim their lack of Chinese-speaking skills - "Wo bu hui jiang Chinese" and speak with a strange English accent when they speak both English and Mandarin, listen, while people struggle to understand your Chinese, and your English, non-Chinese people are speaking perfect Chinese! We Malaysians speak so many languages but none of them well, do we. Just listen to our politicians and lawyers. Enough said.

Plenty's bratwurst beats those from the supermarkets and butchers, by far, very far.

Plenty is at Shop 12a, Cnr Warrigal & Padstow Roads, Eight Mile Plains, Brisbane. 7 days a week, 8 am - 6 pm, tel: 07 3841 4900

Chin Aunty's Fatt Choy Mushrooms

I look forward to eating Chinese New Year's 2nd Day dinner at Chin Aunty's, my MIL's best friend. Chin Aunty is Cantonese and cooks like a true Hong Konger, so there are always plenty of delicious dishes at her house on CNY. One dish I love is a simplified version of the fatt choy dish, you know the one with 8 ingredients like dried mushrooms, dried oysters, fatt choy, sea cuke, roasted pork, gingko nuts, fish maw and red dates. I like her simplified version because after the reunion eve dinner and the CNY Day 1 dinner, it is a refreshing change from eating rich and meaty dishes.

Trivia: Do you know that in China Chinese New Year (CNY) is known as Spring Festival (chunjie)? I received some messages from friends in China and they all call it that. I thought about it and it made sense. I think CNY was termed for non-Chinese. You wouldn't say " zhong guo nian" but just "guo nian" or "nong li xin nian", just as you shouldn't say English New Year or Malay New Year. Just thought you should know.



Chin Aunty's Fatt Choy Mushrooms

1 handful dried scallops*, washed and soaked in a bowl with 3/4 cup water
20 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked till soft & stalked removed
1 handful fatt choy, soaked & washed several times
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 T soy sauce
1 t sugar
1 T oyster sauce
2 T shao xin wine
1 T cornflour mixed in 2 T water
1 bunch Hong Kong kailan/leaf broccoli

1. Steam the dried scallops with the wine, garlic and water it was soaked in, for 20 minutes.

2. Put the mushrooms, soy sauce and sugar (you can add some oil but I don't) in a small pot with just enough water to cover, and simmer for 30 minutes or until mushrooms are very tender. The water would have been reduced to half or less.

3. Blanch the kailan in boiling water to which 3 T oil and 1 t salt has been added. Remove quickly (I like my veg quite raw and crunchy but it's up to you) and drain.

4. Add the steamed scallops and fatt choy to the mushrooms, increase the fire to medium and cook 2 minutes to heat through (not too long or the fatt choy will break up), then increase the heat to high, add the oyster sauce and then the cornflour solution. Taste and season if necessary. If you like it darker, add some dark soy sauce.

5. Pour mushrooms fattchoy onto a dish and arrange the veggies around it. YUM!

* or if you prefer, use the more auspicious-sounding hoe si (dried oysters). Soak and wash it well, then add to the mushrooms in Step 2 and cook until just tender.

Kwan Aunty's Prawn Crackers

(These were sliced a bit too thick for my liking)

I'm aware that there's only one prawn cracker recipe (repeated in various websites) out there in cyberspace. Here comes the Best Prawn Crackers recipe.

Kwan Aunty was from Sandakan, where the best seafood in Sabah can be had. After eating Kwan Aunty's prawn crackers, I never ate the popular Brunei prawn crackers with the red edge again. In fact, I just don't eat prawn crackers unless they are home-made. Why? Because I know what goes into them and I can imagine that if made on a commercial basis, a lot of unnecessary stuff (color, excessive amount of msg to make up for the lack of prawns, the pregnant fly that flew in...) is added to stretch the quantity since prawns aren't cheap. Home-made crackers just taste much much better but I think most people are so used to the commercial type (it's almost impossible to buy real home-made crackers) they have grown up accustomed to them.

Kwan Aunty's prawn crackers are made on a 1:1 ratio of prawns to tapioca flour and were the best I've ever tasted. Perfecto. Be warned. Prawn crackers are addictive. Once you start on them, you won't stop until it's all gone. Who else makes them like that these days? Me of course, her student, although I confess here I am still far from making very good crackers because I only make them once every few years. And now, because it's traditional to serve and eat prawn crackers during CNY, and because Kwan Aunty, who's no longer here, was kind enough to pass on her recipe for free, so should I pass it to you. Free too.

You (at least I do) need a lot of practice to get your prawn crackers right. You want crackers that puff well (the quality of tapioca flour used, whether the crackers are well-dried, oil is too hot, if cracker is sliced too thick all affect the crackers) and not have hard bits here and there (thickness uneven, not thoroughly dried and other reasons I don't know of). Yes, its practice, practice, practice.

You can stretch the following recipe by adding egg whites or water so the dough can take in more tapioca flour but really for home consumption, I don't believe in scrimping. My friend X ingeniously adds baking powder to the recipe and that makes the crackers puff 3 to 4 times the original size but I find the texture becomes coarser, with more bubbles that cut and make my tongue raw (Wey describes it as "Aunty X's crackers are like those I buy in school, they stick onto my tongue."). I also found the crackers to be oily on the surface, maybe because all that puffing makes the surface thinner and more pervious to the oil. Do not omit the msg. Like all savory snacks, msg will perk the taste up. Just be prepared to drink more water and maybe loose more hair (it's funny how the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome affects different races differently).


Before steaming the prawn crackers dough.

After steaming, the color of the dough will deepen.

Different types of prawns will give different shades of color, some deeper and some lighter. Farmed prawns (what the fishmongers call 'white prawns' and those that you eat in seafood restaurants) usually will give a darker color but I'd advise not to feed your family with that.


Leaving the sliced crackers to dry in the sun.

After drying, crackers will curl and color will deepen. Store in an airtight jar or plastic bag. Can be stored for months if dried well.

Kwan Aunty's Prawn Crackers
600g small prawns (flesh only & de-veined)
600g tapioca starch/flour*
1 heaped t salt
1 t white ground pepper
1/2 level t (or reduce slightly) msg
banana leaves to line steamer

*update 16/1/12: my dough was sticky this year and I didn't want to run out for just a bit of flour so I used potato starch--that's how daring I am! The prawn crackers turned out perfect, lighter and 'looser' in texture, hallejulah! I think I must've added about 100 gm of potato starch to 900gm tapioca/cassava flour and equal amount of minced prawns.

1. The prawns needn't be drained dry. Just wash and put into a machine to mince. Mince the prawns in the machine until fine.

2. Put the prawn mince into your cake mixer, add all the other ingredients and mix using the dough hook for 8 minutes or so. If mixture doesn't come together, add 1/2 T of water. If too soft, add a little bit more tapioca flour.

3. Taste the raw dough. If it's bland, add more seasoning. Remember that after frying, the crackers will taste even less salty. Now put the dough on a clean surface and knead with your hands until dough is very smooth (say 10 minutes) and when you press it with your fingers, it feels like pressing your arm (provided your arm isn't more than 60 years old). Soft yet firm. If dough is hard, wet your hands and knead again. If your dough is too hard/dry, the crackers will have cracks after drying in the sun and they'll taste very dry after frying.

4. Shape dough into two long rolls, pressing and slapping both ends to compact the rolls so there aren't any air bubbles. Lay the rolls on the banana leaf (NO need to oil/grease) which is laid over your steamer in which the water should be boiling. If you can't find banana leaf, just use foil but it won't give that wonderful aroma as it cooks.

5. Steam at medium high (too high and dough will crack) heat for 1 hour 15 minutes or 1 hour if rolls are thinner.Make sure there is a vent in your steamer lid (a bamboo steamer & lid is best) so that the steam does not rise and fall onto the rolls, making the surface bubbled and wet.

6. When rolls are cool, wrap them in tea towels or foil and leave in fridge to firm up. I leave them overnight. The next morning, take rolls out and leave them out 1/2 hour to come to room temperature. Now we come to the part that's hardest for me. Using a mandoline slicer (I don't handle the mandoline well so I take the longer way and slice the rolls with a very sharp knife), cut into thin slices (too thick and they won't puff so well) and lay them on metal sheets/trays to dry directly in the sun. In our tropical sun, it takes two days of drying before the crackers can be fried.

7. Deep-frying crackers takes skill. Use plenty of oil. If oil is too hot or not hot enough, crackers will not expand much. Make sure the whole cracker is submerged in the oil or the areas that aren't will be hard. Good luck.