Valentine's Dinner at East Hokkaido

Here we go to East Hokkaido; the Restoran East Hokkaido Seafood in Penang for our Valentine's dinner. The concept of this restaurant is somehow similar to Bali Hai, the aquariums with live seafood that you can choose from. But, the live seafood that we can see here is kind of limited and I myself not so enjoy the dim lighting that seems to have narrowed down the space. In preference, I enjoy the bright lighting at Bali Hai that has given me the 'free' open-air feeling.

Let's talk about the food and here comes the first dish of Claypot Seafood砂煲海味 that consists of sea cucumber, swim bladder, abalone mushroom, fresh scallop and also vegetable. The sauce base is bit too slimy and salty. Furthermore, the seafood ingredients seem to have been over-cooked in the sauce that they taste too soft when I bite in my mouth. My expectation is a fresh and sweet soup base with a tender bite of the seafood.

Followed by is my favourite of Mantis Prawn and I've decided to go for their recommendation of Fried Mantis Prawn with Salted Egg Yolk咸蛋黄炸虾羔. Using curry leaves and cili padi together with the saltiness of the egg yolk and butter, is creating a little spiciness and a nice aroma for this dish. The Mantis Prawn is very fresh; it has been caught freshly from the aquarium and the sauce is adding a refreshing taste to the meat. It's important that the amount of the sauce is just nice to coat onto the crispy skin of the Mantis Prawn. Our next dish is the Grilled Tiger Prawn烤老虎虾; the so-called imported Tiger Prawn that is bigger size compared to the local farm. I don't really check visually about this statement, anyway I'm satisfied with the size and freshness of the tiger prawn. Without any additional seasoning, the grilling is just enhancing the natural sweetness of the fresh prawn meat.

My boyfriend is a crazy fans about Fried Squid炸苏东. The squid is fresh and thus the meat is just tender to be bitten, but the thick flour has made the squid becoming too hard instead of a nice crispiness. I personally think that the chef can add a bit more salt, to give a better deliciousness to the fried squid.

Our last dish is the Fried Ee Mee炒伊面 to fill up the space in my stomach. The noodle has still maintained the chewiness and it's fried together with some prawn, chicken meat, egg and vegetable. There's nothing much so special about the taste of the Ee Mee but I'm grateful that the prawn and chicken meat are fresh.

East Hokkaido is sort of a nice restaurant for Seafood whereby I do really feel satisfy with the taste and the freshness of the seafood that thay've served here, except the ambient.