IT’S hard to say no to fried fish skin with salted egg when you see it on the menu. At least at Tak Fok Seafood Restaurant in Petaling Jaya, you do not have to fork out a hefty sum as you would for a certain famous brand of salted egg fish skin. This plate of crispy, salted egg yolk crusted fish skin at Tak Fok tasted so good, with the added aroma of fried curry leaves. They are addictive too.

The signature coconut curry prawns dish was brimming over with prawns, cabbage, eggplant and long beans. The curry was delicious, with the richness of santan tempered with the sour tang of lime juice. More curry would have been perfect to go with our rice.

There are more than 10 styles of crabs at this restaurant, from the signature salted egg crabs to steamed crabs with Chinese wine and eggs, black pepper crabs, spicy and sour crabs, lard oil crabs and more.

We chose butter sauce crabs in claypot, with fried mantou to dip in the sauce. The sauce had the requisite creaminess and light sweetness but we found the crabs to be a bit small. If they had been bigger and meatier, we would have enjoyed them more.

Claypot eggplant with minced pork and salt fish is a popular dish here. Thick strips of deep-fried eggplant, braised with minced pork, salt fish, chilli, garlic and taucheo, made an appetising dish with rice.  It was not too oily or salty and the eggplant stayed a little firm and did not turn soggy with the cooking.

We liked the Thai steamed squid with lime as the squid was springy without being tough. The sauce had well-tuned flavours, staying lightly sweet, with a tinge of sourness. The squid was topped with raw onions and slices of lime for an added kick.

It’s always safe to order the signature dishes in a restaurant which has an extensive menu and you are led astray by too many “must try” dishes listed like in Tai Fok. So it was the signature noodles for us, fried with sauce in a fairly dry style with pork, squid, mushroom and fat bean sprouts. There was lots of wok hei (wok heat) in the noodles which tasted good.

The mixed vegetables in a yam ring had red and green peppers, pumpkin, cauliflower, mushroom, cashew nuts and pork stuffed in the fluffy ring. We wished it had been a bigger portion, though.

The dong po pork turned out surprisingly bland when it should have that shot of sweetness and the dark subtly spiced sauce permeating the tender meat.

Food is reasonably priced here: fried fish skin with salted egg is RM12, coconut curry prawns RM36, butter sauce crab in claypot RM78, eggplant with minced pork and salt fish RM15, fried noodles RM23, and Thai steamed squid with lime RM23.

Tak Fok is at 29 Jalan SS2/55, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. You can contact them at 03-7491 4027. – June 8, 2019.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.