Entree Kibbles: Ong Shun Halal Seafood Restaurant @ Johor Bahru in Malaysia

It was an impromptu trip to Johor Bahru and my only companion was my dearest mom! Knowing she loves seafood, I searched for highly reviewed seafood restaurants around the area and identified one; Ong Shun seafood restaurant, which had a score of 4.1 from over 1,700 reviewers!

Nothing much to say about the old school interior design for the non-air-conditioned eatery; I did realize there were Muslims dining in. Turned out this was a halal restaurant, and you shouldn't be expecting pork to be served.

With just two of us, I cannot be too frivolous in my ordering since I dislike wasting food, unlike Alex. Whatever the case, it's nice to see a complimentary box of tissues! In Singapore, seafood restaurants would commonly charge you for wet tissues.

Hot Barley with Lemon - I really can't taste the barley as the lemon had totally overwhelmed it. For, this would be no more than just plain, simple, hot water with lemon.

Teh O Kosong Limau Iced - literally iced lime tea with no sugar, this would be suitable for people who want more than just iced tea with no sugar as the sourness was bound to perk your taste buds.

Four Mixed Vegetables - the Chinese name sounded much better as it referred to the four great kings. There were brinjal, petai, tomatoes, long beans, onions and ladyfingers; not sure which would the four kings. Stir fried with sambal and ikan bilis, this would be better if accompanied with a bowl of white rice!

Salted Egg Sotong - indicated as recommended, I know this would be one dish I had to order. Visually, it did look wholesomely appetizing and my request for a small portion seemed more like a medium. Nevertheless, taste matters more than appearance.

And to be honest, I was disappointed. Indeed the squid was tasty and not rubbery and I did love the deliciously rich salted egg sauce. Issue was with the batter, which was the powdery type that easily disintegrates when you introduce a liquid.

The above was after I had separated the squid from the batter; that's a ton of batter! Frankly, the chef could do the squid some justice by just deep frying the squid without batter and stir frying them with the salted egg sauce.

Chilli Crab - costing about RM 100 for a crab of about 600-700 grams, I knew the size would be perfect for just the two of us although the portion that was eventually placed on our table did appear larger than expected.

Anyway, I shouldn't be complaining given the price. First thing I always do whenever I try chilli crab from a new establishment - take a spoonful of the gravy! The flavor of tomato sauce greeted us, followed by short bursts of spiciness infused with seafood, that ended with an interesting twist; the noticeable taste of vinegar that made the gravy even more palatable.

Obviously I do like this version of chilli crab gravy! Even the crab meat didn't disappoint; it was meaty and fresh. So shiok when dunked into the chilli crab gravy!

Mantou - with gravy means we would need some buns to soak them up! I was so afraid there would be a minimum of five buns, which would have been too much for both mum and I. Turned out their minimum was three; a quantity we can stomach.

Perfect texture of crisp on the outside and soft on the inside; the imperfection was that by itself, the bun had not much taste, and you would 100% need the assistance from the chilli crab gravy!

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