Lobster is one of those sea creatures that usually means slightly different things to different people. The image of lobsters that we’re familiar with are usually the spiny lobster, which is quite a bit more prevalent in Chinese cuisine and local seafood restaurants.
The Lobsterman, however, serves only Homarus Americanus, or the American lobster, which is easily identified with their iconic big claws. Lobsterman is in fact the only lobster specialty restaurant in the country.
The Lobsterman. Homarus Americanus
My only previous visit to this restaurant was some 7-8 years ago, prior to the birth of this blog. I’ve been longing to head there again for a while now, so for Haze’s birthday, we went there for dinner.
The menu at Lobsterman is quite extensive (you can find a full listing on their website). Other than lobsters, they serve beef, chicken, salmon, cod, and a couple lamb dishes too.
Lobsters are priced according to weight:
this sweet lobster was our dinner, your life will be well delicious
However, the best deal would be their lobster special menu priced at RM 128. For that you get baked escargot/half dozen New Zealand mussels, soup of the day, live Atlantic lobster (550 gram) prepared in style of your choice, seafood rice/pasta, dessert of the day, and tea/coffee.
If I remember correctly, I ordered the same deal during the first visit and it was something like RM 98 then. Marginal increase in price over the years, plenty reasonable.
baked escargot and cream of mushroom
We ordered the special set with and upgraded lobster (700 gram for extra RM 20 just cos the ran out of 550 gram lobster) and an Uruguayan tenderloin (RM 56) to share.
First to come was the baked escargot and it was much better than expected. The escargot is shelled and served in a special plate. Plenty of cream, cheese, and the snail goodness. We loved it.
The cream of mushroom soup tho, was very ordinary, and I wouldn’t recommend ordering if it wasn’t part of a set.
700 gram lobster, char broiled the traditional American style
We had our lobster prepared the good old American way – char-broiled.
Alternatively you can have it prepared HK style (garlic), Japanese (sashimi or soup), American (stuffed, simmered), France (Terragon butter baked), Italy (lobster thermidor), local (stir fry salt & pepper or XO sauce), Chinese (braised yee mee, steamed, lotus leaf), Indian (curry), Thai (tomyam) and more.
I’d recommend sticking to methods that involves less spices in order to enjoy the natural taste of the seafood. I had tried lobster sashimi before and it was really good.
the birthday girl was obviously enjoying the lobster much
The char broiled style too was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the lobster. It was fresh (obviously), firm, and flavorful. There was a side of butter to go with the lobster but I find it unnecessary, it was really good on its own too.
we also ordered the filet mignon, pleasantly surprised with how well it was
The Uruguayan tenderloin was a slab of prime barrel cut filet mignon at 220 gram. Haze loved it rare and that was how we had it. We ordered it with the sauce on the side and ended up not touching the sauce at all. The meat was tender and really turned out to be much better than anticipated.
It was probably one of the best non-wagyu/kobe beef that I’ve ever had. Would probably go there again when I am in for some good beef. 
Horng, Suan, Yuki, and Kerol came in to surprise the birthday girl
After the dinner, Suan, Horng, Kerol and Yuki came in for a little surprised cake for the birthday girl. I had to delay our departure from the restaurant to make this happen as the guys were stuck in traffic, but alas it was a real surprise.
A good dinner, and pretty reasonably priced (I wouldn’t say affordable). Everything ended up around RM 250 (with drinks & taxes), but it was well worth it.
Address:
Lobsterman Homarus Americanus
53 Jalan SS 2/30
Ss 2, 47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
Website: lobsterman.com.my
GPS: 3.114334, 101.621717
Tel: 03-7877 6772
I’ve heard and read about the famed Uncle Cheng’s Special Beef Noodle (at Seksyen 17 then) for quite some time, and always meant to give it a try. That mission somehow eluded me, then one day, I saw the bright and shiny UNCLE CHENG special beef noodle signage on the shop lot right next to the pet fish store I always frequent at Alisan.
Uncle Cheng moved to within walking distance from my house, marvelous!
Uncle Cheng’s special beef noodle, new location at Alisan
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the area, this area called Alisan (Alison) is actually at the tail end of SS 2, intersecting SS 3 and SS 4, within a stone’s throw away from Taman Bahagia Station and quite a distance away from the more familiar SS 2 square (with wai sek kai, McDonald’s, and the likes).
beef, tripe, and beef ball – RM 7.50
Uncle Cheng serves Johor style beef noodle, and this is quite a bit different from the usual Central version that we are familiar with (like ngau kei at Tengkat Tongshin, song kee at lot 10 Hutong).
The soup version of beef noodle comes with clear broth that’s slightly salty, a choice of laifun, horfun, or meehun, beef, tripes, and beef balls, a bit of salted vegetable, and served with home made chili sauce that carries a kick.
This is the basic version at RM 7.50, with the amount of beef stuff, it was certainly well worth the money.
beef noodle, dry and soup, with laifun & meehun options
The dry version is served with the same ingredients but with the addition of sesame seeds and peanuts, a slightly sweet, starchy sauce completes the dish, with a small bowl of soup at the side. I’ve tried both and personally favors the soup version, the dry one is not bad but slightly too starchy for me, but it does certainly have an interesting texture with the sesame seeds and peanuts.
There’s also beef noodle with dry meat (RM 8.50), beef, tripe, beef balls, dry meat (RM 9), tenderloin meat (RM 9), beef + tripe + beef balls + dry meat + tendon (RM 12), I tried the latter before, and boy it was a feast.
check out the special beef tendon, the size of it!
For those who loves beef tendon as much as yours truly, Uncle Cheng sometimes carry a special type of beef tendon not easily available anywhere else. The chef personally introduced this big slab of tendon to me. Served in a bowl of saltier broth, it was sticky, super flavorful, and absolutely heaven for anyone who loves tendon. I was lucky.
A separate bowl of tendon goes for RM 6 or RM 12. You can also order shank, brisket, and even bone marrow in bowl or clay pot.
Uncle Cheng is open for breakfast and lunch everyday, and dinner too on weekends. The good chef/owner is still tinkering a bit with the menu I think, but whatever that is described here are always available.
I’m gonna walk there more often.
p/s: this place is pork free.
Address:
Uncle Cheng Special Beef Noodle
Jalan SS 2/4a
SS 2, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.111731,101.611218
Tel: 012-303 0626
A couple weeks ago I received an email from one of my readers by the name of Von who asked if I could do a review on Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant.
Her exact wordings include:
“I found the green curry at that place just excellent, and hope that place won’t close shop as not many people know about it. It will be a waste to let such good food close shop.”
The email came across to me as pretty honest, so last week I suggested to some #porkgang jokers that we should give it a try, and we did just that.
Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant, so authentic it’s in the name :S
Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant is located on the same row as Kayu (which serves pretty good roti tissue) at the slightly less glamorous side of SS2, the Chow Yang area. Parking is usually not a terribly difficult exercise in this area.
When we arrived, there were only a couple other tables occupied. It was pretty quiet, but I wasn’t deterred. With it’s rather bland interior decoration and cheap plastic chairs, it’s not hard to imagine the lack of attraction to potential uninformed customers.
seafood tomyam, fried kai lan with mushroom, green curry with chicken
For the 8 of us, we ordered up quite a feast. Seafood tomyam and the recommended green curry were a no brainer, we also had vegetable, steamed fish, egg, squid, and pandan chicken.
Seafood tomyam (RM 30) came in an old school steamboat and actually turned out quite good, we didn’t order it very spicy (due to several low tolerance member) but it still had a zing, and ingredients were plenty full too. The recommended green curry chicken (RM 15) did not disappoint at all either, the curry was very rich with santan and yet super flavorful.
Fried kailan with mushroom (RM 12) was just to satisfy vitamin C quota. Nothing too exciting there.
steamed siakap fish, fried egg with crab meat, Thai style squid, pandan chicken
The steamed siakap (RM 30) we ordered was prepared the traditional Thai style. Last I had this was at De Chiengmai at Sungai Buloh, and while the soup based here was very delicious, I find that the fish wasn’t very fresh nor was it prepared properly. Perhaps I am spoiled by super fresh “live” fish at Chinese restaurants, but I do expect this situation to improve if business turns brisk.
Fried egg with crab meat (RM 14) was very delicious even though we could taste little crab meat. The squid (RM 12) too was very rich in flavor with plenty of basil, chili, and even whole pepper; I could be happier if they removed the eyes and beaks off the squid’s head though.
Kim, Cheesie, Jac, Eric, Suan, Kerol, and 4-eye KY
Last but not least, we also had the pandan chicken (RM 30, 10 pieces). They were rather fragrant and pretty tasty, but we had too much food, and the portion was a bit too big. If you were ordering this, better specify the exact amount you need.
With rice, plenty of cold fresh coconut (RM 4.5), and other drinks, dinner came to RM 197 or about RM 25 per pax, pretty decent for what we ordered. I’m sure Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant is a place worth revisiting. *burp*
Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant is located the same row as KAYU
Address:
Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant
No.26 Jalan SS2/10,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.115587,101.616926
Tel: 03-7877 7659, 012-378 9618
kailan – 12, egg 14, squid 12, pandan chicken 20, tomyam 30, fish 30, coconut 4.5, logan 3, chinese tea 1. total 197
Lorong Seratus Tahun at SS2 used to be one of my favorite places to go whenever I think of Penang food. They had real Penang hawker food prepared with authentic ingredients and was one of the very few places where you could fine Curry Mee served with coagulated pork blood, which is to me, one of the most crucial item in the that dish.
I was so happy when I first discovered it and wrote a glowing food review.
Lorong Seratus Tahun at SS2, now PORK FREE (yawn)
We ended up there again this afternoon to find that the places is now renovated in the to a familiar Old Town/Kluang Kopitiam style. The menu expanded to include quite a few dishes that you can’t find in Penang hawker stalls, and prices too were increased by some 15-20%. The lady boss told me I can’t snap a picture of the menu, hmm..
Which to me, was still fine if they are still serving good old fashion good. I just wanted my curry mee with coagulated pork blood.
And then I was shown by Suan that the menu said PORK FREE! THE HORROR!
Curry Mee, and Char Kueh Teow without lap cheong (Chinese sausage)
Well since we were already there, we ordered anyway. The place was noticeably busy, so our food took a while to come. However, it was a bit of a bad job for them to serve Horng’s char kueh teow a full 15 minutes before Suan’s.
The Char Kueh Teow now does not come with Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausage), nor do they still use any pork oil in cooking it. A rather good good plate of ckt is now a very ordinary one, RM 7.50.
The Curry Mee, without coagulated pork blood, is not too different from any curry mee you can find anywhere else. Nothing special, RM 6.50. (3 years ago it was RM 4.50).
Horng also ordered a plate of Loh Bak at RM 9.50, and as expected, instead of pork we found chicken breast inside the loh bak. Quite a turn off.
In total, we spent RM 63.95 (5% service charge). Being slightly priceir than other places is fine, but removing all pork ingredients and still calling it “authentic Penang food” is just wrong. Granted the food isn’t terrible, but it’s not at all close to what it used to be.
I’m disappointed, that would be the last time I step foot in the restaurant if it stays this way.
p/s: Happy Merdeka.
After watching the Astro AEC program (channel 19) “Our Root” on the Baba and Nyonya cultures featuring Kelvin the noob on Sunday. We decided that it would be fitting to have some Nyonya food for dinner to celebrate his success in dodging the grandmother’s “got bring gf back or not?” question on satellite TV. So we headed to Ah Tuan Ee’s Place in SS2.
“jiu hu char” or fried mengkuang with dried cuttle fish
There are actually no less than 4 Nyonya restaurants in SS2. The others are Restaurant Bibichick, Melaka Street, and well, Nyona Restaurant. I have sampled them and they were all pretty decent.
Ah Tuan Ee’s Place has a much more refined interior decoration and a nicer ambiance comparing to it’s counterparts. The illustrated menu is especially helpful if you are not familiar with traditional Nyonya food.
nice ambiance and illustrated menu
For the three of us, we ordered a “jiu hu char” (fried mengkuang with dried cuttle fish), sambal salted fish, egg plant with sambal, and fried asam prawn to go with steamed rice.
“jiu hu char”, sambal salted fish, egg plant with sambal, fried asam prawn
The food were pretty good, especially the super simple dish that is the salted fish sambal that goes very well with white rice. The egg plant was a little too oily, but the prawn and “jiu hu char” dishes reminded me of my mom’s cooking, it was great. (My mom isn’t a Nyonya, but Penang Chinese cooking is similar in many ways). It was a pretty good meal.
Ah Tuan Ee’s Place is just a block from SS2 Square
The food were good, however, the price isn’t very economical. I guess you do have to pay for the nice ambiance after all. The meal for 3 costs us RM 77, that includes a 10% service charge and the 5% government tax.
Address:
74, Jalan SS2/72
Petaling Jaya
47300 Selangor
GPS: 3.118673, 101.625810
Tel: 03-7957 2915
