Back at Seng Steam Fish today for their legendary fried fish. It was as good as ever and I still have not found anywhere in Johor that does this fried fish as well as Seng Steam Fish.
We arrived before the lunch crowd as Seng Steam Fish is always full house. We like it that the restaurant is spacious and airy. It is well kept and clean. Located at the eastern end of Jalan Keris, it is away from busy streets and above road level, so it is calm and peaceful here. Free parking is plentiful.
Most of the signature dishes are on the banner up near the ceiling. The signature fried fish is #1.
Two of us, we ordered the famous fried fish, la la clams, and fried greens (青龙菜 green dragon vegetable). The food was served very quickly.
Seng's fried fish was as marvellous as ever. I called it cauliflower fish because it looked like cauliflower. Other customers call it flower fish or grape fish. Seng Steam Fish simply call it fried fish 炸魚. (It is a version of squirrel fish.)
The browned fried fish come on a shallow pool of Thai style looking sauce, a dark sauce and dribbles of mayonnaise on top.
Seng's fried fish is made with Ikan Merah (red snapper) fish filleted, cut in their proprietary way, and deep fried. The meaty chunks of fried fish were tender, tasted sweet with additional mild savoury sweet tangy and spicy flavours from the sauce and mayonnaise.
Done with all the delicious meat, we still had this piece of skin (the fish is served boneless).
The crispy tail looked like a fish cracker.
The crispy skin and tail tasted so good, I ate it all up.
The la la clams were very nice too. Simmered in a savoury sweet soupy sauce with Chinese cooking wine. The taste of shell fish umami and sweetness with taste of Chinese wine was prominent.
The la la clams were tenderly plump, meaty, juicy sweet. They were fresh and very clean.
The simple stir fried green dragon vegetable. It was soft with a bit of subtle crunchiness. Gentle savoury sweet sauce with a bit of natural vegetable taste still present. Nice.
Seeing that the table next to us had this stir fried bitter gourd with salted egg, we ordered one too.
It was delicious. The bitter gourd slices had a soft crunch, tasted sweet with layers of mild savouriness from salted egg and dried shrimps. There was very little, if any bitter taste at all.
Lady boss Mdm Chin joined us mid way through our meal.
Mdm Chin recommended us this 3-in-1 三合一 which is braised pork belly with braised tofu and stewed vegetable. It's a blend of layers of savoury sweetness with layers of soft tenderness.
Mdm Chin shared that they started as a bak kut teh stall over 30 years ago near the Chinese temple at Taman Seri Tebrau. They moved here about 20 years ago when the stalls were demolished.
They moved on to steamed fish and then added this fried fish to the menu over ten years ago.
Seng's fried fish became a big hit. Now, every table is bound to have an order of their signature fried fish 炸魚. Often, groups will order several fried fish per table because everyone wants their own fried fish - don't want to share 😜
Recommended for you 👍 It's not that there are no other such style of fried fish around. It's just that Seng Steam Fish uses fresh sea fish (Ikan Merah depending on availability), cuts it better, fries it better, serves it with a nicer, interesting, complex yet well balanced sauce. Furthermore, it is done consistently well and offered at a reasonable price. Seng's fried fish is one of the definitive dishes representing the best of Johor food.
Disclosure: Mdm Chin graciously offered to treat us to our meal which we gratefully accepted.
Seng Steamed Fish is located at the intersection of Jalan Keris and Jalan Rentaka.
Restaurant name: Seng Steam Fish Restaurant 成蒸鱼与肉骨茶
Address: 100, Jalan Kris, Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1.487916,103.774656 🌐 1°29'16.5"N 103°46'28.8"E
Waze: Seng Steam Fish Restaurant
Tel: 012-775 0511
Hours: 9:00am to 2:00pm (closed on Monday)
Seng's fried fish is made with Ikan Merah (red snapper) fish filleted, cut in their proprietary way, and deep fried. The meaty chunks of fried fish were tender, tasted sweet with additional mild savoury sweet tangy and spicy flavours from the sauce and mayonnaise.
Done with all the delicious meat, we still had this piece of skin (the fish is served boneless).
The crispy tail looked like a fish cracker.
The crispy skin and tail tasted so good, I ate it all up.
The la la clams were very nice too. Simmered in a savoury sweet soupy sauce with Chinese cooking wine. The taste of shell fish umami and sweetness with taste of Chinese wine was prominent.
The la la clams were tenderly plump, meaty, juicy sweet. They were fresh and very clean.
The simple stir fried green dragon vegetable. It was soft with a bit of subtle crunchiness. Gentle savoury sweet sauce with a bit of natural vegetable taste still present. Nice.
Seeing that the table next to us had this stir fried bitter gourd with salted egg, we ordered one too.
It was delicious. The bitter gourd slices had a soft crunch, tasted sweet with layers of mild savouriness from salted egg and dried shrimps. There was very little, if any bitter taste at all.
Lady boss Mdm Chin joined us mid way through our meal.
Mdm Chin recommended us this 3-in-1 三合一 which is braised pork belly with braised tofu and stewed vegetable. It's a blend of layers of savoury sweetness with layers of soft tenderness.
Mdm Chin shared that they started as a bak kut teh stall over 30 years ago near the Chinese temple at Taman Seri Tebrau. They moved here about 20 years ago when the stalls were demolished.
They moved on to steamed fish and then added this fried fish to the menu over ten years ago.
Seng's fried fish became a big hit. Now, every table is bound to have an order of their signature fried fish 炸魚. Often, groups will order several fried fish per table because everyone wants their own fried fish - don't want to share 😜
Recommended for you 👍 It's not that there are no other such style of fried fish around. It's just that Seng Steam Fish uses fresh sea fish (Ikan Merah depending on availability), cuts it better, fries it better, serves it with a nicer, interesting, complex yet well balanced sauce. Furthermore, it is done consistently well and offered at a reasonable price. Seng's fried fish is one of the definitive dishes representing the best of Johor food.
Disclosure: Mdm Chin graciously offered to treat us to our meal which we gratefully accepted.
Seng Steamed Fish is located at the intersection of Jalan Keris and Jalan Rentaka.
Restaurant name: Seng Steam Fish Restaurant 成蒸鱼与肉骨茶
Address: 100, Jalan Kris, Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1.487916,103.774656 🌐 1°29'16.5"N 103°46'28.8"E
Waze: Seng Steam Fish Restaurant
Tel: 012-775 0511
Hours: 9:00am to 2:00pm (closed on Monday)
The famous Seng Steam Fish Restaurant 成蒸鱼与肉骨茶 come highly recommended in the mainstream media as well as in blogosphere.
Seng Steam Fish is located near the dead end of Jalan Keris in Taman Sri Tebrau that only fans and locals know where.
Despite its somewhat secluded location, popular Seng Steam Fish is always overflowing with customers during lunch hour. Actually, I found its quiet location a plus point as free of charge roadside parking is a breeze even during peak hours 😄 Free parking is a privilege not to be taken for granted in JB nowadays.
In case, anyone ever wondered how an anonymous food blogger is received at restaurants, Seng Steam Fish is one of those places where I got quizzical looks from the boss. Fortunately, I got sufficient shots for this post before I got waved away by the frowning boss 😄
This is Seng Steam Fish's signature deep fried boneless fish.
The fish is cut and deboned using a trade secret method that opens up the flesh like a cauliflower.
The fish is fried in hot oil till it is crispy outside.
This fried fish is clearly Seng's most popular dish as I saw it on nearly every table. And justifiably so, as the fish was a finely balanced blend of natural sweetness from the chunky fish meat and the sweet, sour, tangy, spicy Thai style sauce poured over the fried fish.
The drizzle of dark coloured sauce added a touch of savouriness. The dribble of sweet and smooth mayonnaise zig zagged across the ball of fried fish meat bloomed like a cauliflower, gave Seng's fish a fusion flavour.
Couple the interesting blend of flavours from the sauces with the crispy yet tender moist fish meat, and we have a delectable, innovative fish dish. Kudos to Seng Steam Fish.
We were recommended the braised pork with braised tofu and preserved vegetables. Everything was tender, nicely sweet and not too salty, though perhaps it was overshadowed by my excitement over the signature fried fish which got all my attention. I found this dish pretty good, though not outstanding.
I shall definitely be back at Seng Steam Fish a few more times and next time I shall have their other signature steamed fish, the popular Teochew style fried pumpkin and bitter gourd fried with salted eggs.
👉 Must try the unique boneless fried fish here. You cannot find it anywhere else except here and it is delicious!
Restaurant name: Seng Steam Fish Restaurant 成蒸鱼与肉骨茶
Address: 100, Jalan Kris, Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1.487916,103.774656 / 1°29'16.5"N 103°46'28.8"E
Hours: 8:00am to 3:00pm (closed on Monday)
Non Halal
Date visited: 25 July 2012 | Updated: 28 Mar 2022
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I visited JB recently. Was at Taman Sri Tebrau too! But went there to try Hiang Kee's Butter Crayfish.
ReplyDeletehaha, I know what you mean. I always get stares and the stall owners will ask why you keep taking pictures and some will tell you to stop taking.
Sometimes I get very, very warmly welcome LOL. And, have very nice and interesting conversations with the boss. Learnt a lot about food this way.
Deletetts good. Keep the post coming. I love your blog (so much better than mine!)
ReplyDeleteFoodieFC, when I want to know about S'pore food, I go to your blog ;D
Deletelol. thanks for the kind comment =)
DeleteHave a nice 'day' (night) ahead!
The map is not working... can you fix it please :)
ReplyDeleteFixed the map. Thanks for pointing out.
DeleteSeng Steam Fish has been my family's lunch place on weekends for the past few years. Great food, fast service and very reasonable pricing. Really love this place!! 👍👍👍
ReplyDeleteSeng Steam Fish has been the weekend lunch spot for my family for the past few years. Great food, fast service and very reasonable pricing. We absolutely love this place!!! 👍👍👍
ReplyDelete