This is Udang Galah , a freshwater river prawn with blue extended arms , most prized for a flesh that has a tight swirling texture quite similar to lobster . Today , what is offered in seafood restaurants are mostly bred in ponds , so do not expect an exceptional flavourful taste ( cross between a crab , prawn and lobster ) to the meat , unless you personally know and can manage to coax individual anglers into selling their just caught live bounty to you .
The farmed ones here cost MYR 100 a kilo . Some restaurants owners when they have the wild ones in stock might tell you something like
" I dare not sell this to you "
or
" I don't know how to charge you "
or
" You might not like me after you hear the price "
of which you will have to assure them that you are willing to pay for genuine wild live river prawns ( because you personally saw the angler walk in with the prawns ) and make sure he knows that you will do awful things to him if he tries to pass off farmed ones as wild specimens .
Initially planned for a meandering journey into Tanjong Tualang . But a check on wave put paid to that seeing how the highway was clogged up with Raya travellers .
Turned off the Bandar Bahru interchange with a grumbling Penang kia who always found the secondary wilderness here to be on the " geli " side ( I presume he's seen something ehem floating things he doesn't want to talk about and yes there are forummers on the net that have had encounters with supernaural beings in this area ) but even he was dumbfounded by the amount of cars parked , right smack inside a palm oil estate where wild boar hunters were still buzzing around with their hunting rifles even at dinner time .
Will you take a look at the amount of prawns in the pool ?
Yes , they're still alive , fighting and swimming .
Point your camera at them long enough and some will even swim backwards like squid . They can see us alright and it is obvious that they don't trust us one bit .
She said 6 numbers would be enough for us , thus this is how it turns out steamed in Chinese wine which I ended up getting intoxicated by since I hardly take wine .
Found the meat too little .
To be frank , I wasn't really impressed since I've tried wild river prawns before but the koochi moochi loved it for some reason or other thus I cannot write this off entirely other than for its very reasonable price .
Baby long beans fried in sambal.
Loved the spicy sambal but was quite annoyed that there was so little vegies .
Mosaic lala steamed in lemon sauce .
Overdone , not fresh . Fail .
Hope this explains why , even though Bagan Samak lies between Perak and Penang , the people prefer to eat freshwater foods because by the time seafood reaches them , the questionable freshness becomes a major issue .
Verdict : ok only lah .
Price : more than ok , they are honest and don't cheat you on the actual weight .
Location : Bagan Samak , Kedah
If you're confused as to why it is in the state of Kedah but one still hasn't passed Penang yet , well , it is sort of at a southernmost border between Penang and Kedah .
So do not drive past Penang and think you're heading in the right direction . When you see Alor Pongsu ( exit 152 ) get ready to turn off the highway at Exit 153 .
What's the reason for coming here ? : Live Patin fish , Live Tilapia , Live Haruan , Live Carp and of course Live Udang Galah .
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