An Evening At Chef Chew Kitchen

It was my partner's birthday and we found ourselves at Restoran Chef Chew Kitchen with family to celebrate the occasion.  

This restaurant is located at Section 19, along the row of shops where you can find durians. Everyone was on time and our hosts arrived a little earlier than we did. Parking is a headache and we had to park behind the shop lot, which is a housing area.

This restaurant is very popular and reservation is a must. Besides, you also have to book your dishes one day in advance, so I hear.

Judging from the crowd (it also happened to be a public holiday), I can say that the food must be very good.

So these were the dishes that graced our table.

I don't know the exact names of the dishes (too lazy to check the menu), so I shall describe them as accurately as possible.

This ginger scallion rice was a firm favorite at the table. It was absolutely fragrant with the aroma of ginger, spring onions and sesame oil, something like chicken rice, but better.

And then there was the steamed chicken which I absolutely loved. It was definitely kampung chicken judging from the color and the firm and succulent texture of the flesh. 

I also enjoyed the mixed seafood curry. There were large prawns, squid and clams in a delicious curry broth. 

And then there was this charcoal tofu topped with minced pork. Also very good.

Of course we had to have veggies in the form of this mixed fried vegetable dish. We all enjoyed the crispy and crunchy veggies.

And then there was this. 

Please don't eat the ice cubes

What in the .....? (At this point, Gordon Ramsay's face flashed before me). This apparently is the "unique" sweet and sour pork in ice cubes. I really do not understand the concept of this dish. Why on earth would anyone put ice cubes in sweet and sour pork?

With all due respect to the chef (who I believe was trying to be creative) I shall (be blatantly honest and) not sing praises of this icy dish (like some people did online) and I will say it as it is. This to me borders on ridiculous and pointless.

I broke into the ice, took two cubes of (ice cold) pork (which was marvelously crispy) and munched. This was one heck of a good gou lou yoke, sullied by the ice. So no, I was not impressed. In fact I was annoyed because I love gou lou yoke and it was ruined by this gimmick. I say this at risk of Chef Chew granting me persona non grata status at his restaurant.

One more dish was served a little later, the longevity noodles which was topped with crab meat and some other seafood. 

My partner was gifted with this cute little pastry (at the office by some admirer. I might have to bring out my parang) and he brought it along. It was divided and shared among the five of us. 

There was also a butter cake (from same said admirer) and each of us had a slice. No, it was nowhere near this cake and there were leftovers.

It was a joyful evening and my lahling was very pleased. This is the sort food more to his liking compared to what he was feted to last year.