See(a)food!!!

Ok, so Chinese New Year is on it's way... And as it's Chinese New Year, what's it without dinner? Not just any normal dinner, a dinner with a special dish; a dish that's only served during CNY...

The One and Only - Yee Sang...

It's sad to see it all go hay-wire when it was all piled up nicely before...

And it always ends up looking like this in the end...

Well personally, i don't really fancy Yee Sang. My taste buds don't really like hanging out with Yee Sang... it's like putting a cat and dog together in the same room.

Once in awhile, my family and I (and sometimes, my close neighbour) will go out for dinner. And since it's a special occasion (CNY), we decided to go for an expensive dinner. Our initial plan was to go to this Chinese restaurant in KL city - opposite Citybank, it's sort of an above average kind of restaurant. When we arrived, the queue for cars were soooo long, we waited for quite awhile following the queue of cars (of coz, it's Malaysia, so there are idiots who tries to cut queue), my dad wouldn't let them, so he tries his best to try to kiss the front car's butt as close as he can to stop the idiots from cutting in. I mean, why can't they just be patient and queue like the rest of us. We're hungry too!!!

Anyway, by the time we found a parking lot, and went up to the restaurant. We assumed that reservations were made by my neighbour since he suggested eating there, but nooooooo, he had to choose not to make a reservation =.='... and yes, and you can guess, i was hungry that time and everybody knows a hungry soyan is an angry soyan. The fire was starting to burn, they(my family and neighbour) were lucky that it wasn't already burning when we arrive because i just woke up from my 'car ride nap'. it takes awhile for me to rewire myself. Anwayzz, in the end, we had to pay RM3.30 for the car park that we only spent like less than a minute in because it's per entry =.=', and headed off to a seafood restaurant in Selayang. The seafood there is expensive and they're quite fresh if you know how to pick them.

When we arrived at the restaurant, my tummy started to roar like a dinosaur(do they roar?) Beside the restaurant, is a seafood wholesaler. So we pick our seafood from the wholesaler, pay for it there, and then ask the restaurant to cook it for us and pay them for their services. So let me show you our dishes... Right after Yee Sang was mixed, killed, eaten, digested... Next comes,

Huge fresh oysters!!!

and when i say huge, i mean HUGE!!! just look at the size of this one!!!

Oh, and i didn't have any, coz i can't stand the taste. but it was nice to see :)

Up next is CLAM. Another dish i disgust. Si ham is what the Chinese call it which 'Si' means sh*t (to me). This is the most disgusting clam of the 'Bivalve family' - Animals with 2 shells on each side

After that was the main dish of this dinner. And i thought it was for the Yee Sang coz it's CNY. Abalone they call it. HA! as expensive and luxurious this dish is, sadly, i don't really fancy it either. Each one of us only get 1, so you can count how many people were at the dinner. I ate half and gave the other half to my mom (aren't I so good :) )
Finally a dish that i enjoy... PRAWNS!!!

There was steam fresh prawns. (really really fresh!!!)

And Fried Soy Sauce Prawns...

Next is the most fascinating dish of the night - Stone Fish. As hard as it sounds, this stone fish is not as hard as stone. In fact, it feels soft. But i have to warn you though, never touch it with your bare hands, coz there are poisonous spikes on this fish. My mom wanted to feel whether it was hard or not, and the lady shouted. Not to scold her or anything but to warn her before she prick her finger on this 'spindle' like sleeping beauty. Only she won't just pass out but also suffer much pain. So considered yourself warned the next time you go scuba diving or something. This is how this 'stone' look like...

Stone Fish (can you spot it's eyes?)

And this is how it turned out, steamed in soy sauce. The meat is really good. Soft but not too soft till it's mushy but just nice for you to chew and feel the freshness of the fish. And here's another interesting thing i found out about the stone fish - it's bones are not white in colour like the rest of the fishes, but GREEN in colour... it's sort of like a transparently green in colour. cool huh?
After the stony dish, time for another clam (boy was it a clammy night). I don't know the name of this clam but it looks like escargots, just not as soft and black. It's a bit tougher and white in colour. Cooked with cheese... oops, Baked with cheese sounds more like it... This is the only clam dish i enjoyed. Picky, i know.

Cheese baked clams...

The cheapest dish of the night...

Fried Rice with Anchovies...

And the Grand Finale~~~

My favourite dish...

CRABS!!!

Steamed Crabs...

And the super awesome Salted Egg Crabs!!!

(just look at the shell being totally covered with salted egg like snow covering the mountain top)

Salted Egg Crabs and Black Pepper Crabs are my favourite crabs in the entire universe!!! Unfortunately, as nice as the salted egg tasted, the crabs weren't that nice. It was not very fleshy. Didn't really enjoyed the finale that I'd hoped. Well, at least i got to enjoy the fresh prawns and the salted egg (unhealthy as it seems, it's hard for me to resist my favourite food)

Hope you're able to sleep without a roaring stomach after seeing these pictures :)