An Invitation To Lunch

I was invited for a farewell lunch for Oni's brother Ah Joo at Batu Pahat Ocean Seafood Restaurant. Oni's brother has been back in BP for the past month, and he is flying back to London tomorrow. The midnoon sun was unbearably hot; it is the beginning of the hot, dry season. The restaurant was packed with tourists disgorged from two tour bus. The cool air-conditioned restaurant was a welcoming relief from the scorching sun and heat outside.

Dishes ordered included braised chunks of fish, greens and onions, dried long beans fried in chili sauce, and black pepper chicken. It was however, the dishes featured below that are different.

Appetizers are common in Chinese cuisine, but I found this quite unusual; it is pickled thinly sliced crunchy lotus root; slightly sweet-sour to the taste

Braised sea-cucumber stuffed with a meat filling and siao bak choy

A slice of that delicious stuffed sea-cucumber. I was trying to unravel the ingredients that went into making the meat filling; there was definitely diced water-cress, threads of ham, diced pork, shreds of black mushroom and spices which I could not figure out

Braised sea-cucumber and fish-maw

Close-upof sea-cucumber and fish-maw

Tiny oysters, spring onions, onions, and ginger on hot plate of beaten eggs

The most expensive dish of course was the stuffed sea cucumber at RM 80-00.