Ah Lye Curry Fish Head Restaurant @ SS19, Subang Jaya

Tonight I decided to write a simple review of this Chinese restaurant my family and I had dinner at. I am personally very fond of Chinese food - especially mom's cooking. From egg fu yong to stir-fried vegetables, bean curd and steamed fish with soy sauce, I cannot imagine my life without those dishes. Guess my roots are shown quite clearly in my food preference. 

As you can tell from the title, the restaurant's speciality is curry fish head. I never knew the existence of this place until dad looked it up on the internet. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. And by nowhere I mean rows and rows of houses and suddenly *poof!* Behold, a row of shops!

* Note: I apologize for the low quality photos from my phone because I did not expect myself to write a review about this place and therefore did not bring my camera. You'll see why I ended up writing one anyway somewhere at the part where I introduce the dishes (: 

Setting

An article stated that this restaurant has been around since the year 2000. When you visit the restaurant, you can tell that the sign board is really old and is not well lit at night.

The restaurant's sign board barely visible.

One of the waitresses serving rice. The counter behind her is where they make drinks and cook rice. The kitchen is pretty much hidden way at the back.

The restaurant is air conditioned. Design wise, it's typically a modern Chinese restaurant in a suburban area. It is not decorated with many (or any) pieces of art and the tables are placed fairly closely to each other. I was a little annoyed at a lady who was sitting at the table behind me because her chair kept hitting mine and she did not turn to apologize at all. Because I wanted to enjoy my dinner and my table had some space, I had to relocate my seating position. 

It wasn't a full house during my visit but there were many big families of six members and above.

What went into our tummies

The following dishes we ordered are eaten with rice. Typical Chinese way of eating - except that we did not use chopsticks. 

Mmmmm...

I don't know about most people but I really love to add garlic and soy sauce to my rice before eating it. Garlic is like the ultimate flavour enhancer to me!

Hot sea coconut

This is a home made drink. You can tell from the taste of the filtered water and the sweetness of the drink. Aside from that, other drinks they had tonight was honey ginger and also a lime drink. 

Bean curd [RM6.00]

This is served with something I believe is pickled white radish (please correct me if I'm wrong) along with spring onions and fried onions. It's a salty dish and the flavour of the sauce compliments the bean curd.

Asam Prawn [RM20.00]

Real pricey for a small dish of four prawns but they are not miserable prawns. They are HUGE. The asam sauce is also pretty good. It's quite sweetish. I wouldn't order this dish on my next visit. Once is enough.

Sweet Pork [RM14.00]

I think this dish is okay. The pieces of pork are quite tender. I do think there's something missing in this dish to make it more syok (erm, I'm not entirely sure how to explain this Malaysian term to foreigners but I can give you an idea. Syok represents the fireworks in the night sky full of stars. If that made any sense at all ...) 

Stir-fry Bean sprouts [RM6.00]

A simple, average dish. You can't go very wrong with stir-fry bean sprouts unless you're not a good cook. 


And here's the highlight of the dinner:

Their speciality: Curry Fish Head [RM27.00]

This is the reason why I decided to write a review. I think this dish is close to amazing. The curry is thick and full of flavour from the spices they used. The fish is fresh, although they weren't super generous with its amount, and so are the aubergines, okras and tofu. While eating it with rice, it suddenly reminded me of the Nyonya style of cooking curry for some reason. The fairly spiciness of the curry enhanced the flavour of the dish as a whole. 

Some regulars would say that this dish went down standard since a few years ago but as a newbie, I still think it's fine.

This is how thick it is!

A couple of tips

If you are new to the Chinese restaurant style of ordering and paying, there will be the manager/supervisor who would either seat you and/or come to your table the minute you are seated to take your order. Places like this do not have a printed menu. Tell them what you want and they will suggest the cooking style of your dish to its availability. i.e. Chicken with Marmite sauce, fish and ginger sauce, stir-fry french beans, etc. When finished, they will bring the bill to your table. Some restaurants do not give you receipts like this one.

This applies to most Chinese restaurants: Come early! Peak hours can start as early as 6.00 p.m. for popular restaurants. Alternatively, you can give them a call to make a reservation on weekends though I think it's not really necessary. 

Parking is not an issue for this place. It can be really dark and dodgy at night so bring along some company. 

Finding your way there

If you're not familiar with the SS19 housing area, it's going to be a little tough for you to look for this place. I would recommend mapping your way before coming. The restaurant is located along a row of shops where Subang Jaya Gospel Centre and Pasaraya Ria are too. And pray on your way out. 

Information

Address: 28, Jalan SS19/1G, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor

Contact no.: +60356380468 or +60356349692 
Operating days: Not specified
Operating hours: 12.00 noon - 3.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. - 10.00 p.m.

WiFi: Unable to comment
Parking: Public

The verdict says: ★ ★ ½ (out of 4)