A delicious spread for lunch from Restaurant Six One in Kajang came up to RM300.
From where we stay in Shah Alam (Selangor), Kajang is just about as far as one can go for a meal yet still be within the Klang Valley.
It usually takes a special reason for us to make that journey. Last weekend, since we were meeting some people whom we haven’t seen for a long time and with the promise of some unique food to be had at Six One Seafood, we made the trip.
Six One Seafood Restaurant is located in Taman Sri Langat in Kajang, occupying a corner lot in an area where parking isn’t particularly too challenging an affair over the weekend. Like many dai chao (literally translated to mean big fry, it refers to having cooked dishes with rice) places, the set-up is no different from a normal kopitiam (coffeeshop), with the usual plastic chairs and well-ventilated interior helped along by ceiling fans on full blast. The cooking, however, is conducted in an open-air area – you could say it’s even semi-alfresco!
The menu here is just a series of paper plastered on the wall, with three to six Chinese characters describing what you will get in the dishes served. Not all of it is clearly written out, so fortunately, the server is always helpful in giving suggestions and clarifications.
We ordered their signature claypot fish, a claim to fame by this restaurant, along with a few other dishes. Lunch for seven adults came up to RM300, or just below RM45 per person, including tea. I thought it was quite a good change of pace from the usual offerings at other such restaurants in town, and I can certainly imagine myself coming back again to try some of their other equally interesting and unusual dishes.
Opinions expressed here are the writer’s own and food at his own expense.
KY Teoh has been trying to influence your food cravings since 2005. He was NTV7 Foodie Blogger 2014, R.A.GE Food Fight Judge 2015 and Versus 1001 Rasa Baba’s Guest Judge 2018. Read more about his food jaunts at KYspeaks.com.
More photos
Then there was this rather strangely named dish – “hua gu long” – a bit of googling says that it refers to a certain type of mythical creature that looks like snakehead but has four limbs! It turned out to be a deboned fish with its meat removed, made into a paste and inserted back into the skin, and then deep-fried. It was rather interesting, a bit like yong tau foo but with fish skin instead of tofu, brinjal or okra.
We also had the “special golden dragon chicken”, another dish that requires skillful craftsmanship in its creation. This dish reminded me of the “golden boneless stuffed chicken” at Elegant Inn in KL, but with yam and sweet potato (I think) stuffed under the crispy chicken skin instead. It had a soft yet crunchy texture, though taste-wise I thought it was a bit complex. Personally, it did not sit particularly well with me but the others seemed to like it.
The claypot fish rice is not entirely unlike your typical claypot chicken rice, except that it comes instead with delightfully marinated and well-cooked chunks of fish on top. Flavour-wise, it doesn’t come across as strongly as most claypot chicken rice does, but it does carry a unique taste that I thought went quite well with the accompanying fish bone soup that is always served with this dish. The soup carried the umami note from the fish bone, and was further sweetened by red dates and cabbage – quite a nice combo.
Pumpkin tofu is similar to what you'd find at most restaurants like this, and the execution here was on par with what one should expect.
Unusual fish soup that came with the claypot fish rice. — Photos: KYSPEAKS
The asam okra salad was another memorable dish, topped with crunchy deep fried anchovies and enhanced further with shallots and cherry tomato. This cold dish would probably work well as beer food too!
