Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Meng Kee, Jalan Alor - grilled fish and sotong

Food bloggers' gathering - Part 2 of 3

You know how when you're on a blind date and you discover new things about the other person and you don't want it to end so you look for reasons to make sure the evening never ends? That must be how it was with us as we proceeded to our next stop just a few restaurants away from Wong Ah Wah. That, and the fact that we were still ravenous (translated: greedy). Sucking and licking the sauce off balitongs (whelk?) just don't cut it.

Meng Kee
Grilled fish was next on the menu, and Meng Kee grills a mean fish! Nestled among several stalls, it is easy enough to spot (and smell) this place. Be prepared for a barrage of sales talk as several waiters try to persuade you to sit at their stall, thereby securing your business. Once we sat down, several dishes were promptly ordered. I did say, after all, that we were famished.

hor chien

char koay teow
A plate of hor chien (fried oyster omelette) and two plates of char koay teow (fried flat rice noodles) were placed in front of us. Although the char koay teow had the vital ingredient, cockles, it still lacked oomph. But when you're hungry, everything is edible and delicious!

grilled fish
Shortly after that, two plates of grilled ikan pari (stingray) and a plate of chilli fried sotong (squid) arrived. The grilled fish tasted lovely, with a nice thin crisp skin and moist (!) flesh without being overdone (which can be a problem if you don't grill the fish correctly). Unfortunately, the first piece that I picked up had some slime at the bottom, which brought to mind a tale of lonely fishermen in the deep seas related by WMW just minutes before, and I held my breath for a moment before savouring the fish. Who says I don't have balls? Seriously though, the grilled fish was very tasty. Honest!

sotong
Everyone agreed that the chilli fried squid was the best dish at this stall. The spicy dish was fried with lots of thick cut onions and curry leaves and the squid was not at all rubbery.

All the above were achieved together with enigmatic discussions about personal lives and food interests under open skies dotted by fairy lights and chinese lanterns. Very much like a first date.

11 comments:

sc said...

the grilled stingray sure looks good! and somewhat different frm the usual grill fish i see

Anonymous said...

I have to agree that the grilled stingray looks really good. And kinda big portion too.

boo_licious said...

the grilled stingray was good but their dip was dissapointing. What was fantastic was their chilli sotong - simply out of the world.

Glad u enjoyed yr first blind date with all of us.

Tummythoz said...

Ok, that does it! When's d nx outing?!

fatboybakes said...

HAHAHAHAH, tales of lonely fisherman out at sea + slimy snot coming out of a stingray's butt?!!!! AIYOOOO, whatttt were you girls talking about at that end of the table ha? how come i didnt hear one? lonely fishermen....seamen, you mean?

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

sc and jason: yeah, the grilled fish was good, although, as boo_licious rightly said, the dip wasn't as good, which explained why I skipped the dip completely.

boo_licious: yep, I would go back there for the sotong again.

tummythoz: sorry for torturing u, but there's more to come. ;-) lol.

fbb: hey, you know what we've been talking about then! ;-)

wmw said...

Ha ha ha...we both blogged about this EARLY this morning. Yeah, such an enjoyable outing. How about making it 50 First Dates??? ;o)

backStreetGluttons said...

wmw
u r talking bout our all time fav movie, how did u know ah?

u mean still got 49 more ah?

oh for a whiff of serai theres exactly 50 left omg !

Lyrical Lemongrass said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lyrical Lemongrass said...

wmw: 50 first dates - if got Adam Sandler, ok lor. Lookalike oso can...

lol, team bsg! When's No.1?

Anonymous said...

Tried out the grilled spicy squid with onion and it's just extraordinary delicious! The hokkein mee here-also superb! Definitely making a come back to Meng Kee whenever nearby Jalan Alor. Hey, thanks for your blog..give me many inspirations for food :)