Steam House Restaurant, Bercham

It's not by mere coincidence like I stumbled upon this place. I have read it from Motormouth's blog and have passed by a couple of times, especially when I go for my "Lou Gai" (braised chicken) in Foo Kwai Coffeshop. During lunchtime, this shop seems to be quite empty. Until one day, I gave it a try for dinner as Nakhom Pathom Thai Wong was closed on a Saturday (how disappointing!). Steam House is a corner shop along the row of shops which has a lot of opticians. Here, as the name of the shop goes, they are associated with anything steamed!

The are now running a promotion - tilapia at RM15 each. It can be steamed in various ways ranging from conventional soya sauce, black bean, paste (cheong ching), thai style, preserved vegetables, chicken essence stock. Being a conservative, I opted for the bean paste (cheong ching) as I'm accustomed to enjoy my fresh water wish being partnered with robust flavours from the tau cheong/chilli/black bean combination. Fresh water fish is different from seawater fish as the flesh does not develop in salty condition, thus giving a milder/bland feel. Thus, pairing it up with strong flavours is vital to lift up the steamed fish!

As mentioned this IS a STEAM house! Forget your Pai Kuat Wong, Buttered Sotong or whatsoever which needs frying or wok-hei! 90% of the dishes here incorporate steaming, and blanching. Hence, you can find most of the dishes offered are either pre-prepared in bulk like this Wu Tau Kau Yook (Braised Pork with Yam). A dish which requires quite a degree of meticulous effort, a small portion of RM12 could best serve 3-4 person. The meat is tender and absorbed the bean paste gravy, with a tinge of five spice powder. The yam is equally done near perfection as this dish would requires around at least 2-3 hours of steaming to get the the flavours locked in.

Fancy something different than the braised pork? Perhaps steamed pork ribs with black beans (I think its like those from the dim sum restaurants), steamed chicken with grated ginger, steamed chicken with wine, steamed assorted waxed meat and Chinese sausages... Haha, I think you get the pattern of the menu here. That's why I was random in picking another dish in the form of Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms and Chinese Sausages (RM13). Nothing really spectacular about this dish, but the gravy was indeed very flavourful and made me "banjir"-ing my rice with it. The gravy is something like the ginger juice dashed on your claypot chicken rice before serving but more hearty from the essence of the mushrooms and the oil from the sausages. Boneless and tender chicken meat is used. A healthy option should you neglect the oily layer on the gravy.

All the meat need to be "remedified" with some greens! Blanched vegetables are going for a promo at RM4 per serving. Typical vegetables like those going alongside your Bak Kut Teh. Else you can go for Kai Lan, brinjals, etc. But bear in mind that if they need to heat up the wok for you, it will be at least RM8 per dish, even for plain vegetables. Even a simple taufu dish also cost RM10-RM12. So there's the summary of Steam House. Not too bad of a choice should you have the cravings for something "cheng" (clear).....