Golden Lucky Seafood Restaurant, Kuantan

Overall comment: Constantly serving delicious food filled with "wok hei" at reasonable prices. We actually love their minced pork noodles ("yoke sui meen"), roast duck, & crunchy stir-fried pig's intestines, but this time around, we decided to try their other dishes.
Halal: No

Golden Lucky Restaurant has been around for many years. It's certainly not a place where tourists would dine as it's a very common-looking coffeeshop with not much of a crowd (but with constant flow of customers), unlike the well-known Alor Akar Seafood Restaurant. But trust the locals here, or at least trust this PerutBesi to introduce you to some decent or probably good (depending on your level of expectations) local food in Kuantan.

I've been here several times, but have never gotten down to blog about this place. The only time I mentioned this place briefly was during my trip in the year 2009! You can check out the post here. The food is still consistently delicious!

This time around, AP & I decided to try something different (as we've been eating the same few dishes for the past few years here!). So for just the both of us, we ordered a noodles, a stir-fried kai lan veggie & a plate of deep-fried "nam yue" pork belly. No regrets!

Cantonese-Style San Meen

The lady boss was recommending the "man sang meen" (braised emperor noodles), but somehow I was craving for some Cantonese-style egg-gravy, crunchy noodles. She said that this dish is also nice, so we just went ahead with the order. The noodles were fried perfectly: crunchy & fragrant, while the egg gravy was well seasoned & aromatic. I think I would want to try their "sang har meen" the next time. I'm envisioning that their ginger-infused egg gravy with 'fresh prawns sweetness' would be excellent. *drools*

"Nam Yue Zhu Yoke" (Pork Belly Marinated with Red Fermented Bean Curd)

I thought it would come in thin crispy slices, but Golden Lucky's version comes in thick, juicy chunks! You have a bottom layer of moist pork + a top layer of juicy pork fat/lard, encrusted by the layer of deep-fried goodness. Oolala...the men will say that this goes best with some beer.

I didn't bother taking a photo of the stir-fried kai lan that we ordered as it's very common. It's stir-fried to perfection & here at Golden Lucky, they use fried garlic to stir-fry their dishes instead of the white, raw garlic. I think it gives a very different level of fragrance to the dishes, even the simple vegetable dishes tastes more delicious!

Total cost for 3 dishes was RM33.00 (non-inclusive of 6% GST). I thought it was pretty reasonable since noodles for 2 persons would come up to approximately RM12.00 - RM14.00, while the medium-serving plate of vegetables usually costs RM8.00. I guess the pork costs RM11.00- RM13.00? The receipt didn't show the breakdown, but whatever the breakdown is, I certainly left the restaurant as a satisfied customer who would return to Golden Lucky for many more times in the coming days :)


Golden Lucky Seafood Restaurant
B-2616, Jalan Beserah
25300 Kuantan
Pahang Darul Makmur.
Tel: (+609) 566 6148/ (+6012) 983 3628


Ratings:
Presentation: * * *
Price: * * * 1/2
Environment: * * *
Taste: * * * *
Service: * * *


Overall:






I'm lucky to have discovered such gold,

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New discovery at Balok - Azam Roasters Cafe

Overall comment: Surprisingly delicious lamb chop! Writing about it now makes me wanna head back there for round 2 tonight! There's no service charge nor GST & you won't need to pay for your glass of ice water (some places do charge for even a glass of drinking water).
Halal: Yes

Note: This is not an invited review

It's been a LONG while since I embarked on a random adventure for dinner (and yes, it's been too long since I last blogged as well as I've been really busy). I once saw a photo of a nice-looking restaurant that Clare posted on her FB & decided to ask her to introduce me to that place for dinner last night.

We actually drove all the way, around 15km away from home, to pop by Mint Restaurant at Balok, but we didn't check ahead to find out if they're open on Mondays. Alas upon arrival, we found out that it closes every Monday! Bah.

But thanks to Google & Waze, we managed to find some other place to have our dinner (we were famished!) & we stumbled upon Azam Roasters Cafe. It's right after KFC in Balok, before the Petronas petrol station. Little did I know, this cafe is actually quite popular & has been on magazines & newspapers previously. Oooo...

The wall tells you all...what a discovery for us!

Their menu features a decent selection of western food like chicken chop, fish & chips, lamb chop & steak, plus a handful of pizzas, pastas & even local cuisines. They have a lunch special menu as well. I was actually pleasantly surprise that the prices here are pretty affordable for the taste of the dish :)

Lamb chop (RM18.00/serving)

I'm very particular when it comes to lamb chop, but this lamb chop was good!! So good that we wanted to order another plate! The 2 generous pieces of lamb were well marinated & seasoned, perfectly cooked (still tender & juicy) & even the garlic bread plus wedges tasted delicious. Hahaha.

Under the 2 pieces of lamb were a treasure of other side dishes..nothing extraordinary, but these simple sides actually tasted good. After some research, I found out that Chef Azam actually specializes in roast whole lamb...woots!

Al Fungi Pizza (RM22.00/serving)

Personally, I didn't enjoy the pizza although I love the fact that it was loaded with mushrooms & cheese. Instead of using the usual tomato puree as base, they used chili sauce (ergh...). This is probably to suit the palate of the local Malay community here as the Balok area is more Malay populated. If only they used proper tomato base for the pizza, I think it could be much better in taste. In addition, the pizza base is also not made in-house, so it felt kinda thick & not fluffy enough. Not my preference when it comes to pizza at Azam Roasters.

Mixed Grill (RM38.00/serving)

 What an interesting mixed grill platter...see the prawns & squid rings? Hahaha...I rarely come across such mixed grill platters with seafood (apart from fish). For RM38.00, it's not too bad, but we were disappointed with the freshness of the prawns & squid, considering that this is a "seafood/beach area".

The load on the mixed grill platter

Beneath the large piece of lamb chop was actually another piece of lamb chop, a piece of grilled chicken breast meat, 1 large chicken sausage (nothing to shout about) & the usual sides. I guess for the portion & effort to cook each item, the price is reasonable & if you're not extremely hungry, this portion can be shared by 2 persons. The lamb chop is still the best...haha.

If you happen to be at Balok or would just want to embark on an adventure to hunt for some good food out of Kuantan town, yet not drive too far for a meal, I think Azam Roasters would satisfy :) We would have often thought that Western food should be best prepared by Westerners, but seems like Chef Azam, who was a chef with Swiss Garden Hotel previously, is doing a good job to boost our local talent to the next level :D

Business hours: Mon - Sat 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.; Sun 5:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
p/s: They have another outlet at Indera Mahkota 8 as well.


Ratings:
Presentation: * * * *
Price: * * * *
Environment: * * *
Taste: * * * 1/2
Service: * * * 


Overall:






Just love the lamb chop!

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