Langkawi Part 4: Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan

MAY HIANG SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

We had our first meal on arrival at May Hiang, near Holiday Villa at Pantai Tengah. It was about 1.00pm, and there was one occupied table. The other restaurants we surveyed were either closed or had zero customers. We later learned the customers occupying the table at May Hiang were actually their own employers.

The boss was a bit pushy, asking us to order lobster for lunch! WTF? When we pretended to have missed his lobster suggestion, he went on blabbering about their famous tiger prawns, mangroove crabs, fishes and other exotic marine creatures. The price was explosively expensive too, compared to the already expensive KL seafood pricing.

The thirst quenchers

We finally settled for two plates of fried rice - Thai style and Penang style, a serving of their specialty "Boneless Chicken Wings in Special Sauce", plus two whole coconuts.

Their oily fried rice

The wallet-ripping, specially expensive mutated chicken wings

Chicken: see, mutation rendered me no bones!

The fried rice were soaked in oil, tasted bland, and have nothing much in them other than rice. The mutated chicken wings tasted okay, but I couldn't help dissecting them and analysing what's inside. Not much fat I found, just chunks of suspicious meat.

The pricing:
Thai style fried rice = RM6.00
Penang style fried rice = RM5.00
Boneless chicken wings = RM18.00 (for 2 pieces)
Coconuts x 2 = RM10.00

Verdict:
Will NOT go again!

TANG LUNG SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

Tang Lung Restaurant is located on the same side of the Jalan Pantai Tengah stretch as May Hiang. Unlike May Hiang, the boss at Tang Lung was a friendly lot and suggested us practical food portion (their menu came in sizes of small, medium, and large). The food, although not exactly cheap, were appropriately priced.

Another shot at the restaurant's entrance

Tang Lung is Chinese for lanterns, so don't be a jakun when you see many lanterns of various shapes and sizes decorating the dining place.

Lanterns lanterns everywhere

For our dinner, we ordered Stir Fried Baby Kailan with Garlic, Dried Chili Mantis Prawn, their Specialty Home-made Tofu, ...

Clockwise fr left: Mantis prawn, veggie, tofu

... and their famous Dry Fried Salted Egg Crab. Their crabs were priced in the deceiving grams - RM7.00 per 100gms.

The dry fried salted-egg crab

The food were generally okay. I found the salted-egg crab a tad salty, lacking in the salted-egg aroma, a little too oily, and dry. I very much prefer the non-fried, wet version from Seremban's Choy Kee! I just luuurrve Choy Kee's salted-egg crabs!

The pricing:
Stir fried baby kailan (S) = RM8.00
Dried chili mantis prawn (S) = RM12.00
Home-made tofu (M) = RM12.00
Dry fried salted egg crab = RM49.00
100 Plus x 1 = RM2.50
Plain water = Free

Verdict:
Worth going again!

THE LOAF

The Loaf Langkawi, owned by our ex-premier Tun Mahathir, is located at Perdana Quay, Telaga Harbour Park of Pantai Kok. Yes, the same Cock Beach Kok Beach where the fateful car incident happened!

The menu - notice the fly on the top-right corner? Irritating buggers!

Liked the interior decor and the ambience. Disliked the flies! Seems like every eatery outlets in Langkawi are infested with flies!

Cruiser yatchs and boats outside The Loaf

The energy-sapping car incident made us order their yummy-looking beverages to cool ourself down - from both the heat from the sun as well as the frustrative heat aroused by the "junk metal".

The "Famous Ice Latte" (left) and the "Langkawi Sunset" (right)

Chilled Tomato Soup

Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Oriental Chicken Salad

The Famous Ice Latte tasted like any mamak kopi-ping, nothing great. Wonder how it got famous. Langkawi Sunset? Ditto. Disliked the cream toppings! The Oriental Chicken Salad was good according to her. I didn't try though. Didn't like the cold tomato soup, makes me shudder. She liked it though. Weirdo!

But my shrimp spaghetti came with real, succulent prawns! The spaghetti sauce was too oily.

The pricing:
Famous Ice Latte = RM12.00
Langkawi Sunset = RM10.00
Oriental Chicken Salad = RM18.00
Chilled Tomato Soup = RM14.00
Spaghetti Aglio Olio = RM32.00

Verdict:
Why go again? Pavillion also got what!

THE L'OSTERIA ITALIAN RESTAURANT & BAR

Our initial intention was to go to the El Toro Espanol Tapas, Bar & Cafe, but it was closed. So we made do with this Italian restaurant right next to it. The food was great!

Fruit juice

Grilled whole seabass

L'osteria's signature pizza

The food weren't too expensively priced. A glass of wine is cheaper compared to other places, but it's still much much cheaper to buy a whole bottle from the duty-free shops elsewhere! The pizza was fastastico marveloussa! I loved their pizza so much I was contemplating of tapao-ing one for supper one night! The best pizza I've ever tried in my whole life! Maybe that's because I've only had Pizza Hut's, Shakey's, and Jusco's pizzas in my entire life, LOL!

The pricing:
Lost the receipt, but the total was RM81.40 (from credit card transaction). Roughly...
Grilled whole seabass = RM20+
Pizza = RM40+
Drinks = RM20?

Verdict:
Please, open a few outlets in KL!

ORKID RIA SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

We passed by Orkid Ria one evening and saw it was fully saturated with hungry people! Curious, we went for dinner on our last day there. Orkid Ria didn't disappoint!

Their pictorial menu was great, and the food were cheap too! There were generous amount of variety to choose from, generally a great place to dine in. Except for one thing - the BLARDY FLIES!

Buttered Prawns and Belacan Asparagus

Sweet & Sour Red Snapper

Thai-style duck (half portion)

All in all, the food were good la. Lazy to comment already. In a nutshell, be sure to go to this restaurant if you're in Langkawi. Forget about May Hiang, Tang Lung, and the other what-nots. This is the place to dine if you're looking for cheap, sumptuous, oriental food! And oh, it's located along Pantai Cenang Road. If you're driving from The Aseania, it's on your left. If you're travelling from the Langkawi Airport, it's on your right la, where else?!

The pricing:
Buttered Prawns = RM18.00
Red snapper (390gm) = RM23.40
Thai-style Duck (Half) = RM26.00
Belacan Asparagus = RM10.00
Watermelon juice = RM3.50
Mixed fruit juice = RM5.00

Verdict:
Stupid if never go!