When it comes to food, Cheras offers an overwhelming selection. Admittedly, we are noobs in this side of KL so we usually rely on friends’ recommendations to eat around. For good steamed fish head, we were told to go to a restaurant without a name located in an obscure part of the town. It sounded so mysterious!
When we arrived at the place, we found that the restaurant indeed does not have any name. Their signboard simply says “Restoran Kepala Ikan Cheras”, it’s as generic as it can be.
Steamed Song Yu Tao (big head carp) is their specialty and it comes with a few steaming styles, eg. with bean paste, ginger puree and a couple more. Since it’s our first time here, we picked their signature ‘jiu pai jeng‘ which comes with mainly chunky garlic bits, cili padi and sliced ginger.
There was an unmistakable taste of fish sauce which gave it a rich and deep umami so the sauce goes extremely well with rice. But what I really like about the fish is the mix of savory and spicy flavors, they are so balanced without overshadowing each other.
The fish head itself was fresh and packed a serious amount of meat, I feel a portion like this could be shared comfortably among three people.
FYI, this fish head cost us RM31, slightly more expensive than the other steamed fish heads (RM28) – I am guessing because of the ingredients involved. Grouper is another type of fish available here, but it’s prepared in stir fried instead.
Other dishes offered here include yong tau fu (RM1.50 each, min order 6 pcs), special fried fish balls (min order 15 pcs), dumplings, normal vege and steamed chicken. From what I observed, all of them are reasonable priced. The yong tau fu was not bad, worth ordering to go along with the steamed fish for a light meal.
Cheras Steamed Fish Head Restaurant
No. 1, Jalan 9, Taman Orkid
Batu 9 Cheras, 43200 Selangor
Business hours: 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 9.30pm (Closed on Wednesdays)
 fish heads, we went to a restaurant with no name in Cheras. Their signboard says ){kind=link}