I am back from Cambodia! It was a great trip except that I got tanned by the hot sun. Being away from home, definitely does make me miss local food; Laksa, hokkien mee, char koay teow, wan tan mee, etc. just name it, I’ve had it all after I touched down. Having those hawker food is not enough to satisfy my craving for local food. Just when I’m thinking of seafood, our friend ask us to join them to try out the claypot crab rice. They have been wanting to try it out since they read in a forwarded email of Cia Xiang Claypot Crab Rice posted by CK.
Without any consideration, we agreed. And so off we go to Simpang Empat for Claypot Crab Rice with high expectation in our mind.
The waitress recommended claypot crab rice and steamed fish with ‘cai bo’. We took her recommendation and order a claypot crab rice with 2 crabs. It came in a big claypot, and when the lid was opened the aroma of it make us can’t wait to dig into the claypot. Unfortunately, there’s nothing more than the aroma.
The rice basically was tasteless and dry. There isn’t any crab fragrant in the rice. Well, since there isn’t any crab taste in the rice, perhaps the crab taste is maintain in the crab itself. This is our thinking. Again, there’s disappointment when we dig into the crab. No sweetness and crab taste in the crab meat at all.We were actually asking among ourselves, ‘Where does the crab taste go to if it isn’t in the rice nor the crab itself?’
In the middle of our disappointment, the steamed grouper fish with ‘cai bo’ and ‘hor fun’ was served. The presentation definitely won back our heart, it looked so appetizing! My friend actually can’t wait to dig his spoon into the fish, but I have to stop him to let me snap a few pictures of the fish first.
Alas, the fish was not fresh at all. Not to mention the dry and coarse texture of the meat. Hey, we ordered grouper fish. We did expect something better. My friend was actually wondering if the fish was catched in the sea or it’s breed by the restaurant owner itself. Disappointment again!
Luckily the hor fun tasted good. It has smooth texture and is soaked with the soy sauce gravy.
Stired fried green beans turned out normal. It didn’t really meet my expectation too as we ordered young green beans, but it doesn’t really has the ‘young’ texture’. I’ve tasted better stired fried young green beans with crunchy and smooth texture.
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 12:55 am
definitely a bad experience for this seafood…
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 8:14 am
The claypot crab rice suppose to have crab flavors in there right?
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 9:02 am
sad to know that the seafood was not fresh….wat a disappointment!
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Food Paradise,
This is what all of us are expecting, the crab rice should have crab flavors. But disappointment..
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Hope they will read your comment and improve from there. A seafood restaurant must serve the freshest seafood or else the customers will not patronize it.
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 10:42 am
hmmm bad bad bad! thanks for you info! We wonder if you still looks a gorgeous as ever after all those taning! heheehhe!
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 11:29 am
The crab maybe stay in aquarium too long … lol … drink water too much
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Sorry to hear about your experience… I am very against un-fresh seafood! Had bad experience with it as well, that led to diarrhea! *gasp* Hopefully the restaurant will buck up their quality.
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
CK,
I really do hope that they’ll improve the quality of their seafood. Or is it we are the unlucky one?
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
BBO,
Too bad that you are not joining our coming gathering, else you can judge by yourself how ‘gorgeous’ I am after the taning. LOL. Kidding
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
email2me,
LOL, that’s a good excuse though.
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Good post!
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Aiyo, how can they screw up crabs, one of most wonderfully tastiest creatures from the sea?? What a total shame! Gives Bkt Tambun a bad name!
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
was it the 15th day of the Lunar calender?
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 7:50 am
We have high regard for Bkt Tambun , maybe it was an off form day !
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 7:51 am
I prefer crab porridge than crab rice. Do they serve crab porridge?
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Jason,
Kam Siah, Kam Siah
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 9:15 am
550ml jar of faith,
We were too wondering how can they screw up the crabs. Crabs would taste good even just being grilled without any seasoning!
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 9:16 am
foodbin,
what’s it got to do with 15th day of Lunar Calender? *blur*
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 9:17 am
backStreetGluttons,
Well, I guess this is the only explanation for it
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Little Inbox,
I’m not sure whether do they serve crab porridge, maybe you can call and ask?
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Poor you, it sounds like a really bad experience!
I hate fish that are not fresh; it really spoils my appetite! Nothing seems to go right for your meal…
Should I re-consider before heading for this?:p
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Oh ya, how’s the pricing like?
It’s bad when you have to pay exorbitant prices for bad food:p
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
wah~~ really beh ki lo!! like that still dare to publish and share how the cia xiang’s seafood how nice how good and how delicious~~
after go and try it, wah lao a~~~ crab meat without crab taste.. the “koay gao fish” also not fresh…. RM60 eat this kind of fish~~ wah lao a~~~
lastly the apple juice also no apple taste…. really beh ki….
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Christy,
It’s really a bad experience and it cost us RM 110 for the meal.
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on Aug 11th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
My my… what a sucky experience. But a good post! I appreciate it when fellow bloggers gives honest reviews.
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on Aug 12th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Would you go back again after first try and got the bad experience?
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on Aug 14th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Cariso,
I don’t think I’ll go back again, but if some of my out station friends insist me to accompany them, then I might go.
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on Aug 19th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Grouper is a touch and go thing! More disappointments than satisfactions esp in KL. I prefer Jenahak. I usually go to Seafood Village
in BKt Tambun.
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