Indulgent Teochew seafood porridge for lunch with Hazel and friends today at Chew Seafood Garden 老洲海鲜粥 near KSL Mall in JB.
Chew Seafood Garden is a small, compact little shop lot restaurant just across Jalan Serigala from KSL mall in Taman Century. It's a good dining option, if you go shopping at KSL mall.
First to arrive were appetisers of sorts, fried "dragon tongue" fish (RM15+ a piece) and fried 5-spice meat rolls (RM12+ a serving).
I love the fried "dragon tongue" fish as the browned parts outside were really crispy while the white meat inside remained tender and moist. The savoury taste of the browned crispy outside is complemented with slightly sweet flesh inside.
The house made fried 5-spice meat roll was nice too. The savoury slightly crisp fried tofu skin wrapped sweet savoury 5-spice seasoned minced pork and chopped chestnuts.
Chef owner Ah Chew brought Chew Seafood Garden's signature seafood porridge. Eh.......? The boss and seafood porridge looked familiar like we have met before leh.... .
In the large pot of rich seafood stock there's rice and choice of seafood, for which we had crab, fish balls, minced pork, squid, lala clams, and prawns.
This seafood porridge really can't go wrong as long as the seafood are fresh. It's just layers upon layers of umami savoury sweetness from the seafood stock, rice and all the seafood inside.
As we worked our way through the delicious seafood porridge, I realised what was giving me the sense of deja vu. I have met boss Ah Chew before at Matang Seafood View in Taman Gaya way back in 2013 (that's nearly 7 years ago).
Ah Chew has launched his own Chew Seafood Garden restaurants with the same Matang seafood porridge. Ah Chew's family hails from Kuala Sepetang (十八丁), a fishing town near Taiping in Perak. As he told me before when we first met in Matang Seafood View restaurant (in 2013), Ah Chew still gets most of his seafood from his sister in Kuala Sepetang. The truck with fresh wild caught catches comes down from Perak to Johor Bahru every Friday evening.
No wonder everything seemed so familiar.
No, Chew Seafood also have ikan bakar stingray (and other fishes) which was not at Matang Seafood.
Ah Chew's ikan bakar stingray was the tasty surprise of the day. The stingray flesh was oh... so... tenderly soft, smooth and juicy sweet. And, that thick blanket of sambal chili sauce was deliciously hot spicy sweet. It was really delicious. (If you like more savouriness you can use the chinchalok dip. Squeeze in some calamansi juice for a bit of zesty tang.)
We liked the ikan bakar so much that we ordered an additional serving of petai (stinky beans) and sotong (squid) just to enjoy the sambal chili one more time 😋
Fried grouper fish head (chopped into bony pieces) in dark sauce. The sauce was mainly sweet with a bit of savouriness. Can't really taste the fish due to the assertive sweet tasting sauce. Spicy accents were also missing.
The grand finale, a pair of steamed lobsters with mildly savoury sauce and lots of garnish like fried and raw garlic, cut chili etc.
The spiny lobsters came from Sungai Rengit, Johor's lobster town in Pengerang. The lobsters were not live, so the meat doesn't have that coveted light spring and subtle exquisite sweetness of Pengerang's famed spicy lobsters.
But, at RM180+ for a kilo of meaty steamed lobsters, it's a good deal for a lobster feast in downtown Johor Bahru.
Oh.. mi.. gawd.., they have melt in the mouth coconut pudding made with real coconut juice 😮
The coconut flesh was soft, smooth and sweet with subtle sweetish fragrance. I am so happy because I am a big fan of coconut pudding and used to go to Kukup regularly to get my fix. This RM9.90 one at Chew Seafood tastes better than those I have to pay RM12-RM16 for in Kukup.
Information for you 👉 Great place for Teochew seafood porridge at a reasonable price. 👌 Pro-tip: Best time to get it is on weekends (Sat & Sun) as the fresh seafood arrives from Kuala Sepetang on Friday evening. Chew Seafood has one of the best ikan bakar that I have tasted in Johor Bahru. I will come here just to fix my ikan bakar craving. The coconut pudding here is even better than those I have tasted in Kukup. Must order this for dessert or even come into Chew Seafood just for it on any hot day when shopping around KSL mall.
Making a good deal even better. Don't throw away your receipt. Show them your receipt and get 15% off your next bill.
Restaurant name: Chew Seafood Garden 老洲海鲜粥
Address: 35, Jalan Serigala, Taman Century, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1°29'09.0"N 103°45'41.2"E 🌐 1.485841, 103.761444
Tel: +60 7-336 5746
Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm
Date visited: 27 Dec 2019
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