宋溪财记海鲜酒家 Restoran Choy Kee Sungkai — Restaurant in Perak

"The promise not delivered, the expectation not met" The above statement succinctly described what we felt when we left after lunch.

Many years ago, i frequently made this food stop when i travelled on work. Over time, i had forgotten about Choy Kee until a friend sent me a YouTube - Uncle Lee Adventures link. (Dont bother guys. It's not worth your time looking this up. The uncle adventures are all jaded references, and recommendations are all past their prime).

Ok....back to my food narrative. Just off the highway in the sleepy town of Sungkai, Choy Kee would be called 'premier' by townsfolk. It is is air-conditioned and pleasant enough seating for a hot afternoon lunch.

We were actually on one of our foodie trips to Ipoh and Sungkai, being slightly more than an hour from Klang Valley was a good leg stretching-stomach filling stop.

Their special dish was Assam Terubuk or locally known as Sam Lai Yue... Didn't hit the mark at all. The gravy-soup used to have quite a zing, but now, the taste was a letdown. If that was bad, the Braised Pork Trotter was a disaster. Well, you may say.... mebbe, the chef or the kitchen, was having one of them bad days, but how can you run flat a crowd puller with the pork trotter? This they did. It tasted flat, and the gravy-sauce had no chutzpah!

The only dish that the lunch group felt had some standards was the Steamed Baung or Pak Sowh Koong. I mentioned we because i felt that the fish was slightly under done. Mebbe another 2-3mins in the steamer. Baung's flesh, if steamed perfectly, flakes off the bones. The piece i ventured was slightly stuck to the fish spine.

There you go. Would i be brave enough to recommend.... NO! Choy Kee, with its current taste profile offering, would not even stand a chance against my neighbourhood Tai Chow!

Mebbe, we are picky, but after our lunch there, the fat lady commanded to sing.....didnt. And the tickets to hear the concert were not cheap by small town standards. Yeah.....they will be 'premier' in Sungkai only......and barely!

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The last time we ate at this restaurant was pre-Covid. We found it decent. Subsequently, the exterior had a major face-lift and I had been quite curious about how the food is. Finally, we stopped by recently.

Service was very friendly; and the food was good. Some reviewers have said it is expensive. This is what we had:

Steamed pak sou kong (catfish) - RM96 Fried nam yue lam (red fermented bean curd pork belly) - RM26 Stir-fried fan shi miu (tapioca leaves) - RM12 rice and tea = RM149 for 4 of us

Prices have certainly gone up - I think pre-Covid I would expect to pay RM50-60 for the fish; but we know groceries are a lot more expensive nowadays. And, in this new reality, I consider the prices fair for the very good food.

The fish was fresh, perfectly steamed and seasoned lightly with soy sauce and a generous amount of yim sai (coriander) and fresh ginger. The fan shi miu was incredibly nice and crunchy - no fibrous stalks here. And the pork decent.

I am willing to pay this price in exchange for the restaurant not cutting corners, so eating out is still a treat. In so many places nowadays, to keep costs and prices down, restaurants skimp on the condiments - eg hardly any yim sai - and offer lower quality meat and less-than-fresh vegetables …… So, I eat out less; but when I eat out, I choose to go to the places which still serve food like the good ol’ days. ...

A few years ago, I tried this restaurant once. That night, my wife and I were starving after leaving the hot spring, so we used Google Maps to find a nearby restaurant for dinner. While ordering, the lady boss recommended the big head prawns and asked how many pieces we wanted. Feeling curious, I said, "Two pieces."

When the dish was served, I was shocked. There were only two prawns, slightly bigger than regular ones, but I didn’t see any “big head” on the prawns. Then came the bill , I had to pay RM72 for just those two prawns. Was this a special price for tourists? Or were big head prawns out of season and that’s why they were so expensive?

Since this turned out to be the most expensive prawns of my lifetime, I can't seem to forget...