Good uncle Hwai wanted to celebrate his bday and insisted we go for a seafood dinner in Pandamaran, near Port Klang. Being a Klang veteran (he has been a gazillion times, and knows equally as many friends there), he insisted on a place called Friendship Sea-Food. To the rest of us Klang neophytes, that meant nothing, just a name. You know, I'm one of those non-outside-KL seafood types, even though connoisseurs have long vouched for places like Bagan Lalang, Pandamaran, P. Indah, and Teluk Gong. I'm sure there are many others, but you catch my drift. So to Klang we went, all 12 of us city slickers packed into four cars. After an hour of the 'tummy rumbling orchestra', we arrived. The place (shoplot) was obscure, but was brightly lit. To me, it looked more like a 'house' with kids running around, and just a few tables (<10). Was telling myself, these guys are obviously not in it for the commercial scale profits.

Anyway, the family greeted us, and we felt so out of place. The other regulars were busy lapping their guinesses, carlsbergs and tigers while watching EPL. You know the old uncles you see in cofi shops? Well, imagine ALOT of old uncles with their legs on the chairs, smoking pot (i mean cigarillos), drinking beer and watching tele err, with enthusiasm. But we noticed all of them had a certain few plates of delicious morsels on the table. The fact they ordered more or less the same stuff made ordering what we wanted a lot easier. Guess they must be regulars alright. But we had uncle Hwai, foodie extraordinaire and bday boy himself, to do the honors. The man can rattle off Klang hokkien, ghetto style. So here’s what we ordered:

a. Tang Hoon (fried with lard)
b. O chien
c. Mee Hoon with Flower Crab
d. Salt Baked 'roe' Crab
e. Fried Cabbage with Anchovies (and lard)
f. Fah Lam Yoke fried with Lam Yue
g. Lala soup
h. Kangkung (Water Convolvulus) fried with Belacan

The standout dishes were the tang hoon, salt baked crab and fried cabbage. But all the other dishes were above average and consistently good. So let's start with the tang hoon.
The noodles were fried slippery smooth, yet done al dente (not too soft), just the way i like it. It almost slides down your throat! Never knew salt, pepper, and lard tasted so good together in what looked like a simple dark looking concoction, until we had this 'house specialty' of theirs. Or maybe it was the lard after all. The chef believes in strong tasting food, so all his dishes had a discerning taste – and in the tang hoon’s case, it was the pepper seeds that gave it the special oomph.

Then the salt baked crabs. Man, it's sooo sinfully salty, but everyone kept eating and slurping and drinking water/beer. Beer and salt baked crabs equals gastronomic nirvana. We ordered just 2kg, but wished we had more at the end of it. The crabs were fresh, and the flesh firm. This is important, bcos some places like the overrated Fatty Crab and Devil’s Crab have crabs with soft or worse, disintegrating, flesh. But master chef would have none of that here. The rock salt he used seeped into the crabs nicely, and that to me means the flavors were distributed evenly. You may or may not find this important, but imagine eating some crab parts which are undercooked and under flavored. And what if they’re not fresh!? Yuck.  A lot of places ‘hide’ how fresh their crabs are by numbing your taste buds with the garnishing and/or sauces. So if a crab is fresh, I feel it’s always better to have it steamed (Pak Wan Ching), salt baked or BBQed like how Nong & Jimmy does it. But here they do it with class. The chef masterfully used salt to bring out the freshness of his ingredients. And we totally forgot we requested the crabs had roe in them until one of us tasted the bright red creamy bulbs. You have to pay more for the ‘roe’ crabs, but trust me it’s worth it after savoring the master chef’s creation. Now this is where you can get anal and petty with food, depending on your preferences. I like mine (crab roe) not too hard, and slightly wet, still oozing with creaminess. Some like it ‘well done’ and hard, but whatever it is, these tasted sublime. The chef added just a hint and dash of fried shallots, just on top of the roe to bring out the best in it. Truly a master…

Next the cabbage. This was the only plate of greens we had (we ordered the kangkung last, bcos we felt guilty taking in so much cholesterol), but we were again pleasantly surprised. We think the chef delights himself in using the simplest of ingredients to make the most delectable of dishes. And this time, he used fresh cabbage, anchovies and lard. Told you lard was a staple here. But the anchovies made the read difference (refraining from saying lard, hahahahahaha). Fried golden brown and lightly salted until perfection, the anchovies are then added to the cabbage once the fire gets hot enough to get the vegetables ‘sweating’, literally infusing and assimilating the anchovies’ essence into its own juices. The bits of chopped lard is added last, just as the dish is about done, to seal/lock in the flavor all readers here must have come to identify as good. No wonder some ppl say food can be better than sex…

Here’s the hard part – choosing the ‘loser’ of the night. The dish making up the rear had to be the lala soup. Actually it’s above average, but the rest were just plain better. Just to give you a yardstick, the lala soup here is easily better than the likes of Lala Chong near the Low Cost Terminal in Subang. Ok I'm not a great lala soup fan, but i think it's safe to say it’s above average lah.

The total bill came up to RM314, including 6 big bottles of beer. Good value for money, if you don’t mind the drive. Do try to come in bigger parties, bcos you get to sample more, instead of ordering just a dish or two.

Once we had our fill, we settled down to ask who the master chef was, since he tantalized us with every dish. We found out (rather uncle Hwai told us) the place belonged to the Teh family, and the Chief Executive Chef was a Mr. Teh Chong Sing. Seriously that’s his ‘title’ according to name card when literally translated from the Chinese characters.
Master Teh  picked up his culinary skills from his dad, and his dad in turn from his grandpa before that.

Almost forgot to mention this; the Master chef also serves fish cakes made fresh, but you need to tell him at least a day in advance. Apparently, he rearranges the slices to form the whole fish again, so head and tail and fish cake slices in between. This guy takes his food seriously, and wants you too as well. Master Teh we thank you for cooking with love. God bless you and your family.

The meal came up to RM314 for 12pax, including 6 (large) bottles of beers.

Friendship Sea-Food
No. 668-A, Jalan Pala off Jalan Pendamar
Pandamaran, 42000 Port Klang

For reservations, call master chef himself at H/P: 016-360 9138, 016-919 3519.

cash terms only

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