A rather unique dish “Salt Baked Fish” or Ikan Bakar Garam in Malay can be found in Seri Kembangan. There are a few restaurants that serve this dish and 胡须伸小食店 is one of it. I believe many of us have already heard and eaten grilled and baked fish cooked either Malay (pan fried with sambal) or Portuguese style (baked in aluminum foil). So, the idea eating fish baked with salt was a fresh experience for me.
There’s only one type of fish being used, which is Tilapia (非洲鱼). I don’t really know the preparation process (except it was baked) but the fish came out really fresh and tender. The crispy looking skin was so salty, it was never meant to be eaten. So, the boss would always cut off the skin to reveal the white flesh.
Eating the fish with rice alone would be too dry. So, a sweet and spicy sauce as shown is used to eat with the fish. The tiny bits you see in the soy sauce contribute to the spiciness.
An order for a medium sized fish cost RM18 that day. The price is not fixed as it is calculated according to the fish’s weight.
Other dishes we had tasted pretty normal so I will not mention them, except this – Four Heavenly Kings @ RM10. The name alone make it seems expensive and all but it’s actually a dish of four different vegetables stir fried with shrimp paste. The four vegetables were long beans, brinjal, winged beans and petai (stink bean).
I wonder if the dish is named after Hong Kong’s ‘Heavenly King’ singers? If so, I’d like to think that Leon Lai represents petai because I like him the least, lol.
The Tilapias are reared in a huge plastic tub located right next to the dining tables. When an order is made the fish is knocked unconscious by the worker using a piece of wood then immediately cooked. This explains the freshness of the fish.
Oh before I forget, 8TV’s Hochak actually visited this restaurant before. The episode can be viewed at FoodPoi. That aside, the lack of parking space is a problem because the restaurant is located within a housing area with very narrow roads. Open for dinner only.
Address: No. 249-B，Jalan 2，Kawasan 6，43300 Seri Kembangan，Selangor.Map: Wikimapia Somewhere behind the Hainanese Chicken Rice stall
Other review: JoyOFood, coincidentally it was her and her bf (my buddy) who introduced me to this restaurant
