Uniquely fresh seafood

It was a treat to remember.

Restaurant Fresh Unique Seafood 23 (quite a mouthful name) is located on Jalan Kemajuan in Section 13, PJ. It is in the same vicinity as the PJ branch of the Ah Yat Abalone Forum. According to its website, the restaurant is owned by an Ipoh company with outlets in Kayu Ara PJ, Cheras and Tambun, Ipoh.

The place is big, with a large main dining hall and several private dining rooms at the back.

At one side of the restaurant is a large aquarium complex. In it were crabs, lobsters, fish and seafood of various sizes and origin. There were the Alaskan king crabs, Australian snow crabs, Scotland clams, Californian geoducks and various types of lobsters from I-don't-know-where.

One item in the aquarium that struck me was the large Empurau fish. Empurau is a fresh water fish from East Malaysia. It is supposedly the most expensive food fish in Malaysia.  It was being sold at RM650 per kilogram.

Twelve of our family members dined there one Saturday evening. We had a private room. We started with some wine while waiting for our food.

The first dish was the blanched grass prawns (草虾). It was fresh prawn plainly blanched, to be dipped in a chilli or garlic sauce. It was cooked just right - not under or over done. It was absolutely succulent and very delicious.

The braised lamb that followed was also very delicious. It was done in a peppery sauce. However the lamb was over-tenderized and rather soft. I would prefer the original lamb texture. It also lacked the gamy flavor which I like in lamb.

The tofu dish was simple but good. The large pieces of home-made tofu were accompanied with some tau kan (腐根) and vege in a light simple sauce. 

Next was what the restaurant called "Scotland clams". I tried googling "Scotland clam" but found nothing. In the aquarium, it looked like this...

The clams were steamed with garlic and glass noodles (粉絲). They were served individually in small elongated dishes. This is the first time I had "Scotland clams" but I found them rather ordinary. The pieces of meat in the shell tasted were not very much different from ordinary squids.

The vege dish was the kai lan (芥蘭) prepared dual style. Part of the vegetable was blanched the normal way and some of the leaves were shredded finely and deep fried till crunchy, with tiny strips of deep fried cuttlefish. I have tasted this preparation in Evergreen before. I found the preparation here better.

The grouper served to us was a big fish. It was steamed in a simple soy sauce. The freshness of the fish was most evident. The meat of the fish was sliced into bite pieces before they were steamed. We had it with steamed rice. The sauce in hot rice was most delicious.

The finale was the Alaskan king crab. Its origin was perhaps from the same Discovery Channel Deadliest Catches. It was a huge crab - just one was enough for the 12 of us. It was prepared in the restaurant's signature style, in a mild sauce that was supposedly to bring up the genuine flavor of the crab. Indeed the sauce did not over power the sweet succulent taste of the crab meat. We all enjoyed it very much.

The experience at Fresh Unique Seafood 23 was great. The dishes were not elaborately cooked as to mask the freshness and original flavor of the seafood. I would definitely return. I only wish they are not so pricey.

Thanks Mei.