Restoran Chua Kee 蔡記海鮮樓 @Johor, Malaysia

Gelang Patah is famous for seafood, and there were quite a few restaurants with good reviews. Today, we decided to check out Restoran Chua Kee 蔡記海鮮樓. Looking at the reviews, we made it a point to reach here before 6pm, where it was mostly empty on a Tuesday evening.

Since we were early, we did a quick stroll around the area. There were actually quite a few provision shops here, and some eateries were already closed by this time.

Chua Kee’s specialty is crabs! Today, the crabs were mid-sized (around 1kg), so we had to order a minimum of 2 for each flavour. Since there were only 4 of us, we decided to just do the Signature Spicy Crab 招牌辣椒蟹 (seasonal price, we paid RM145 for 2 crabs), 4 Buns 馒头 (RM1.30 each) to eat with the crab gravy, Sambal Lala 叁峇l啦啦 (RM12 for small), Stir-fried Assorted Beans 四大天王 (RM10 for small).

There was a momentary silence followed by outbursts of laughter when we asked about non-sweet drinks, and the response was “Tiger, Heineken, …”. I think the staff was quite bemused 😛 In the end, we had Aiyu Jelly 爱玉冰 (RM3 each), Herbal Tea (RM1.50), and Mineral Water (RM1.50).

The assorted beans consisted of long beans, lady’s fingers, brinjal, and petai. All were cooked to perfection, and retained their crunchiness. The crabs were very meaty, and the crab meat was very fresh and sweet! The gravy was sweet, sour and spicy, and went very well with the fried buns. We also appreciated that the fried buns did not have the greasy feel. The lalas were smaller compared to the ones we had at Melaka, and they were a tad too tough.

Overall, a pretty good meal 🙂

Note: When we left around 7pm, the place was about half full.