After our biweekly Saturday meeting, our boss usually takes us somewhere for lunch. I don’t always join them because I’m antisocial I have things to do in the afternoon, but this time around I was glad I did, because I discovered a gem of a seafood restaurant in Balakong.

Sam Steamed Fish Head Restaurant looks like your typical Chinese restaurant – no frills, plastic tables and chairs, non air-conditioned, loud and boisterous. Menu was limited, but everything on it was excellent. Quality over quantity!

Fish maw soup. They don’t have a fishy taste but absorb the flavours of whatever ingredients they’re cooked with. The soup was flavourful (I think it had chicken stock in it), coupled with the fragrance of spring onions, while the maw lent it a crunchy feel.

Pork rib curry was da bomb. Potatoes were done just right – not too hard or soft, while the ribs were fall off the bone tender. Some places make it with lots of coconut milk, which is creamy but might overpower the original flavour – but the curry was strong with this one. Perfect with rice!

Main dish: Steamed fish in spicy taucu . The fish was fresh and fleshy, while the sweetness of the meat was brought forth by the spicy fermented bean sauce. There was plenty of it to go around too.

They even managed to make steamed egg good. Fluffy, silky smooth and soft, just the right amount of soy sauce without being too salty.

Fish stomach with spring onions and basically the same sauce as the fish; but it was equally amazing. The fish stomach was cleaned well and had a texture like squid.

Stir-fried vegetables. These were just okay.

I’m impressed by the quality of the food here. Best of all, it was my boss’s treat so can’t complain.

SAM STEAMED FISH HEAD RESTAURANT

No.21-G, Jalan Cheras Maju, Batu 11, Pusat Perniagaan Cheras Maju, 43200, Balakong, Selangor, Malaysia.

Phone: 0193166338

Closed on Monday

Business hours: 10am – 930pm