Zhong Hua Lou Restaurant （Langkawi) — Restaurant in Langkawi Island

Disclaimer: They DO NOT have live seafood (at least when we went). In summary, this is an average restaurant with retro stuck in the days vibes (& also questionable hygiene standards).

When we first arrived, the owner was honest enough to tell us that they do not have live seafood (we wanted to order live mud crab) & he told us they use frozen seafood (we're okay with that but were a little disappointed since it was a seafood restaurant). We ordered clam soup, tiger prawns steamed with garlic (RM $86.30 for 2 pieces), scallops with fu gui sauce (oyster sauce) & mushrooms & vermicelli, prawn omelette and clams stir fried with onions and a can of fanta grape. Total bill came up to RM $159.80.

Starting with the best dish, the clam soup. The clam soup was really good & affordable (RM $14) & had hints of Chinese herbs (think they added ginseng slices). It tasted like milky smooth fish soup with slight herbal notes. The clams quantity was aplenty and the size wasn't too small (imo).

The prawn omelette was pretty average (a little oily but just nice when paired with rice).

Moving on to scallops with fu gui sauce (oyster sauce) with mushroom & vermicelli, I didn't really liked the pairing of oyster sauce with the scallops & the sauce just covered / overwhelmed the scallops' seafood taste so I wouldn't recommend this dish.

Next, the tiger prawns. We had 1 tiger prawn each (there were 2 of us) and the tiger prawn was quite big imo BUT they covered the entire dish with way too much garlic 😂 the prawn had a chewy and sturdy texture, I liked it but my friend said she would have preferred a softer texture.

Last but not least, the clams stir fried with onions. The clams tasted stale & had a slightly foul taste to it The sauce didn't alleviate the taste & just added a gluey / starchy texture to it (which I didn't like). Would recommend NOT to order this dish.

The vibe was very retro, think wooden pillars, wooden roof and table with deep red table cloth. The toilet was horrendous, had dead insects on the cistern & the wooden door frame were partially chipped off (looks like they haven't been maintaining the building ever since ages ago).

I wouldn't visit again for sure but if you still insist on going, I'd recommend you to try the...

We had just landed in Langkawi and were struggling to find somewhere to eat, with a lot of places closed for Ramadan. This place was open, so we went in, without a great deal of expectations.

It had a relaxed family feel, with people eating themselves and serving, as it had just opened.

We ordered jindu chicken, from the picture, as I had never heard of it before, and fried fish with ginger. I ordered a medium fried rice, and the waiter warned it was a big portion. I should have listened, as we didn't manage to eat it all. It was a nice touch that he warned me, he didn't need to.

We shared the two dishes and they were very different.

The chicken was glazed and cooked hard, very flavourful, with a pleasant sticky texture, and slightly sweet coating.

The fish with ginger and onion had a strong taste of ginger and garlic.

Mineral water was supplied chilled, and we got a cold tiger beer to go with it, the first beer I've had in a restaurant since coming to Malaysia 5 days ago.

Pricing was remarkably good by UK standards, beer, water and more than we could eat of tasty food for less than 100 Ringgits. Some of the fish and shellfish prices were dependent on market prices, but none of our dishes were.

It's difficult to judge a different culture by our standards, but the toilet was very dirty and off-putting, although I was finished eating...

The boss was honest to explain that they do not sell any live seafood, all their supplies are frozen except for fish if you come early it is freshly arrived and cut. The environment is a typical old school restaurant, not fancy but no discomfort. It’s a Chinese restaurant that do not serve pork. Food taste was not bad, we had Teochew steam fish (this one below my personal expectation because too light on the sauerkraut) and roast duck which has a very tasty sauce. Though I don’t know why it’s named pineapple duck while it’s just normal local roast duck. Price considered ok that it’s at tourist area, of course one would find it a little pricey if compared with some other restaurants here but I would say it is not a factor to say not return again. Parking space is...