Restoran Wong Poh

Ivan's back from UK and so a typical Malaysian meal was in order. As his request of a chinese dinner filled with the usual seafood and pork fare was considered, Wong Poh restaurant next to Dataran Prima was the chosen venue. Arriving at 7.30pm, the entire 3 shoplots were fully occupied with diners, spilling out onto the roadside where tables of 4 to 10 were eagerly awaiting their fare. This restaurant is a favourite especially among PJ-lites as they're well known for their butter crabs and the variety of other dishes they so expertly prepare.

First up we were served pickled papaya as the appetisers. Nicely pickled with the crispyness still intact, it could have been better if it was pickled with some bird's eye chili to add some heat to it.

Once we had all 5 diners seated, the food began to arrive. Although the place must have had 50 tables to serve, the waiting period for the dishes is a very respectable 20 minutes or so. First up was Pork Ribs marinated in Guiness Stout. A fitting dish to get the meal going. Sweet, sour, a slight hint of bitterness all made for an appetising start.

Then came the greens, 'Fu Yi Yau Mak', Lettuce fried in fermented beancurd and garlic. The leaves were perfectly done as it retained its texture laced with the saltiness of the beancurd.

My usual order of chicken would be their village chicken steamed in 'kei chi' and rice wine. However the captain's reccomendation tonight was the plain white chicken served with soya sauce and some kailan. It was nice although I have tassted better. However using village chicken for this dish certainly scores points with me as the flesh is much sweeter and has a more challenging texture.

Then my usual order of a steamed fish arrives soon after. This time a 'Patin' was our choice and again the wonderful oily deposit around its stomach proved just heavenly. Wong Poh has a quite a good selection of fish which also includes 'Sun Hok' and ' Chat Seng Pan' amongst others.

As instructed the signature dish of this restaurant, the Butter Crabs, arrived once we're almost done with our meal. Credit to the captain who took our order in remembering this. Most restaurants wouldnt think twice when innundated with non stop orders. Once again the crabs does not dissappoint. Everyone's eyes lit up as the claws was stacked beautifully on top. With fried buns to compliment the sinfully rich gravy, every mouthful was esctasy.

One amongst us is allergic to crabs so we decided to add another dish of pork as we were halfway through. Streaky Bacon with salted fish was the choice. However by the time it was served the rest of us were busy with the crabs and thus failed to remember to snap a photo. It was decent but nowhere close to the best version of this dish, which is in Overseas Restaurant at Jln Imbi or Subang Parade (AsiaJaya & Amcorp Mall's branches is simply unable to emulate them).

All in all a satisfying dinner and well worth the price. Its not the cheapest of dinners but neither is it overly expensive. A downside is the lack of parking space but should one have the need to double park, just alert one of the waiters/waitress and they would keep a lookout for you. The rest of the night was spent watching goals from the Super Sunday matches (Go Chelsea!) while sipping wine (Thx Jit) and cappucino with Macadamia Nut syrup at my place for the non drinkers.

Note: Credit to LM who takes much better photos of the food than I do. I'm just too lazy to adjust the settings of the flash in exchange for a faster tucking into of the food!