Hock Hin Leong 'Restaurant'...

Another one of our Friday forays in search of food.... 5 kids (actually, 2 young adults, 2 teenagers and 1 kid is a more accurate description) and Mol, Nancy, her Other Half and me. At Hock Hin Leong...

... or that's what I think the name of this joint is. Couldn't see any signboard outside. This joint is off Jalan Gangsa, opposite Venlin Cafe (where you can get ang-jiu mee suah), near the traffic lights with Pizza Hut. It's on the opposite end of Pizza Hut. It was on Mol's suggestion that we ended up here. She was gushing about how good the food there was.

I figured the name of the place must be Hock Hin Leong because of a little signage on the fridge. People don't name their fridges, do they?

We were told that the place usually closes early.... by 2.30 pm. The place was full of people when when we ordered our food. So it was only natural that I thought the food would be good. Otherwise, why so many people?

Anyway, this was the fare. Their best dishes are mostly black in colour, it seems. The fried taugeh (bean sprouts) was from another stall. We took one steamed stingray, fried fish (supposedly made up of mixed fish), stir fried squid in black sauce and a tiny bowl of soup. Out of these, the only one that was nice was the steamed stingray. Daughter seemed to like it a lot.

The fried (mixed) fish was too black for us to identify what pieces we were putting into our mouths. Siah's first piece was an eyeball. The young flers all have an aversion to all the exotic parts of the fish. LOL! For me, I found the taste and smell of the spices such as garlic and ginger overwhelming. I think they mask the taste of the main ingredient. So, in the end, diners will find it nice because spices are generally appetizing.

The squid was rubbery and bitter. It probably has something to do with the dark soya sauce used... the bitter after taste wasn't too appetizing. I 'downed' it with lots of garlic and chilli in more garlic and soya sauce.

Personally, I'd give this place a pass. But since so many people seem to like the food. I guess maybe their style of cooking does not go well with my palate. Price wise, I think it's not value for money. The 3 dishes came up to RM96... and those were not even the 'expensive-type' of fish. So plus drinks, the bill came up to around RM120 for 9 of us. Definitely on the high side where Alor Setar is concerned for a meal like this.

And one more thing... they use these disposable chopsticks... Siah couldn't make herself use it cos we read articles such as this. Anyway, mine came with three sticks!