FINGER-LICKING GOODNESS
33 Seafood Restaurant scored with its latest offering of seafood platter, writes Es Tung
IT’S finger-licking goodness at 33 Seafood Restaurant in Bandar Puteri, Puchong, Selangor. What began as a regular seafood steamboat outlet has today scored with its regulars with its latest offering — seafood platter that is literally served on the table.
There are no fork and spoon or plate — although you can ask for them. Instead, the seafood platter is served on a sheet of paper laid out on the table and you are encouraged to eat with your fingers.
Plastic disposables gloves are provided but according to restaurant owner Simon Ho, 44, seafood tastes better when eaten with one’s fingers.
“Eating becomes a more pleasurable experience that way,” he says.
According to him, the restaurant started as a steamboat joint a year ago. In search of a more interesting way of serving seafood, he decided to change to the current offering. His decision has been met with much approval from his customers and the 200-pax capacity pork-free restaurant is usually filled to the brim at dinner time, especially on weekends.
Targeting the young and upwardly mobile, the restaurant’s main menus are primed for dinners although they are also available for lunch. The seafood platter is offered in five main cooking styles such as sweet, sour and spicy, Thai hot sauce; cheesy mozzarella; flaming pronto (with a dash of liquor), and kam heong where the seafood is fried to fragrance with curry spices).
Orders are divided into sets A (RM98 for 2-3 persons), B (RM168 for 3-4 persons), C (RM228 for 5-6 persons), and D (RM368 for 7-8 persons). Set A is made up of giant fresh water prawns (sang har), tiger prawns, bamboo clams, golden scallops, mussels and white squid. For Set B, you get all the items in the first set, yabbies and additionally, you can also choose between a crab or two pieces of giant fresh water prawns. More luxurious items like abalone, white mussels, and fish slices (sea bass) are offered at the higher priced sets.
“Sometimes when customers come in a group of five or six, we would recommend several basic sets (Set A) cooked in different cooking styles instead,” says Ho.
“That will give them an opportunity to try out more of our specialities. We are also very flexible with the orders. For instance, if you like to have more prawns or squids, or even scallops and abalones, we will be happy to oblige with a little additional charge according to the items.”
As I am there with my wife, we have set A, with seafood platter served baked with mozzarella cheese and another done kam heong-style. The baked seafood came with generous amounts of mozzarella cheese as well as vegetables that included baked potato, sweet corn, long bean, brinjal and broccoli.
A jug of orange juice is served complimentary. Each platter also comes with a plate of French loaf slices for “mopping” up the gravy once we were done. Ho says he decided to use French loaf instead of the regular fried Chinese buns because it is less oily.
While the mozzarella cheese seafood platter is served on a tray, the kam heong set is poured on the table. If you have never eaten with your fingers, you should try it. Gloves are provided so as to keep your fingers clean but should you use your fingers, don’t worry. There is a very clean sink, where you can clean your hands before and after your fingerlicking experience.
While my wife is impressed with the mozzarella cheese baked seafood platter, which came with generous amounts of vegetables, I am more at home with the kam heong-style. It is fragrant and spicy but not too hot. I did the mistake of treating my palate to kam heong first, only to find the mozzarella cheese less interesting to an over-stimulated palate.
“We usually recommend that our customers try our cheesy mozzarella platter first before trying kam heong should they order both so as to enjoy the creamy goodness of seafood baked with mozzarella.”
Thanks to his chef, Simon Toh, 54, a hotel chef with three decades’ experience, the seafood platter is very well prepared. The mussels are definitely heavenly, cooked to perfection to have their juices explode in your mouth as you bite into each. The squid is soft and yielding to the bite while the vegetables like long beans and broccoli are crunchy.
Although the outlet targets the dinner crowd, it also serves a very affordable lunch set meals priced at RM9.90 nett, featuring street fare like mee mamak, Hokkien mee and vegetarian fried rice, served with a complimentary drink and two slices of watermelon.
“We offer quite a filling portion,” says Ho who plans to introduce two items on its a la carte menu — chicken and lamb chops, priced at RM15.90 and RM19.90 respectively. “The chicken and lamb chops are available for lunch or dinner.”