Category: Seafood

Some restaurants only specialise in this without the attribute of a country.

Ninety-nine Restaurant

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price: $15++ per person

Place: 8/10

Review:

This week’s restaurant is located in the most posh mall in Jakarta Indonesia, Grand Indonesia. Ninety-nine restaurant promised a casual-yet-exclusive place with a rustic feel of European setting. Expectedly, it was nice-looking but I couldn’t shake out the feeling of being in a food court, a pricey food court. The menu was designed to capture all (too many!) interests: from European to Seafood to steak, they also have Indonesian and Chinese food.

How is their food? Our first two dishes of the day were the entrees: Breaded Onion Rings with Mayonaise and Tomato Ketchup and Mushroom Fritto Misto with fried garlic and chilli salt. We were really blown away by them. The onion rings were very crunchy and perfectly matched with the condiments. The assorted mushrooms were even better! I liked how they combined different mushrooms to create an interesting assortment of textures.

The next two were from the seafood section of the menu. There was an interesting combination for the Grilled Norwegian Salmon. It was served with tomato and mushroom butter rice and lemon sauce. The other one was Dory fillet with almond thyme crust, leaf spinach, whipped potatoes and lemon caper butter.

My father decided to go with Indonesian’s traditional Sop buntut goreng. It was a clear vegetable soup with fried oxtail and emping (crackers from gnetum gnemon). There was also the Hainan poached chicken – I must say it looked pretty standard when compared to Singaporean ones.

The last dish of the day was the one I actually ordered. It was Croque monsieur. The sandwich was pretty big by Indonesian standard and it was grilled beef ham with swizz cheese and mornay sauce. This is one of the dishes that I could only eat in Indonesia, because the real croquet monsieur was typically served with ham. The sandwich was delectable! It was crunchy, tasty and add an extra tomato sauce if you want to enhance it a bit more.

The final verdict for Ninety-nine Restaurant

There are some issues that restricted me in giving a higher score to Ninety-nine restaurant. The obvious one was its price! It was seriously expensive for the food court setting. The food was generally nice with a decent serving.

Details:

Grand Indonesia LG Floor East Mall

Jl. MH Thamrin No 1, Jakarta 10210

+6221 23581196

http://www.ninetynine.co.id/

Jul 24, 2013
Jumbo Seafood Restaurant

Rating:

8 / 10 Taste: 8.5/10

Price: S$208++ set menu for four

Place: 7/10

Review:

Jumbo Seafood restaurant is one of the household names in Singapore. They even had the motto ‘The big name in Seafood’ to illustrate how famous they are. Last year when I visited Singapore, I wanted to go to Jumbo restaurant but they didn’t open in the afternoon. Hence, this time around I must go!

Jumbo seafood have quite a view branch and we went to the one in Riverwalk, a nice river-side location in Clarke Quay, Singapore. When we saw the menu, there were a whole bunch of seafood dishes to choose from and it was quite hard to decide. In the end, we chose the set menu for four people, priced at S$208++. There are five dishes (with optional mantou that we took) and a dessert.

Our first dish of the day was Superior Seafood in Thick Pumpkin Soup. This was the first time I ever tasted a pumpkin soup combined with a whole lot of seafood goodies and mushrooms. It quickly built up my appetite and expectations (a good thing considering it was already sky high!) through the roof!

The second dish Jumbo presented us was Fresh Scallop & Squid Fillet in XO Sauce. Unfortunately this one was a bit spicy to my liking and I was kinda worried that the chilli crab would be this spicy! In terms of presentations, they had a balanced combination of seafood and vegetables on a deep fried noodles ‘plate’.

Our next dish fell in the category of ‘as expected’. It was the traditional-looking Roasted Duck. Although it was in the ‘nice’ end of the scale, it was still a regular roast duck with sauce, tender meat and crispy skin.

Then came the dish that I’ve been dying to try for ages, Jumbo Chilli Crab. It was presented in a wok, possibly not the one they are cooking it from as the crab was too immersed in the soup. I was extremely pleased that the Singaporean chilli crab wasn’t actually as hot as I would have imagined them to be.

Jumbo seafood’s signature dish came with an optional deep-fried mantou which I strongly recommend to take (or add some more!). The mantou really enhanced the chilli crab’s taste.

Similar to other Chinese restaurants, they served the rice last. In this case, it was Seafood Fried Rice with Silver Fish. It was staple food good to fill up tummy that wasn’t really full, like mine 🙂

It was a really yummy dessert to end the night, Chilled Mango Sago with Pomelo. It was condensed milk on crushed ice with toppings of mango sago and pomelo.

The final verdict for Jumbo Seafood Restaurant

I must say I am very pleased with my visit to Jumbo Seafood Restaurant. They might command a slight premium value to the average Singaporean Restaurant, but it was thoroughly justified with the dishes they presented. Its Singaporean Chilli Crab also lived up to my expectations.

Details:

20 Upper Circular Road #B1-48

The Riverwalk, Singapore 058416

+65 343435

http://www.jumboseafood.com.sg/

Jun 11, 2013
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co’s Rating:

8 / 10 Taste: 7.5/10

Price: $20 per person

Place: 8.5/10

Review:

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is the most awesome restaurant chain I have ever visited. They created the whole Forrest Gump (that movie with Tom Hanks) experience complete with their version of the characters’ favourite food. As you might already realise by now, their specialty is shrimps.

It got more awesome with the fact that the restaurant was decorated in a ‘60s setting. The staffs were incredibly cheerful and every so often you’ll hear them singing happy birthday with a full ‘orchestra’ (drums made of tin cans etc). There were sign plates (Run Forrest Run and Stop Forrest Stop) on each table to signal the waiters rather than just waving our hands.

Our first dish of the day was Traditional Shrimp Cocktail. A dozen of jumbo shrimp served with Bubba Gump’s zesty cocktail sauce in an icy goblet. It was a nice and refreshing start of the day. FYI, the sauce was a little bit hot.

Barramundi with Lemon Garlic cream sauce was our first dish of the day. It turned out to be the least impressive dish with a little excess on the lemon. Our first theme-influenced dish came out next, Lt. Dan’s Drunken Shrimp. These chargrilled shrimps were positioned upside down to illustrate the ‘drunk’ness. It was complemented by sausages, mashed potatoes, and string crackers with Bourbon sauce. One of the dishes you must order at the restaurant!

Bubba’s after the storm ‘bucket of boat trash’ presented a different approach for the night. Various deep fried seafood and chips were laid out on special-purpose (and clean!) newspapers in a tin bucket. You will also get three sauces (cocktail, tartare, and garlic oil) and a small plate of salad. Even with the skin on, the shrimps were edible-y crunchy with perfect seasoning. It might be one of the more expensive range (at Rp 230,000.00 ~ AU$ 25) but it is definitely worth trying!

Bourbon street mahi-mahi was a bit too similar to the drunken shrimp but in this version, they used fish fillets instead of shrimps. For your little one, you can order Li’l Forest’s Favorite fish and chips complete with its ornament ship and fresh vegetables.

Our first choice of dessert was my all-time favourite dessert Mama’s Cinnamon bread pudding. It’s a shame that the plate looked so messy since the actual centrepiece was really nice. The biggest surprise of the day came in last, Chocolate chip cookie sundae. The waiter recommended us and it looked like the most unhealthy food I’ve ever seen. The dessert soon became the best of the day since it was incredibly yummy! Mountain of whipped cream with peanuts and chocolate and caramel sauce covered the hidden warm chocolate cookie. For someone who doesn’t like chocolate, not only could I stand this dish, I actually wanted more of it!

The final verdict for Bubba Gump Shrimp Co

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is not just a restaurant with the perfect rendition of Forrest Gump’s era. Their shrimp-dominated menu was also fantastic. If you still have some space on your tummy, I would strongly suggest the Chocolate chip cookie sundae.

Did you know?

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. also provided entertainment for kids and adults alike. They had the catch the mascot game and also trivia about the movie. So for those of you Die Hard Forrest Gump fans, brush up your skills and take this ultimate challange!

Details:

Komplek Pertokoan Kuta Centre, Blok A1 No. 1

Jalan Kartika Plaza No. 8X, Kuta, Bali

+62 361 754 028

http://www.bubbagump.com/

Jul 31, 2012
Ikan Bakar Cianjur

Rating:

6.5 / 10 Taste: 6.5/10

Price: <$5 per person

Place: 6/10

Review:

Ikan Bakar Cianjur was one of the few Indonesian chain restaurants that was available in a lot of places all around Indonesia. Since ikan bakar meant grilled fish, one can only deduce that their specialty was fish.

Since all of their dishes were pretty simplistic, I decided to write this review whilst promoting one of Indonesia’s infamous slogan ‘4 Sehat 5 Sempurna’ (4 healthy, 5 perfect). This was meant to promote healthy and balanced meal for the whole family.

The first element of it is Carbohydrate. In Indonesia it has always been associated with rice and/or rice cakes for the Javanese.

The second element is lauk pauk, or main dishes (Google translate somehow showed side dish). We ordered Gurami Goreng (fried carp) and Steamed Snapper. Gurami goreng was extremely crunchy and was peeled to make a wavy pattern. The Steamed Snapper on the other hand was smooth and flavoursome. Funnily, tofu is also part of this element, so I have to include Fried Tofu on this list.

The third element is vegetables. On this occasion, it was represented by Baby Cabbage. Once again, it was just pure stir-fried veggies.

I would like to mention the type of fruit juice that might only be available in Indonesia (or an Indonesian restaurant), Avocado Juice. Fruit and milk would be the last elements of ‘4 Sehat 5 Sempurna’. This was one of my most favourite drinks of all time. It was a simple mixture of avocado, milk and coffee syrup. The Indonesian avocado had a different consistency and feel to that of Thai’s.

The final verdict: Ikan Bakar Cianjur provided an overly simplistic dish with a decent touch of traditionalism. Nothing was practically outstanding except for the avocado juice and steamed snapper.

Did you know?

This restaurant used to be one of the nice restaurants in Surabaya. However, it was downgraded into a common restaurant because of the numerous newcomers and/or competitions from household names in the seafood restaurants.

It also appeared that this chain also had discrepancy in taste. Its biggest branch in Mayjend Sungkono remained the most crowded IBC in Surabaya and seemed to have a more vibrant vibe to it.

Details:

Jalan Jemursari 76, Surabaya

Jan 22, 2012
Jordons Seafood Restaurant

Update: Jordons Seafood restaurant is now closed

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price: $40 per person

Place: 9/10

Review:

As you might already know, Darling Harbour was the best to be when it comes to enjoying the night. Jordon’s Seafood Restaurant is located at the heart of it and right on the corner with 270^o view of the harbour.

We went thru the aquatic-themed menu and we saw vast assortments of dishes. If you’re stuck there and you don’t like seafood (why do u come in the first place?), you can still get steak or even vegetarian stuff. But today, the review will be all about seafood and we were interested in the items specially highlighted in a box.

Our starter was a simple Mixed Leaf (with Persian fetta, marinated olives, roasted tomato and capsicum). It was a nice and colourful salad.

For our first share plate, we ordered Sushi / Sashimi Combination (main size). When the platter arrived, we were pleased with how it was presented. On the plate there were 10 assorted sushi, 9 sashimi slices, seaweed and something yummy (that brown thing on the left corner of the plate). Upon our tasting, I discovered that the sashimi wasn’t as fresh as I’d like them to be (but don’t worry, they’re still edible).

Our second platter of the day was Jordon’s Deluxe Seafood Platter (for two). We were quite shocked with the size of the dish and thankful that we did not order the bigger one. It was a massive two-tiered platter full of seafood. We were advised to finish the top tier first since they were the ‘hot’ dishes.

We had a bowl of mussels, then a couple of marinated Balmain bugs laid on a big square of nori. Next to the bugs were some cooked oysters. We also got a whole lobster. In the middle of it were 4 sticks of deep fried seafood with fish and chips on the bottom. The lobster and the bugs were cooked perfectly. You could rip the meat off the shell without too much effort, but the mussels weren’t the best I’ve ever tasted. And that’s only for the first tier.

For the second tier, we have an assortment of cold dishes. You wouldn’t miss a couple of Blue Swimmer crabs sitting in the corner. Then there were four fresh oysters and some chilled prawns. On the other corner, there was a bowl of Singaporean Chilli crab with some fresh fruits. Lastly there was a bowl of marinated squid and mussels with cocktail and tartare sauces.

For most part, they were yummy. There was a strange note on the Singaporean Chilli Crab. I have never tried them cold and unfortunately I didn’t like it. If only the crab was freshly cooked then that tower would be great.

The final verdict: Jordon’s is the kind of restaurant that has much better settings and ambience than the food itself. It’s quite pricey if you compared the price per its taste, but if you add the scenery factor, then it kind of made sense. Nothing really stands out on this occasion but they were satisfying.

Did you know?

The restaurant is located in the prime location of Darling Harbour. Few restaurants beat its scenic harbour/city view. Darling Harbour is also known as one of the few places in Sydney which stores open until 9 PM for most nights. FYI, stores normally close at 5 or 6 PM on all days, but Thursday.

We chose this restaurant because of the Entertainment Book. This book contains 1000s of discounts on restaurants, amusement parks, cinemas, even Coles! They are only sold at participating foundation (I bought mine at Cancer Council) for $65 – portions of it are donated for the cause. I strongly recommend you to buy this book and have a bit of adventure yourself.

Location:

197 Harbourside, Darling Harbour, NSW 2000

Website:

www.jordonsrestaurant.com.au (Jordons Seafood restaurant is now closed)

Jul 5, 2011
Sydney Fish Market

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7 /10

Price: $15 – $30 per person

Place: 7/10

Review:

We will not take you to a particular restaurant this week, but instead it’s the infamous Sydney’s Fish Market. You have two choices here: one is the posh oh-so-expensive restaurants outside, or the big ‘food court’ type bargain shop.

Somehow, I never get enticed by the ‘fancy’-ish restaurants outside and always opt for the ones inside the big dome. We also have the same sets of restaurants to go to: Grill shop second from the left and Sashimi shop second on the right. You can also get a nice grilled eel from the third shop on the right or bargain scampi on the left hand side towards the end of the building.

In the grill shop, there are a variety of platters for two, including the one with Lobster or the cold cuts. This time, we ordered Seafood Platter and Fried Platter for Two. For the seafood platter we got, grilled octopus, 2 scallops, Killpatrick and Mornay Oysters, Deep fried prawns, fish, and calamari on a bed of chips (or you can also get rice). The fried one consisted of Soft-shelled crab, king prawns, octopus, calamari and fish. This is what I called the staple food to actually fill up the tummy. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still really good and, like I said, you can also get an optional lobster.

From the same restaurant, you can also get all kinds of Grilled fish they have. This time we tried Grilled Salmon. If you really want a grilled fresh Salmon that are still light pink on the inside, this will be the one for you.

The Sashimi stores only have three most common Sashimi: Tuna, Salmon, and Kingfish. They also have an assortment of Fresh Oysters, Sea Urchin, and Seaweed. No matter which shops you go to, that are the only selection you’d get. All of them are equally nice and fresh, but the difference is only in the price, so I reckon you should shop around to see which shop offers the best price for the day.

One of the rare products sold in fish market is the Scampi. Technically, they are still crustacean and are actually more related to lobster than prawn. Size-wise, they are more of a shrimp, but they have a distinct sweet taste. One piece of Scampi Sushi is usually sold at a price of $4.5, but in this place you get 25 scampi for $15… It’s a really good bargain! I must admit that you must de-shell the Scampi yourself which is a bit of a challenge if you don’t have any scissors handy.

The final verdict: It’s a really nice place to get bargain and fresh seafood products. You just need to find out which restaurants offer the lowest price on that day. But if you don’t mind $1 difference, you can go to any restaurants without a problem. All fresh and all good…

Did you know?

There’s a seemingly good Yum Cha Restaurant on its second floor. I’ve been recommended to try but can’t seem to get past the irresistible first floor’s choices.

Location:

Sydney Fish Markets, Bank Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009

Website:

http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/

Apr 21, 2011