We dine out at the “best seafood restaurant in Kuching”.

We don’t eat out a lot at the House of Annie. Even though Annie and I are both working now, we still manage to eat in most nights of the week. Stark contrast to a lot of double-income Malaysian households who tend to get their meals at local restaurants and hawker centers.

But every so often, a special occasion warrants a special dinner. Just recently, Annie’s good friend Elizabeth (responsible for our Easy Green Tea-ramisu, Hong Siew Braised Tofu, and Khau Yoke recipes) came to Kuching to visit. Kuching being a port city known for its seafood, we decided to take her to Rock Road Seafood Restaurant, widely touted as the best seafood restaurant in Kuching. And since we wanted to sample more dishes than our little troupe could hope to eat alone, we invited our good friend Mike and his family to come join us.

Fresh is Best

When you walk into the restaurant, you are greeted by large fishtanks on one wall, filled with live prawns and fish. In the middle is an island showcasing bins of fresh fruits and vegetables to be used by the kitchen. There’s also a bin holding dozens of live crabs:

Along the other wall are more fishes and shellfish on ice. You select your seafood, choose what style of dish you want the kitchen to cook it, and place your order with the waiters there before heading upstairs to the elegant dining room.

Since we had arranged for an early reservation, there weren’t that many people in the restaurant when we were seated. The food started coming out of the kitchen in quick order. First up was a big platter of fried noodles with lots of veggies, chicken and sauce. Pretty standard fare.

Since this was Elizabeth’s first time in Sarawak, we decided to order a uniquely Sarawakian vegetable dish: midin (fiddlehead fern) cooked with belacan (shrimp paste). The sweet, crunchy vegetable was accented by the salty belacan and spicy chile slices.

We also ordered a second midin dish, this time a cool salad which was served with shredded red cabbage, carrots, and onions. The dressing was a sticky, sweet sauce that was a little too sweet for me. Of the two midin dishes, we liked the belacan one better.

Next up was this yam (taro) nest with chicken, cashews, veggies and dried red chiles. The nest is shaped from mashed cooked taro, then deep fried. In most other restaurants, the nest would be light and crispy. Here, though, the nest was dense and chewy. Not very well executed.

One of my favorite dishes is butter prawns. Deep fried prawns are combined with egg yolk “floss” and curry leaves which have been fried in butter. Talk about over the top! That’s why I love it so much (especially the fried curry leaves). If the prawns are fried correctly, you can eat the whole thing, shells and all.  These prawns were underdone.

By now the restaurant had filled up, and dishes were coming out much slower. The next dish was this steamed grouper with soy sauce. Annie had wanted to order a live fish to be steamed, but Eliz was afraid it was going to be too expensive. So she opted to go with this previously frozen fish instead. The difference between using a fresh fish and a not-fresh one was like night and day. There was no sweetness, no lightness in the flesh. Kinda disappointing.

The highlight dish of the evening was this satay crab dish, a signature dish for the restaurant. Normally this dish is served with prawns but Mike said to try something different. These crabs were swimming in a delicious brown sauce that wa
s so complex in flavor. The crabs almost played second fiddle to the sauce.

The best part about this dish was that they served it with fried man tou (steamed buns). You tear off a piece of the man tou, swirl it around in the sauce, and pop it in your mouth. Heaven. I would have been happy eating this dish first. Too bad it was the last to come to the table, after we had all eaten our fill.

The Damage

Actually, the total bill for 6 adults and 2 kids was not bad, considering the high prices that this restaurant is known for. All 7 dishes plus drinks came up to less than $100 US! Amazing.

Still, I don’t think we’ll be coming back. Besides the last dish of crabs in satay sauce, we weren’t wowed by anything else. You can find these dishes elsewhere, for better price, and perhaps even prepared with more skill. Best seafood restaurant in Kuching? Not in my opinion.

Aloha, Nate

Edit: Here’s Mike’s take on the dinner: http://kongkay1.blogspot.com/2010/04/with-annie-co-rock-road-seafood-jalan.html