KY eats – Portuguese Grilled Fish at Petaling Street
Portuguese grilled fish is a bit like chicken Maryland. If you head to wikipedia and search for Portuguese cuisine, there won’t be any dish described in there that is remotely close to what we are familiar with as Portuguese grilled fish. Similarly, I’ve been to Maryland a few times without ever encountering our version of this Western food chicken dish.
Nevertheless, along with such terms like Balinese cats that aren’t from Bali, we know what we’re getting into when we order Portuguese grilled fish, and we don’t expect it to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s favorite dish.
this stall has been around for decades
My very first experience with this version of grilled fish was actually at this famous stall at Petaling Street probably some 15 years ago when I was studying at Subang Jaya, and it wasn’t just a few weeks ago that I finally pay a return visit after all these while.
15 years ago, Petaling Street had no roof, the stall operators were mostly locals selling counterfeit products, and the Portuguese grill fish operation was a stall next to Hong Leong bank.
Today, the street has a shiny roof, stalls are manned by Banglas & Nepalis selling the same counterfeit products, and nothing has changed to the Portuguese grill fish stall.
medium portion with squid, lala, and sting ray
A portion of grilled fish starts at RM 5 (kembung) & RM 7 (stingray, tilapia, chicken fish) and comes with one serving of rice. The version we ordered had string ray, lala, and squid in medium portion and cost an affordable RM 15.
Other than fish, you can order prawns, squid, bamboo shoots, and chicken wings, and the combination of them.
The preparation method seems fairly straight forward – the ingredients are chucked into aluminum foil, and then cooked over charcoal fire. Waiting time is usually at least 25-35 minutes because everything is cooked from its raw form.
still as good as when I had it for the first time more than 10 yrs ago
While the rice we had that day was a little too wet, the grilled seafood was a blast. Their super spicy sambal is still as addictive as I remember, and there was just no way one could realistically finish the paste without suffering permanent damage to the stomach lining, but we couldn’t stopped ourselves from having just one. more. spoon.
It was another good meal, the old fashion way, and next time, I’m gonna order them with petai. 
Address:
Ikan Panggang Portugis Istimewa
by Hong Leong Bank, Petaling Street
50000 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.144501, 101.697725
Tel: 019 315 9448
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michelle: ops there’s a wiki entry! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Maryland
O.. they only business at night! wonder, i cant hardly find it..
Nikel: yes yes at night wan
gosh, i looked up that wiki entry on balinese cats, expecting it to be some sort of strange food recipe made out of cats! didn’t realize it was an actual breed of cats
Sean: hahaha well they didn’t call babi guling Balinese pigs tho!
I tried this once, years ago. And left with a sour impression. The 1 hour wait notwithstanding, they actually served a bunch of ‘close’ customers who came much later.
J2Kfm: those old school places sometimes do that, terrible.
But usually the waiting time is damn long lo..
eiling: yah, that’s true.
Here in Australia, Portugese chicken is very common, yet when I was in Portugal, I didn’t see anything like it. It turns out that it’s from the Portugese colonies in Africa, where they use the peri peri sauce.
The same with the fish I suspect. The “real Portugese” fish is salted cod (bacalao) which is terrific but nothing like your example. But that also sounds good anyway. Maybe it’s a case of who cares what it’s called, if it tastes good – eat it.
Paul: haha yah, so long as they’re tasty!
What mouth watering pictures you have here! I am off to check out the recipe… can’t wait!!!
Loverforfood: best!
I think my last visit is also more than 15 years ago when I was studying in college. I remember we had to wait for more than 1 hour, the boss asked us to order first, then come back in 1 hour time.
King Kong: ouch. hahahah.
Long time not go petaling street, but we will go petaling street for xmas eve coundown tonight, merry xmas!