Fun OK Seafood @ Taman Muda is a typical no-frills dai chow (rice with dishes) restaurant that we discovered on ShopeeFood but did not order delivery. We were able to have a first-hand look at their menu which was rather extensive. It can be quite intimidating to look at the menu with so many choices if you're visiting for the first time with the person taking the order hovering over you for your decision. Worst still if there's no menu (and you have to listen to what they have) or the menu is written only in Chinese (which I can't read), so it's good to have a heads-up on what they offer.
So that made me confident enough to visit for a dine-in straightaway.
It's always good to show a photo of the eatery's signboard whenever possible (as it makes it easier for people to spot the place from afar) but it's not always possible especially when eyes of workers and customers are glued on you (too shy-lah), so this photo was taken on the day we found the shop closed.
My son absolutely loves to eat
lai liu har (literally translated to mean pissing shrimps which doesn't remotely sound appetising, otherwise it goes by the name mantis shrimp or
squilla).
I actually wasn't aware that it was called squilla until I saw such it described as such on the menu. So,
we chose
Squilla in Salted Egg Yolk Sauce @ RM22 as our first sampling. Can't fault the cooking of the squilla which was super crispy but the salted egg yolk coating was a little muted.
The
Fried Tofu with Minced Meat in Special Brown Sauce @ RM15 attracted me to order it as it was listed as their speciality on the menu (with 3 thumbs up & a chef's hat). The soft fried tofu was nice but the brown sauce wasn't what I was expecting and I couldn't quite put my finger on what I tasted until my son aptly referred to it as bolognese sauce. Yeah, that's it.....not a taste I'd associate coming out of a
tai chow place! >.< I didn't take a fancy to the sauce (not something I'd order again) though my family thought it was alright.
Our choice for our vegetable dish that night was my husband's perennial favourite of
Curry Mixed Vegetable in Claypot (there's no individual prices listed for vegetables but was told they're usually around RM15 except for some, like the curry vegetable, which will cost a little more). With the usual ingredients of cabbage, eggplant, okra, long beans and
tau fu pok, this one failed to meet our expectations as you can probably
judge by the colour of the curry. The spices and curry powder was the dominant taste and missing that red chilli oil and santan creaminess that we prefer. Safe to say, there'll be no repeat of this dish.
The first time we were here, I was about to order a fourth dish when the lady boss stopped me and told me that three would be enough...and it was, more than enough actually. We ended up having to tapau (takeaway) the salted egg yolk squilla which we couldn't finish coz the portion of curry vegetables was too big.
Even though our first visit wasn't all positive, we did return and our second visit we ordered the Squilla in Creamy Butter(milk) Sauce @ RM22 this time. The creamy buttermilk or lai yau sauce was good, the consistency of which is little bit wetter (which I prefer) and not overly thick and cloying like some can be.
We were very happy with the outcome of the Sweet & Sour Pork @ RM20 which is a must-have dish for us. The little pork strips (rather than rounded nuggets) were a lot crunchier than many I've eaten, so it was good in that sense. I was happy to see the use of fresh pineapple chunks (along with onions, tomatoes and cucumber) in the sauce which made it very appetising to eat. If there was one teeny weeny thing that could be improved would be to make the sauce a little lighter but it obviously made no difference to my family who clearly enjoyed it.
For our vegetable component of the meal, we went with a simple Stir-Fry Green Dragon Chives or ching loong choy. I love to eat this vegetable immensely for its sweet, crunchy and oniony flavour. I could finish this all on my own if I wanted to.
Again, on our third visit, I had to order someone's favourite squilla and we ordered the Squilla in Creamy Butter Sauce @ RM22 once again but asked for it to be cooked dry-style (or kon lai yau, something similar to Chinese Dry Buttermilk Prawn). The dry style, fried with red bird's eye chillies and curry leaves, has these super frizzy thin shreds of egg floss (made from stirring egg yolks into butter) that were super crispy to eat. This is my son's favourite style of having squid or squilla but the dryness of it can get to you after a while, so make sure you order something saucy for your other dishes.
Since there were only two of us, we ordered only two dishes, the second being Kam Heong Clams @ RM22, the clams of which were of a decent size and fairly fresh but the
kam heong sauce needs work. It wasn't too salty, lacking a bit of the fragrance of dried prawns and had too much lemongrass taste (the shredded lemongrass was a bit stringy too when I bit into them). After this sampling, there will be no future orders of anything
kam heong from here.
On our fourth visit, we found the place closed (must be taking a long break after working tirelessly through the CNY period, I'm guessing). So, we ventured a few doors away (at the end of the same road where there was another Chinese restaurant occupying two individual lots) since we were already in the area. Let's just say the people there weren't particularly friendly and since no-one acknowledged our presence, we simply just took a seat in one of the lots but found the place a bit too dim for our liking.
The guy who took our orders didn't give us any recommendations but just stood there while I flicked through the endless pages of the menu. I felt his impatience and ordered quickly. So, I went with 4 dishes not knowing what their portion sizes were like (sorry, no proper names or prices since the guy took away the menu right after). We had sweet and sour pork (didn't nail that crispy crust), mantis shrimp
kung po style (nothing to like or dislike), homemade fried tofu served with mayo (nice crisp on the outside but tofu was a bit dense) and stir-fried Chinese broccoli with salted fish (
kai lan with
ham yue) which turned out to be the best tasting dish with a nice salty fragrance permeating the
kai lan. I doubt we'll be returning as the place/people just didn't endear themselves to us.
So, on our actual fourth visit to this place, we ordered squilla yet again done a different way,
Squilla Kung Po Style @ RM22 cooked with dried chillies, onions and sprinng onions with a spicier note. This turned out to be their least successful style as the squilla ended up having a different and not so palatable texture than the other styles.
We have even tried the
Salt & Pepper Squilla via delivery. That meant we've tried almost all styles (except
kam heong for obvious reasons) with creamy butter emerging on top and
kung po not something we would have again.
The
Tofu with Broccoli, White Snow Mushrooms & Straw Mushrooms @ RM18 was yet another recommended dish (with 3 thumbs up & a chef''s hat). No complaints on this healthy and easy to digest dish.
My son's favourite omelette is a
Dried Radish Omelette @ RM12, something simple that many households can easily whip up at home...but was told the raddish I use isn't quite the same in flavour as those eaten outside. >.<
I decided to order an extra dish of soup,
Chinese Pickled Vegetables with Tofu Soup @ RM9 (a soup that my family drinks) thinking it'd be like the size of a double-boiled soup but
holy mackerel, it was a soup fit for three and, mind you, this was S size! But it wouldn't be a soup we'd order again as it wasn't a slow-boiled soup but more of a
guan tong (quick boil soup), so it didn't have enough time to develop its flavours + the vegetables (especially the
ham choy) were not as soft as I'd like them to be.
On our fifth visit, we just had to re-order the well executed
Sweet & Sour Pork @ RM22 as it was something we truly enjoyed the first time round. Not only was it one of the better dishes here, it was also among some of the better sweet and sour pork we've had.
We also ordered something they recommended,
Tofu with River Prawns in Premium Brown Sauce that was not on the regular menu but offered in one of their set meals (so I don't know what's the individual price). Although the river prawns weren't big, they were fresh and sweet. Cooked together with fried tofu rectangles,
nai pak (extra dwarf Chinese cabbage) and onions in a decent brown sauce for something light and easy to eat.
For vegetables, we went with one that all three of us enjoy,
Stir-Fry Cabbage with Dried Prawns, a simple stir-fry vegetable but we would have liked a bit more dried prawns and some bird's eye chillies for that little kick of heat.
On our sixth visit, after trying almost every style of squilla, we finally
let that rest and went with
Salted Egg Squid @ RM22 instead....hah..hah. Though the squid was slightly chewy, the salted egg sauce was decent.
The
Pork Belly with Salted Fish in Claypot @ RM25 was another winning dish with its salty, fragrant flavours of salted fish and thinly sliced tender pork belly. I wished there was more spring onions to bring added freshness to an otherwise robustly flavoured dish.
This was the place that got me hooked on
Sitr-Fry Potato Leaves as this soft textured vegetable was simply lovely. There was a photo of this vegetable dish on the menu, so I just pointed to it.
I wasn't sure if potato leaves and sweet potato leaves were two different things (I think some places call it yam leaves as well) but I know how sweet potato leaves look like and the reason I don't fancy it as much is because it's more stem than leaves, so I've always refrained from ordering sweet potato leaves. But I was told by the lady they're actually the same just that some places use the stems as well where as they use more of the leaves. So, now I know, the stir-fry sweet potato leaves I've had in the past (which I didn't like) was because they cooked all the stems as well (I recently found out that I should ask for "shi mew" as in baby leaves and those will have more leaves than stems).
Although the portions here are good, sometimes we do order a fourth dish usually something like a tofu or vegetable dish that's easy to consume. This was the
Thai-Style Tofu @ RM15 which succeeded in lifting up our appetites with its zesty, lightly spicy and sweetish sauce (a bit sweet for me but should be fine for others). The standout for me was the nicely crisp tofu and the fresh, crunchy shredded onions and cucumber.
This
Stir-Fried Fu Yue Yau Mak or romaine lettuce fried with yellow fermented bean curd cube was well-liked by my husband but me and my son both agreed that the one we had at our neighbourhood's
bak kut teh place tasted much better.
My Personal Opinion
Although I can't convincingly say that the food here is all good, I can safely say they're good value. A simple meal for three here (without any expensive seafood like fish, prawns or crabs) is circa RM60 (for 3 dishes) or probably RM80 (for 4 dishes)....very reasonable prices as portions are huge and satisfying backed up by decent tastes.
Fun OK's seafood is certainly ok even though I've only had a little sampling of them (in terms of squilla, prawns & squid) but I do see a lot of people ordering their steamed fish (and crabs sometimes too). Overall flavours can be slightly more robust in some dishes (that's probably why my family enjoys their food).
It has since become one of our regular spots for our weekend tai chow dinner (my husband's favourite kind of meal). Waiting time might be a little long (so a little patience is needed) if the restaurant happens to be full as they also do a lot of takeaways and food deliveries as well. And if you eat there regularly enough, you'll notice some slight inconsistencies in their cooking/taste as well.
Update: Fun OK has since relocated to No 2-G Jalan Wawasan 2/8, Bandar Baru Ampang, 68000 Ampang, Selangor
Fun OK Seafood
75 Jalan Bunga Tanjung 6A
Taman Muda
56100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 016-662 2342
