The little town of Bekenu between Miri and Niah has Sing Chiong Restaurant which is well known for their live wild Soon Hock fish and giant river prawn dishes.
The large corner restaurant is in Bekenu's little commercial centre known as Bekenu Bazaar which is like most in small town Malaysia. Bekenu is about 45 minutes drive from Miri.
Sing Chiong is popular with locals and folks from nearby towns.
On the walls, there were many time worn newspaper cuttings featuring Sing Chiong.
There were many such photos on the wall too. All of them have Sing Chiong's signature Soon Hock and giant river prawns. You can just say "I want what they were having" 😛
Our live wild Soon Hock (known here as Betutu or Tutu fish). It's a 2kg baby 😯 At Sing Chiong, Soon Hock goes for RM110 per kilo.
At Sing Chiong, the signature Soon Hock was deep fried then steamed, next dressed in aromatic oil and dark soy sauce plus fried ginger, spring onion, etc.
The fish was very meaty. The skin was fried to a crisp while the inside remains soft and moist like those snow cod fish. Yet, there was a subtle fleeting squeaky bite that makes the texture more interesting. We can also taste the fish's sweet freshness.
The savoury aromatic oil and dark sauce complemented the fish's sweetness. But, only if you let it by dipping and brushing the fish in it - I like my Soon Hock with as little sauce as possible 😬
Steamed live giant river prawns (udang galah) on a soft water bed of egg white and rice wine 🦐 In the menu, this dish is "steamed drunken prawn".
I love the watery egg white bed. It was silky smooth like the best soy bean curd and saturated with umami from the prawn and head butter juices. There's also the fragrance and taste of rice wine.
Needless to say, the live river prawns were great - its meat was tender springy with a subtle crunch. It had that subtle sweetness in the fresh prawn way.
A couple of the giant river prawns were done with Sing Chiong's well balanced umami savoury sweet spicy tangy sauce.
It's a pretty good way to enjoy the giant river prawns besides the old steam way.
Deer meat stir fried in savoury sauce.
Actually, I don't remember much of this. The savoury sauce dominated the flavours in the tender meat.
Everywhere I go in Sarawak, I ask for sayur midin (fiddlehead fern). However, most tend to stir fry it with a little too much belacan and for slightly too long.
So savoury saltiness of fermented krill dominated the flavours and most crunchiness was blanched out of the vegetable 😔 Nevertheless, Sing Chiong's rendition is closer to my preference than most others.
Sayur manis or sweet vegetable stir fried with scrambled eggs. I love sayur manis for its subtle chewy texture and slight bitterness. Come to think of it, why is it called sweet when it is actually bitter? though only slightly 🤔
Anyway, bitter seems to go well with egginess. I am thinking about bitter gourd stir fried with eggs. Another of my favourite dishes.
If you are around Miri or Niah, do include Sing Chiong in Bekenu in your itinerary 👍
Hope to be back soon 👋 Next time, I also want to try their prawns with their house made noodles. It will take a few visits to try all the different Soon Hock and prawn dishes at Sing Chiong.
Written by Tony Boey on 17 Aug 2023
🎗 Opinions in this blog are all my own as no restaurant or stall paid money to be featured
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