Light House for Whiting at Matang

This fish is called Chia Hu in Penang but in this particular shop , the lady called it Chiam Hui or something to that effect .

Otherwise known as the Whiting , this is a surface fish which takes the bait easily . However , the body is filled with a lot of scales so even if we purchased it at the wetmarket , descaling will take up a backbreaking portion of preparation time before one merely needs to salt and place it in a wok of bubbling oil .

To make life easier , this is why we prefer to eat it outside .

In Penang , the fish is mostly deep fried till crunchy. Not this way . It's new to us to have to learn to eat with the body still soft with only the gill flap and tail remaining crispy .

It may be a new to us but because the fish is so fresh , and the resulting meat so sweet , tasty and juicy even , it turns into a simply enjoyable experience which is so downright delicious , we begin to feast like a bunch of cats .

Anyway , the main draw that brings massive crowds of diners into this almost decrepit hollow , is not the fish above , but the restaurant's signature dish

 .... seafood porridge served in a huge claypot .

As well as a steamed clam dish which we did not order today .

Those are the 2 main dishes visible on each table as some people find the Chia Hu ,that Whiting fish ,  to be a little bit too oily for their liking .

Very frankly , I did not enjoy the fishball as it was not as fresh as those we can get in Penang , ( what you can see floating above in a sea of spring onion and daun sup leaves above ) ,

....the 2 true blue Penang kias agreed with me .

But while one of them was not impressed with the porridge ( Cantonese is the preferred method ) , the other declared that it may quite possibly be the best he has ever had in his life .

I enjoyed the rich unusual soup broth more than the rice grains . It was nice but I will still vote the Whiting over this anytime .

Prawns were excellent , despite the fact that they were just boiled , if I may say so too .

Could be , we got the mix wrong actually . 

Instead of garoupa , maybe we should have asked for a more tender fish meat , as well as thrown some crab with shell on in the pot of rice gruel . 

Maybe next time , we shall give the shark meat a try . The mere mention of shark meat makes all of us squeamish . Major turn off but when it is offered by all the restaurants here , there must be something about it that we are missing out on . Just maybe .

Certain Indian communities offer shark curry in Penang and yet we haven't tried those either . 

I suppose we will do it one day , but for now , just pass me the Yau Mak vegies will ya ?

Location : Restaurant Light House , Matang , Perak