Wednesday 17 June 2015

Kuala Terengganu Trip : Day 4


On day 4 mum treated us to lunch at Ocean Restaurant. As you can see, mum and dad are very intent on feeding us even though it is very obvious that we are already very well fed muahahaha! I guess that's what parents love to do :)


I have been to Ocean before and it was nice to revisit as I remember the food here is rather good. This is a very typical no frills Chinese restaurant and the decor is at best minimal.


We were early and only a few tables were taken. That's the way I like it because I hate going to a restaurant when it is very crowded. The guy you see in the red striped tee shirt is the captain. If I remember correctly he is known as Joe.

Mum did the ordering. When she came to dish number 4, the well meaning Joe told her that the number of dishes was enough already. Mum trooped on and added one more dish. Joe was very convinced that we ordered one too many and this good man obviously does not know our capacity for food.

Let's take a look at what we had.


This is our standard order anywhere we go. Mixed fried vegetables. We love this and mum cooks this quite often at home. This time, mum did minimal cooking because my brother and I told her in advance that we wanted her to relax and chill out while we were there. Besides, Phong Hong did not want to do any work in the kitchen muahahahaha!!!


Sweet and Sour Oinks. A family favorite. We must order this if we see it on the menu. Cannot resist this dish no matter how hard we try. To me, this goes very well with kailan fried with salted fish. 


Another vegetable. My mum is an advocate of vegetables and we love our greens. This I think is Choy Tam fried with garlic and salt. One of my favorite vegetables. I used to love the one at Esquire Kitchen when it was under the old management donkey years ago.


This is the Barbeque Duck. It's quite popular apparently and it was rather good. I think it is basically roasted (or was it deep fried?) and served in a nice sweet and salty sauce. I used to dislike duck but not anymore. I enjoyed the duck very much.


Asam Fish with lots of thick gravy. This one goes very well with rice. Did I eat rice that day? I think I didn't. It was my attempt at restricting my carbs but I more than exceeded my carb quota and put on quite a bit of weight. I'll show you my carbs later. The Asam Fish was quite good and I loved it. But mum and I agreed that grandma's asam fish is still number one. I should cook it one day, eh?


This was our servings before the Asam Fish came. It's not too many dishes at all. This Joe fellow must be a small eater.


That's more like it, 5 dishes. Joe kept coming by from time to time to keep tab of our progress. Don't worry Joe.


We were all done, nothing left behind. Next time we should shock Joe with 6 dishes hee..hee..hee...

30 comments:

  1. Barbecued duck? That looks like braised. Never mind, as long as it is duck, I like! I would love the sweet and sour oink-oink...and the fish too. Mixed veg...ummm...let's see what else they have.

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    1. Maybe, not too sure about that duck but it was very nice. I've had their sweet and sour fish some years back and it was pretty good.

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  2. I love all the dishes ordered.. I like kiu soong too, but not everyday la, especially now I can't eat much.. But if we go out with the kids, or whenever there are kids around, we must order claypot tofu (with minced meat and starchy gravy) and an egg dish, you know, for kids, and ooohhh, fried rice too.. I love your koo loo yok and asam fish, so Phong Hong didn't eat rice, eh.. No wonder can finish all the 5 dishes.. If got rice, I think will be too full la.. Haha, Joe guy kept coming to check on you guys, don't worry Joe..

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    1. Louiz, I hope you are feeling better. Now your bandaraya working at half capacity hor? Even with rice, I can still sapu the dishes hee..hee...

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  3. That ahpek also got English name, Joe hahaha, sorry I find it quite amusing! XD

    This is also a dai chao place la... or in Hokkien is called zhu char. I love these places, no nonsense at all. But ah, that sweet and sour oink, doesn't look too crispy from the picture. If it is not crispy then I would not like it as much..

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    1. hee..hee..I thought it was amusing too :D

      Oh, that is dai chou kah? My impression of dai chou (from the ones in PJ) is that it operates at night at coffee shops where you have other stalls selling all sorts of food. Yup, the oink was not crispy but it was good to me. The one you had did look better :)

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  4. Loves all the dishes you all ordered...

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  5. now cannot see the ocean liao hor...

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    1. Eh, I didn't notice pulak. Too distracted by the food :D

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  6. 5 dishes for 4 persons...that's about right! I always use the +1 principle. My family (3 of us) will order 4 dishes at tai chow places too...but maybe just one meat dish. That duck is roasted and probably bathed in oil to crispy up the skin. Didn't know Esquire Kitchen used to serve choi tam...and didn't realise there's a change of management either coz the food looks exactly the same donkey years ago.

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    1. That's quite a good guide, your +1 method. You will pengsan when you see my next post hee..hee.. I used to frequent Esquire Kitchen (the one at the old Atria) during the 1990's until they changed management (can't remember when). When that happened, the food tasted different, not so good anymore to me. Possibly the chefs left. Then by chance I went to a restaurant at Sunway Pyramid and lo and behold, the ex-Equire Kitchen captain was there. And amazingly the food tasted just like the old Esquire Kitchen cooking! But I have not been there since because it is out of the way for me.

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  7. You and I have something in common. We are blessed with mothers who still treat us to makan.
    The food would taste better when shared with a happy family like yours!

    *I just posted a birthday wish to SK. Drop by before it expires today. TQ!

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    1. We are very blessed!

      Yes, have visited your post and done my duty :D

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  8. Love all tbe dishes above, PH! I think you can cook all these without any trouble!

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    1. Aiyoyo, Claire! You have so much confidence in me :) The mix vege can lah but the duck, I surrender!

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  9. So much food, eat until phor-tor phonghong liao...mana itu kangkung sambal belacan and kaoyork? my SC&SC changed taste already kah :p

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    1. Dunno lah...maybe my parents wanted something different from their usual. I ate so much during the trip until phor-tor phong phong :D

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  10. Talking about parents feeding their children...ha ha I am one of them. Your lunch looks very yummy and so nice to see all the plates cleaned up.

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    1. Nancy, that's what mum's do hee..hee...and we always clean up our plates!

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  11. hahaha, i like how you mention about your parents "feeding" you.. and it's really true, i guess parents of the past days will feed as much as possible to the children, but parents nowadays focus more on balanced and healthy diet i supposed..

    i like Joe!! at least he is honest enough to suggest there was enough food, unlike some others, for the sake of earning more, they will try to push as much dishes and make the customers order more.. but then 4 dishes only for just 4 of you, i don't think that's too much also, probably just "ngam".. and your mum, she sure knows her family well, haha!! forget about Joe's friendly reminder, she will continue to feed her husband and two children.. everyone must be satiated!! :p

    the mixed veggie looks good and i can see it has a very good mixture.. mainly crucifix veggie and then some meat and seafood.. i wonder what is that piece of brownish pink stuff on top?? mushroom or cuttlefish??

    sweet and sour oink!! oooh, this one just looks absolutely appetising, and i think with this alone i can finish one whole plate of rice already.. i mean, the gravy is good with rice, and the meat is surely flavorful, with a little veggie to balance up.. it's actually such a brilliant dish!! no wonder this is one of the three most famous Chinese dishes in the foreigners' eyes~~

    the choy dam looks good too, just simple and i guess the freshness and juiciness of the leaves are brought out to taste.. oooh, Esquire Kitchen, ah well, i have not been patronising this eatery for donkey years also.. :D

    duck!! another one that i can actually wallop a whole bowl of rice with.. the gravy for rice also i have no problem if i am not eating any of the duck meat, haha.. but i have to say, i only eat duck breast, not interested in the other parts.. BTW, ducks are fatter than chickens right??

    and finally the fish!! now i can actually guess the taste of your family.. you tend to like dishes with gravy, and the gravy has to be very flavorful type.. and no joke, i have to say the same thing to the other two dishes above.. goes well with rice, and one dish can make me finish the whole plate of rice alone, hahahaha!! now, sambal fish or prawns or sotong, so so so nice~~

    hehehe!!! the plates were all wiped clean!! so did Joe go over and be amazed at how the four of you could actually finished everything that he thought you couldn't?? hehe, don't underestimate this family of 4.. and like PH said, shock him with 6 or perhaps 7 next time~~ :D

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    1. hah..hah..hah...yes, my parents love to feed us well and we love being fed! Now that you mentioned it, I can't remember what is that brownish pink stuff hmmm... You are right that ducks are fattier than chicken. In fact some European cooking call for using duck fat, They say it is delicious! Well, as you know by now, I eat a lot and the whole family are big eaters. Wait till you see my next post!

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  12. kailan fried with salted fish goes well with sweet and sour oinks? Have not tried this combi before. Like your veges, assam fish and duck dishes. In fact, I like all 5 dishes you all ordered. This Joe must hate seeing customers waste food with leftovers so he would prefer you underorder than overorder.

    This kind of eatery we call chau choy sik fan and not dai chau.

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    1. Aiks, what is the difference between chau choy sik fan and dai chou? I am learning something here :)

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  13. Hi Phong Hong, this is the kind of quality time we must try to spend with our loved ones [it's never too early or late]. For this reason, I spent a week [same time as your Trengganu trip] with my aunt/uncle, cousins, nieces and nephews in KL city. I was well pampered by my aunt [mum's sister] and cousins during this trip cos' whatever I asked for [food and places to go] were all fulfilled and much more received [I'm putting all this on record in my travel blog for future referencing, hehehe!]. We had a great time and I'm looking forward to spend time with my other aunties and cousins in the near future at various states and Singapore. Apart from the good food, it is the people we have meal with that means more. I'm sure you have a great time with your parents...'Parents' Day' celebration, hahaha!

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    1. So true, Kimmy! I want to spend more time with my parents and all this while, my work commitments always stand in the way. My school reunion was the starting point and I just told myself Go! So glad that I did :) I'm happy to know that you had a wonderful time with your family in KL.

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  14. wow...what a sumptuous meal! I was expecting seafood anyway since Kuala terengganu is near the sea right?

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