Restoran Tak Fok@Puchong

Sorry folks, OK I know it has been quite a while since my last posting... Well, it was also that long I last had a decent meal. OK,OK, I know it was a lame excuse but what to do? When I had something nice that deserved to blog about but alas... forgot to bring out my camera, when I had the camera with me all the time, the food was damn lousy to talk about.

Anyway many weekends ago and when it came to dinner time, we were just out of "inspiration"! Didn't wanna travel far and we ended up at this RestoranTak Fok in Puchong.

Basically it was the banner that caught our attention where they were having some promotions on crab-RM20-22/kg. Who could resist right?

So we ordered...

Salted Egg Crab... The size of this crab was smaller compared to the one that we usually had but it tasted quite OK. For the price of RM22.00/kg, I won't complain.

Cheesy Crab... RM20.00/kg which you can avoid by all means. It was not creamy enough and most importantly it didn't give us that kind of "kick".

Kong Poh Mantis Prawn... It tasted OK only and the portion was quite small for the price of RM18.00.

Fried Lala with Dried Shrimp and Chili Padi... It was OK but not something extraordinary-RM16.00

Seafood Tofu Pot... RM20.00 not so impressive. All cheap ingredients!

Well... another unsatisfying meal but it still cost RM117.92 inclusive of tax for 5 adults with drinks and nuts.

Restaurant Tak Fok H.K Seafood

No.23, Jalan Puteri 2/5

47100 Puchong

Selangor

Tel : 03-80606994

Restoran P.J. Seafood@Tropicana

Revisited Restoran P.J. Seafood in Kampung Cempaka (actually Tropicana la) recently after a lapse of 5 years or more. The restaurant's "attap" roof made the whole place looks charming and comfortable especially where it was not air-conditioned.

It was a huge place and when we arrived at 7:30p.m it was already full of people.

Braised groundnuts and preserved papaya served before meal. RM2.00 each.

Dishes that we ordered....

Grass Carp in Claypot... it tasted pretty average.-RM33.00 that you can avoid.

Double Boiled Seafood Pumpkin... it looked special but it tasted ordinary. I felt that it was kinda waste as the taste of seafood was overwhelmed by the taste of pumpkin. But for the price of RM 50.00 and the seafood ingredients used in this dish, were excellent - Fish, fresh scallops, prawns, sea cucumber, fish maw, squids as well as thinly sliced abalone were used. It would be wonderful enough to serve in claypot and do away the pumpkin which in return they can also reduce the price for the saved pumpkin. Wouldn't it be better?

Petai Prawns with Coconut Crumbs... It tasted a tad too sweet for my taste buds. I would prefer if the petai is cooked in Spicy Nyona Sauce. But somehow the size of the peeled prawns had made it up... it was big enough and priced RM 20.00 for this dish.

The well marinated Grilled Lamb Ribs.... It tasted good with their special made dip sauce. One portion of lamb rib is RM 8.00 and we ordered 4 portions that price RM 32.00.

Their house specialty... The Claypot Butter Crab.

RM38.00/kg for small crab and RM50.00/kg for King Crab. We chose the latter and happy with our choice. It cost RM74.00 for 2 big crabs.

Everybody was aiming for the big claws...
The crispy "Mantou"(bun)... fried and steamed version. - RM1.00 each.
The "mantou" tasted a whole lot better when dipped with the creamy butter sauce. You should not miss this particular crab dish when you visit this place. One of the best butter crab that I ever tasted so far!

This is the claw that I picked... look at its size against the spoon. (Mind you it was not tea spoon).

The total damage was RM 231.50 for 6 adults inclusive of drinks and rice.

They are located just after the tunnel before heading to Tropicana Golf Club which you can find their address below:

P.J. Seafood Restoran

Plot A, Simpanan Talian

Elektrik kampung Cempaka

Petaling Jaya

Tel : 012-9277162, 016-3382222

Location map.

Restoran Venecia

This is what I would call a " hidden gem" waiting to be discovered. It took about 20 minutes for me to locate the place on top of 40 mins travelling time from Subang Jaya to Selayang on my first visit to Restoran Venecia... and that was more than 2 years ago. Restoran Venecia used to be called Restoran Venezuela. I don't know since when they have changed their name as I didn't notice that when I was here on my last visit few months ago.
They are based at 1st floor in this clubhouse ( or community hall?) of this condominium, Casa Venecia in Selayang. There is no signboard placed outside nor inside the condominium. It is indeed a hassle for the first timer to locate the place. The security is tight. You need to leave your driving license at the guard house before they allow you to enter the area.
Once inside the area, you would see a swimming pool and a small lake ( not sure if it was man made). The view was breathtaking, akin to the view in Cameron Highlands.
Restoran Venecia is just a small restaurant that has 8 or 9 tables only and a private room.
The Preserved Green Crunchy Mango... an excellent appetising dish before the meal. 2 small plates of this mango were served soon after we were being seated. It was so good that we actually requested for another one. RM 2.00 per serving.

Dishes that we order...
Everyone of us was being served one bowl each of this lala soup. The lala was fresh and clean. It really brought out the sweetness taste of the soup. But personally I don't really like the lala to be served as a main soup dish. In my opinion it should only be used to complement with other ingredients for soup based dishes but not lala alone for soup. I still prefer lala to be cooked in a "fried dish" version. - RM 20.00
The huge fried "Ma Yau" fish with Nyona sauce... This pic. can't really tell you the actual size of the fish but let me tell you it was at least 15" long. The sauce was very tasty... and on top of that, "petai" was certainly a big plus. - RM 50.00

Claypot tofu... plenty of ingredients used in this dish. -mushroom, button mushroom, cauliflower, carrot, baby corns, green pea, sotong, prawn and fresh scallop. Unfortunately the soft and smooth tofu was 'hiding' underneath all those ingredients which you can't see in the pic. -RM25.00
The Marmite Fried Sotong... It was crispy on the outside and still moist on the inside. Wonderful dish! -RM28.00
Half way through the meal, this claypot chicken which we didn't order was wrongly sent to us and I "accidentally" picked a piece of chicken wing for food tasting purpose before it was sent back to the rightful owner. It tasted OK but not great.

The star tonight... CRABS!

The boss actually led us to his kitchen to show us the huge crabs when we did the ordering. They were still alive and kicking. So we ordered 3 huge crabs weighed about 800 gms each and requested it to be cooked in 2 different recipes. One was fried with salted egg and the other was in yogurt sauce. RM60/kg and altogether it cost RM145.00.
The Salted Egg Crab... the saltiness of the egg and the sweetness of the crabs that complement each other very well... one word for that - Delicious!

Look at this crab claw... FYI, the one who held the claw was a grown up lady, not a small kid, she actually weighed 70kg or more. So with this info you can have a better idea on the size of her palm and the size of the claw. right?

The Yogurt Sauce Crab... the sauce was thick, rich and in yellowish color. I'm not sure if they used curry paste but there were some curry leafs in the dish. However the taste of curry was not too overpowering for the whole combination. It was just perfect! It was so tasty that makes you even wanna slurp up the gravy.

Conclusion...
A very satisfying meal! So far never once that Restoran Venecia disappoints me on any of my visits there. The only drawback is their location, the distance that takes about 45 minutes.
BTW, I would like to convey my sincere apologies to my family members as I had to hold them back whilst I tried to get a good shot. I could see them literally drooling as I did so.
The total bill came to RM293.00 (USD84.00) inclusive of drinks and rice for 10 adults.
Here, I should also thank my sister-in-law who has just came back from US that happily picked up the bill. Most importantly it was a satisfying meal!
This time around, I will just provide you their address below and not the location map which I normally did. I believe it will be more fun to do a bit of food hunting your own.

Restoran Venecia

1st Floor, Casa Venecia Club House
Jalan Bukit Idaman 1/3

Bukit Idaman

68100 Batu Caves

Selangor

Tel:03-6136 2010

Business hour:

Monday - Thursday

12:00p.m - 2:30p.m & 6:00p.m - 10:00p.m
Friday - Sunday

12:00p.m - 2:30p.m & 5:30p.m - 10:00p.m

* Reservation is a must. Book your crab in advance as well.