Mun Choong revisited

Aunty decided to throw a treat since my cousin came back to Ipoh and also our family members got some dividends from our company. Hence, its time to pay a visit to Mun Choong (Pusing Public Seafood Restaurant). Despite being a weekday, the ground flour was almost filled to the brim! We were ushered to our table which we booked and order was taken without much delay. Lets start of by saying the prawn crackers is a hit here. I'm not sure whether it will be nonchalantly served at your table alongside the peanuts, or is it upon ordering. One thing for sure is, many of the other tables have at least one serving of this. Not oily at all, this crispy crackers were fresh from the wok and does have a distinctive prawn aroma. At least I know I'm not just eating tapioca flour =p

"King-Do" style pork ribs - juicy and meat ribs are used instead of the lean meat, which had my favour when reviewing this! I mean, for example when you order beef ribs, wont you get irritated if they serve you ribeye steak instead? Similarly, only ribs is fit enough for dishes like the Pai Kuat Wong. At least, the food here is not done shabbily as you get what you pay! The slightly tangy savoury sauce makes this a very good complement to your white rice.

Have some greenies to nullify the fats of the meat just now. This is quite an "in-trend" dish in Chinese restaurants nowadays, Stirfried Beansprout with Qing Loong vegetables. This type of greens is something similar like kucai and I heard its abit pricey as it only grows under highlands climate.

Apparently, this steamed stuffed taufu is one of their signature dish? Perhaps the bouncy stuffing is made of premium fish meat? The tau fu is indeed smooth, thanks to the calcium carbonate of Ipoh's water from the limestone cave - secret to fat and juicy girls chicks, errr... I mean beansprouts! =p

The bean paste steamed fish. "Long Dun" is the fish used since I'm not the one footing the bill, its a good opportunity to order something besides the freshwater tilapia. Anyway, this is Mun Choong, I think no fish from the second division could qualify. Only fishes from the premier league like garoupa, cod, pomfret, to name a few. I find the paste was very appetizing but it overshadowed the freshness of the fish. In addition, I do not really fish served in slabs. I prefer the whole fish steamed though it maybe a bit tedious when handling the bones. These few slabs of Long Dun is actually similar to an oversized garoupa, the flesh being too firm to my liking, its almost like eating poultry!

But the star of the day was the big headed prawns! Yes, those made famous in Tanjung Tualang. Mun Choong has been synonymous in being an expert in Kon Chein Har. (Pan Fried Soya Sauce Prawns). Initially we decided to order around 800g of prawns but we could not decide whether to go for their signature style of dishing up the prawns or to opt for the tantilizing style of steaming with egg whites and wine.

And, we decided to have the best of both worlds! I requested to have a bigger portion to be done "yin yong". One prawns each from both styles. After tasting both, I could not decide a clear winner, but the evil inside my gluttony spirit have to give the tiebreaker mark to the Kon Chein Har. Yes, steaming managed to lock the juices of the prawns and you can taste the natural sweetness of the seafood without being much adulterated by the clear stock of wine, egg whites and ginger. But the pan fried ones had the slight edge in its crispy exterior which made me munching on the prawn shells and tails!!! The artery clogging oil/soya sauce coating is outrageously flavourful!

Steamed prawns in closed up glory!!! Screw your table manners and rip those shells and heads apart. Suck it! Lick it! Indulge in one of fresh water's best offerings! The same can be done to the panfried ones. Choose your poison! rawwwrrrRrrs!

The roes from the prawns! This will make your blood pressure and cholesterol skyrocket even at a rate higher than the inflation in our country! But how often do you get to dine in such pleasure considering the overall bill came up to a whooping RM370 for 7 people. Chinese restaurants ain't cheap, especially those which made its reputation for being in the business for more than a few decades. Eat to live or live to eat? Now THAT is the question with so many nice eateries despite the low Ipoh salary.