Storming Chili Crab at the Hai Peng!

October 21st 2015

Been a bit lax with the food blog of late. Fact is, I was five songs shy of breaking the fifty mark for my Rock and Blues singing uploads to the Youtube channel and the urge to crack that particular milestone proved compelling. Gives one something to brag about on the Facebook, yes? So. That milestone has been cracked and duly bragged about and now I can carry on with a farily large backlog of foodie tales to tell. Those keen to hear what I sound like can check out the tunes and vids at www.youtube.com/user/gwailoah and hope you enjoy them!

To the food - it has to be said that the crab has never been a massive favourite of mine. Whilst my Malaysian friends attack the things with greedy gusto, I always find myself left somewhat non plussed by the whole experience. Fiddly things they are, hiding their meat deep within thin legs and sharp outer armour and needing some dedicated digging and hammering that leaves me thinking "why bother?" 

The Hai Peng Seafood Restaurant has shown me the light. Jalan Taman Desa to Jalan Klang Lama has proved to be my road to Damascus. Well, at least in crustacean terms. 

The Hai Peng has been lurking at the fringes of eating destinations for a while now.  Parked on a strip of shophouses near the Taman Desa turning, its bright colourful and well lit shingle display stands it out in the otherwise pretty dark and somewhat scary and lonely looking surroundings. Pretty unassuming inside, the tables and chairs are totally functional and clearly geared to the serious connoisseur of the Crab - you don't need frills getting soiled by flying crabshell.  If you are making the U-turn to go back to KL or turning right from the Taman Desa side, you have to cut across the 3 lane Klang Lama racing strip to make the turning into the restaurant road, which can be a bit hairy. Lenglui had been there on a couple of previous occasions with her Pang Yau, and it was also one of Dr Gan's destinations when the sap for the Crabmeat was on the rise. So it came to pass that Lenglui needed some Cantonese pronunciation training with her Pang Yau and standing a Crab dinner at one of her favourite restaurants seemed like perfect reciprocity. 

And o, it was. Starting with some tasty prawn and vegetable noodles, the crabs came out two styles - steamed and chili - and they were magical. The steamed was hot and the meat was sweet whilst the chili was tongue spicy but not mouth or lips burning. The Chili came with a well tasty sauce that was tomato based but laced with crabmeat and given a light dose of chili. It was sweet and sourish brilliant with the roti bakar (toast dry bread) to mop it up from the plate. Part of me thinks it might have been plain ketchup mixed with boiled crab bits, but no matter - an amazing taste on this one. 

But the crabs were the total stars. Hot sweet meat with that hint of crab flavour and textural heaven on the tongue - simple and perfect. I also learned to cover the crab with a tissue when giving it the tenderising hammer so as not to pepper Lenglui and everyone with exploding crab shell shrapnel.

We had brought the remains of a Gruner Veltliner from the previous evening's Iberico Ribs and Collar party we had at home along with a 2013 Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc. The SB totally shone with the crab, its grapefruit zing giving way to a tongue soothing melon on contact with the crabmeat. Tamed the chili a treat as well. Around RM130 in the supermarkets and very nice indeed. The Gruner was tasty, through its leaner fruit got rendered a shade flat by the crab. Was belter with the ribs and collar the previous night, though.

In sum, excellent crab that was a wonderful match with a young SB, and paired with a superb chili sauce to get mopped up by dry toast bread. So darn good that I forgot to take photos - totally absorbed in sucking down this magnificent crab and sauce and wine. For three crabs and the noodles with a vegetable we paid RM200. Free ice and no corkage, though better to take your own glassware if you're a bit anal about drinking wine from a whiskey glass. We also take a portable plastic PVC Ice Bucket bag on our food adventures - you can always get ice but not always a big enough bucket to take a wine bottle. Been a life saver on numerous occasions. 

The Hai Peng feels like it has been turning out these crabs for decades and remaining totally consistent in the quality and taste of the daily results. We were there on a Wednesday night and it was pretty full (NB not much seating space in the main area, but there is a back area out in the open). Definitely worth driving the the distance to get there, though the restaurant does advise not to leave valuables in the car. It is a bit dark and does look a bit forbidding parking-wise. Notwithstanding, give this one a double Arnie - I'll be back!

Hai Peng Seafood Restaurant

Lot KS-5 Taman Evergreen

4th Mile Jalan Klang Lama, 58200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel +603 7982 5072

HP +6012 2393649

GPS:  3.082926, 101.669972

Daily 6pm to midnight, closed on alternate Tuesdays

Extra Super Tanker - extra darn good!!

Quick report on a dinner we had at the Supertanker on Sunday 14th June (or the Extra Super Tanker Restaurant to give its full name). One of our serious wine afficionado friends had been inviting Lenglui and I over muliple occacions to come and drink his wine at some tasty restaurant but the scheduling fates had been continually against us. Holidays and other dinners seemed to have a way of getting in the, er, way. Finally the schedules aligned and so it was that nine of ended up at the Supertanker in Damansara Kim. Four and a half fairly serious winers, the others happy with a glass or two to taste. One of the group arrived forty minutes late, claiming that dinner was 7.30pm. Whatsapp proved that 7pm was correct. We said nothing, having arrived at 7.20pm though we did text ahead to say we were delayed. 

Supertanker interior - pic from their website

This is about the third time I have been to the Supertanker in Damansara. It has been operating since 2004 and now has two outlets, the other being located in a club in Bandar Utama (where I have attended a couple of big wedding banquets - food was fair, and reasonably well praised by table guests, though it is unfair to try and judge quality when the kitchen is just getting food through the doors to feed the masses). For my first time at the Damansara outlet, I remember it had tried a bit too hard to impress with a fusion style Chinese menu as requested of Chef by a birthday boy. This didn't quite come off for me, though I do remember guzzling bottles of tasty white and Chateau Soleil magnums. Second time was more traditional Chinese fare which I can't quite remember much about. Don't seem to have written about it. This third time would prove to be the charm - total memory of brilliant food, wines and people around a table and having a rare old time of things. We need to savour these moments when we can get together with friends and laugh and joke and sing and leave at the end of it with a lighter heart and a full belly. I feel we sometimes take it all so much for granted that we have the means and the faculties to do these things. And that is a mistake - many out there cannot even dream of the lives we live and experience, and for me I try to relish and extract the entire atomic essence of each and every moment and squeeze it, savour it, sip it, suck it, guzzle and chew and swallow it. Breathe and live every moment of lightness and love with whom or whatever it is that brings joy to this life. It could all end tomorrow, even more so as the years rack up. 

Supertanker interior - pic from website

But I digress. Winewise, we had a Leth 2014 Gruner Veltliner that we had brought back from our Austria trip, and a Giesen August Brothers 1888 Sauvignon Blanc 2011 from New Zealand. We started with the Leth, which proved a delightful aperitif being all light honey and peach pear and crisp finish. Light, crisp but with enough heft to tickle the palate interest, it proved a hit all around the table. Well tasty wine.

Sad thing was I didn't get to try it with the food, which proved a lot late in getting to the table. We had fully whacked the bottle, though I seemed to be the only one with no Leth - the others clearly possess much more self discipline. I have a weakness for crisp tasty wine. Our host was getting animated and following a "get up from the table and verbal whack the captain" it all came at once - the fish, the duck, the omelete, with the ribs and taufoo only five minutes behind. 

It would prove worth the wait - the brother of new friend TB at the table (ex TV producer, great stories about Formula One at Monte Carlo) had bought a 2.5kg Ikan Kelah that morning in Pahang and had delivered it to TB earlier in the day, presumably driving all the way. Our friend had kept it alive all day before emptying the tank and wrapping Ikan in an old T-Shirt for delivery to the restaurant kitchen for cleaning and steaming by Chef and his team.

Known as the "King" of the river, and "Emperau" in Sarawak (where it is also apparently the National Fish), Ikan Kelah remains THE top fish that all anglers want to catch. Having the capacity to grow as large as a human being, it can fetch up to RM800 to RM1,200 per kilo live weight. It is also known as the Malaysian Mahseer and the Greater Brook Carp. The fish has proven difficult to breed and farm due to an apparent inability to find the right diet for it to thrive in captivity. In the fast and clean rivers that are its natural habitat, Ikan Kelah can happily feed on both river fruits and shelled fish that it comes across on the river bed. No one has yet been able to replicate this. In the wild, it is both elusive and increasingly scarce as a result of deforestation and environmental degradation. In this, Sarawak and Sabah have implemented a system (known as "Tagal") where the villagers themselves guard and protect these fish and their rivers. As a result, the fish population has recovered.

The Ikan Kelah - wicked tasty

So we were pretty privileged to be having this freshwater finback. It was seriously priced and totally delightful  - all fish oil, firm flakes of solid fish meat, leaning toward the gooey but a wonderful mouthful of blissful taste. Full fish without being fishy, hugely dripping with omega three; a voluptuous, sweet, oily mess of meat. Nowhere near as light as a Soon Hock, it proved a change from the normal style of fish to which Lenglui is used. But I enjoyed it hugely. A sweet salt gungey suck for the most part and slipping down so smoothly. Little bit of soy and cilantro and we were done. Good job from the kitchen.

We also had Iberico pork ribs which were equally outstanding - with just a simple rub of salt and pepper and oil and probably slow roasted for hours, they proved delightfully tasty and dry on the outside but with loads of juice in the meat. A total taste of Spain but with a Chinese twist of raucous black pepper. Tender but with firm bite on the meat, we polished off two racks of them. We even got plastic gloves to eat the ribs with - became a greasy problem trying to pour wine after chewing on the rib. So it goes. 

Brilliantly tasty Iberico Pork Ribs - yum

Other dishes came and went (duck was tasty, also some egg foo yong style omelette fried thingy with spring onion and chives). But the ribs and fish made the night. 

The Giesen SB which we were drinking with the fish seemed to lean more toward the Smith Haut Lafitte style in terms of texture - more a rich Chablis in style than anything else - and although it should have been a belter with the fish, for me it did not quite come together. Perhaps it was the slightly oily texture of the wine competing wiht the oil in the fish that did it - not enough acidity in the wine to cut through and perhaps a bit too mellow given its time in the bottle. It was still a belter, though - rich, unctuous, honey and toffee apples and a long throat tickling finish. It was just …  well, I thought it would stun and it didn't - my expectations didn't pan out together. So it goes. Live and learn, eh?

For the reds, our friend had raided his cellar and totally delighted us all with a 1999 Conseillante and a 1999 Ornellaia. The Ornellaia was a real treat and had mellowed nicely for balance but still not so much that its character had been totally subsumed by bottle age - still a lot of life and fire in this one. Bold, and with a bit of sass, kind of like a Venetian gondolier hustling for an extra tip. Initially bold, it evened out down the bottle and ended up more like a priest from the local Tuscan church - friendly, full of life, but lots of depth to explore. Was a belter with the ribs. The Bordeaux Right Bank Conseillante was equally delightful though more complex - layers of fruit and spice and texture and all of which seemed to change as each sip progressed through the palate. Lovely, lovely wine and great balance across the component varietels. We drank it long into the evening, well after all the food had vanished. A stunning wine to end the evening, invoking lots of stories, jokes and laughter. Even got me singing the "Pang Yau", one of the three Chinese songs I seem to sing passably well enough. Prefer to stick with my Rock and Blues, though my Delilah remains a crowd favourite.

In all a great evening, on the strength of which I would happily return to the Supertanker. Now I think of it, the fish we had on my second visit was not bad, and seeing photos of the dishes on another blogsite have jogged the memory. Have to return to try them again. Parking is easy, but a bit dark and secluded at night, so maybe show some extra caution getting to and from the car? I think I heard that corkage was charged, but I didn't see the bill - our friend took it. Glasses were a bit ordinary if it was, though I seem to recall decanting is available. Be our turn next time. But our friend will still be more than welcome to bring his wines. We help him drink them. 

We also had a discussion about buying new wine for investment and I gave him my position that we were now only buying wine we would be able to drink - we don't have twenty years to wait before a wine becomes drinkable and we don't really want to buy just for other people to enjoy them. He said the investment cycle was marked by two events - BC and AC - Before China and After China. Prices skyrocketed when the Chinese came in to buy around 2003 and died in 2011 with the clampdown on Guanxi gifts. Now was difficult to predict - better to stick to the stock market.  Not wrong there. Cheers!

Extra Super Tanker Fine Chinese Restaurant

Damansara Main Branch
48 SS 20/10, Damansara Kim , 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
TEL: 03-77267768 / 03-77267769, Fax: 03-7726 7782
website: http://estrestaurant.net/damansara.html