Restaurant Chai Chin @ Sitiawan, Perak
After checking out from our lovely home stay, we had our lunch at this famous Bak Kut Teh restaurant – Restaurant Chi Chin nestled in Taman Aman Muhibbah where there are other restaurants serving similar food along the same stretch of shoplot.
The restaurant was packed to the brim and other than the Bak Kut Teh, I could see the steamed fish head is another sought after dish here which appeared on almost every table.
Steamed Grouper Fish Head (RM163.20)
I assumed the price for the steamed fish head was charged according to the weight but the bill didn’t state the weight of the fish head we had that day.
We were a little caught off guard when we saw the size of the Grouper fish head. It was indeed a very enormous fish head with scary sharp teeth, on pool of soy sauce concoction, fully covered with red onion, sprinkles of chopped spring onion as well as a few limes on the side.
I was skeptical upon seeing those overwhelming amount of raw onion as I never like the pungent taste of it, but actually the combination worked well enough to leave a great impression! One spoonful of everything, the fish, onion and the sauce (make sure you squeeze the limes into the soy sauce concoction) yield a perfect combination of flavour that simply explodes in your mouth. The sweetness of the fish, savoriness of the sauce with refreshing bright citrus tang of lime, as well as the crunchiness of the onion (the pungent taste of raw onion was surprisingly very minimal (^^)ｂ), the flavour was just memorably wonderful and managed to wow everyone that day.
Despite the huge size, the flesh of the fish head was decent, not entirely tender soft but not as tough as you would expected.
Bak Kut Teh (Big – RM30.00)
Being a Bak Kut Teh restaurant, their Bak Kut Teh was a bit of a letdown. The broth was too salty for my liking and the herbal taste was not as pronounced too.
Braised Pork Trotter (RM20.00)
Braised pork trotter was nicely executed. The pork trotter was meat with adequate amount of wobbly fat layer and braised till tender lean meat. The gravy was delicious, savoury with hint of sweetness, went well with white rice.
Lettuce with Oyster Sauce (RM8.00)
Verdict: No hesitation in recommending the steamed fish head which arrived at the perfect intersection of taste and texture. If you happen to be around Sitiawan, make your way to Restaurant Chai Chin, it’s definitely a place worthy to spend a meal on.
Restaurant Chai Chin
75, Taman Aman Muhibbah, Jalan Haji Mohd Ali, 32000 Sitiawan, Perak.
Tel: +6011-3608 8221/ +6011-3608 8226
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/restaurantchaichin/
That fish head looks great to me and I especially like the abundance of onions!
PH, even a person like me who don’t like raw onion love this dish, I bet you will extremely enjoy it!
It’s not very often we find a combo of BKT and fish head under one roof! The fish head looks almost like a Thai-style preparation…I’m sure it’s refreshingly appetising.
Kris, I think I’ve seen this BKT and steamed fish combo somewhere in Klang Valley but can’t remember the exact location 😛
This version not really Thai style, it’s not spicy or sour but more to savoury with tinge of sourness, depends on the amount of lime squeeze in.
I would probably not order BKT at Sitiawan but that fish does look inviting, and pork trotter oh yums.
KY, yeah we still prefer our BKT, hehe 😛
whoever created the steamed fish recipe sure loves onions – but i approve, since i love lots of onions too! 😀
Sean, this amount of onion would definitely give you great satisfactory!
The fish head dish looks yummy and appetizing. Got limau summore. I like alot of onions/shallots..heheheh
Mel, seem like there are a lot of people love onions, which is out of my expectation!