Steamboat @ Tai Chong Seafood Restaurant

Oddly, I ended up having steamboat at Tai Chong Seafood Restaurant. Poh Long tutup, so bo pian! You know, it’s outlandish to have steamboat a.k.a hot pot at such places. Basically, it’s equivalent to purchasing undergarments at pasar malam- odd, bizarre, weird & out-of-the-norm! Anyway, here’s some you-gotta-know-before-stepping-into-that-restaurant infoodmation!

The "outsides" of Tai Chong Seafood Restaurant.

The "insides" of Tai Chong Seafood Restaurant.

Foreign workers served with zero capabilities to communicate in Bahasa or even English. 

They no speaking England! We no choice but hand signal for them understand what we want. Understand, you? *This particular waitress you're looking at in the picture is probably Viet. Xin chap lai, yo!

Steamboat package. It came with a hot pot as well of course. 

Pricing! I’m sure that’s the one sure thing we prioritize when it comes to food. Unless you’re Bill Gates, you won’t want to eat shark fin everyday won’t you? Fact is, we’re all searching for inexpensive and flavorsome yummies! This set/package came up to about MYR80 (not to forget the "bottomless" Chinese tea that came with it). 

The hot pot! Tom yam and chicken broth! 

Just so you know, I am somewhat a big fan of tom yam/tom yum/thom yum-flavored yummies. Therefore, I had to taste the soup here. Often, it feels like the tom yum standard determines how good the restaurant is, at least for me. And no, it wasn't good; too sweet, too coarse & it had too much tomato in it causing the overall soup to taste like tomato soup (yes, the ones you get at the school canteen in Malaysia). Not that I'm totally calling it drainage water, it wasn't as good as some other places I've been to. Chicken broth? Didn't even bother to try it. Not a big fan. 

Random occurrences in the soup?

Sometimes, we are dumbfounded when we find a lizard in our soup. For me, chilly in tom yam steamboat soup is abnormal. Maybe cause I've never came across it but well, just felt the need to share this random occurrence! Tergigit, pedas pulak.

Mango kerabu. 

Additional dish we had. This was pretty good. Just the right amount of spiciness in it gave that extra kick I needed! MYR10 (I think). Warning: Not to be taken in large quantities. Haiya, don't be tam ciak laaa! Little bit in your mouth, let it "aromatized" your mouth!

If you think in numbers:

Price: 8/10 (approx MYR17/head- ok, very common steamboat price range.)

Service: 7.5/10 (Occasional "let-me-refill-your-cup-of-tea-kinda-deal")

Environment: 6/10 (Cliche Chinese restaurant.)

Food: 5.5/10 (Ok-lah, mango kerabu gets 7/10!)

Comments: Go there if you have no other place to go, it's OK. Don't go there if you have other choices.

Fish balls floating around in my tummy. Burrrppp...