Restoran Garden Seafood has been around for many years now and it is very famous here in Tanjung Malim. The uniqueness of this restaurant is their Halal status and this attracts a huge customer base from all religions across Malaysia. One would be surprised if I said that two of the past Prime Ministers have dined at this restaurant but it is true, this restaurant has it's own customer base that goes as far as Seremban in the south and Ipoh in the north. I have not been coming here as much as I used to because the prices have been going up and the portions have been shrinking. Besides this, the taste has also been dropping as there has been a reduction in the amount of ingredients used to churn out each dish. Having last visited over a year ago, we decided to come here again today for our lunch. Another problem here is the number of tourist buses that visit this restaurant. Sometimes, out of the blues, a bus load of tourists may just drop in and when that happens, all hell breaks loose. Then we locals would not get a place to sit and food may not be sufficient too to cater for the whole lot. So always be prepared for surprises when planning to visit this place. It is best to call before coming. My family and I are well known here and we are always greeted on arrival by the supervisor and the owner himself. This restaurant occupies three units on the ground floor and has a huge dining hall on the first floor which is mostly used for private functions.
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
The Menu here has a range of dishes right from vegetarian to seafood. Except for some seafood dishes, the rest of the dishes have their prices clearly printed on the menu. Another good thing here at this restaurant is that if you are unhappy with a dish, just tell them and they would not charge you for that dish. That's a good practice which has been in place from day one. Despite having crabs on their menu, this is something that is mostly not available. The owner informed me that not many people order it and so he does not stock it, unless someone makes a reservation a few days in advance, then he would make the relevant arrangements for the required quantity.
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| Sliced Fish with Ginger & Spring Onions @ RM 12.00 |
Besides crab, they also do not stock up on live fish and so we've had to settle for this frozen sliced fish. Sometimes when my brother goes fishing, then we would bring one of those fishes and they would obliging cook it for us, of course for a basic fee of RM 10.00 . Today however, that wasn't the case. The dish was good, sauces were perfect and the ingredients were all okay. For me, the setback was the frozen fish slices that didn't turn out to be as sweet as the fresh fish. Nevertheless, it was still a good preparation and I'd give it a 7/10.
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| Honey Glazed Squid @ RM 12.00 |
The Honey Glazed Squid was good..... really good. Not only have they used honey, they have also added some Marmite to give it a burst of taste. The squid was crispy and it was a dish that we enjoyed. Rating wise, I would give this a 9/10 .
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| Fish Ball Bayam Soup @ RM 10.00 |
Fish Ball and Bayam Soup is one of my all time favourites here. There's something unique about these fishballs. They make them themselves using fresh fish meat and beyond that, inside those fishballs they have added some chicken meat in the center. So, when you slice it open, you would first get a fish taste and that would be followed by chicken which I feel is something that is quite unique. The soup itself is rather good with the perfect stroke of flavour. Definitely a dish that I would recommend here and I would give this a 9/10.
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| Sizzling Beancurd @ RM 9.00 |
This is the first time that we are trying this Sizzling Beancurd here and there was nothing sizzling about this dish. It came in a hot plate yes, but why the foil covering it as if it was a Ikan Bakar dish. Moreover, they had used the common Tofu. For this dish, you should use the Japanese Egg Tofu. And to top them all, is there like anything else found in the dish ingredients wise? Absolutely nothing if not for that sauce. In my opinion, this is a flop dish. Yes, the sauce was tasty but this isn't what we had ordered. Moreover, it isn't even fit to be labelled as Sizzling Beancurd. I would only give this a 3/10.
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| Baling Mushroom with Beancurd Skin @ RM 10.00 |
Baling Mushroom with Beancurd Skin is a cumpolsory dish that we order each time we come here and this is just not that dish. I assume that they had ran out of Beancurd Skin but we were not informed. Instead, they had added those muhrooms and reduced the price by RM 2.00 . The original dish should have been RM 12.00 . Despite the price reduction, this is a practice that is not acceptable. If they had run out of something, we deserve to be informed. After all, we are paying customers and above that, we come here at least six or seven times in a year. Did this dish even taste good, nope! It tasted very bland. Another disappointment for us. I would only give this a 2/10.
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| Sweet & Spicy Prawns @ RM 20.00 |
These Sweet & Spicy Prawns were excellent. Thank God, after getting two devastating dishes, this one was such a relief. Seriously, it was so good. There were only four prawns and it was priced at RM 20.00 . Still, I felt that the price paid was worth it all because of the taste. The sad thing was the fact that they had run out of Man Tau Buns. If that was available, then it would have been a feast. Still, all of us scooped the plate dry and that was how good the sauce was. Heavenly! It would only be fair if I rate this at 10/10.
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| Kangkung Belacan @ RM 8.00 |
Kangkung Belacan was a decent preparation. Nothing much that I would want to pick on except for the slightly oily preparation. Otherwise, it was fairly good. In my opinion, this deserves a rating of 7/10.
In summary, I have been dining here since the day they started and that's like more than ten years now. After all, the owner is my schoolmate and there has been ups and downs taste wise. Today too, there were some dishes that we felt were great and some, horrible. Again, this is solely based on my taste buds and can and may differ to the masses. For first timers, I would suggest to go with their famous dishes and this you could easily pick up from my previous entries on this restaurant. Still, a good place for some Halal Chinese meal and way better when compared to the famous ones in the Klang Valley. Yes, definitely a place that I would recommend and worth travelling the distance from KL. You will still end up saving quite a bit.
Address: No. 7, 8 & 9A, Jalan Wangsa Utama, Taman Wangsa,
35900 Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 1200 - 2230 Daily
Telephone: +605 458 3398
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