Hai Kee - charcoal cooked Hainanese fare

At long last I finally found a place that serves tasty Assam Prawns .

Not everyone who claims to be able to cook this can actually pull it off . I've been extremely fussy ever since the old place near Transfer Road changed hands . That was the benchmark . Today however , that place serves some of the worst dishes I never want to touch ever again not in this life nor the next .

Back to the people who claim they can whip it up , those I've tried have come up with variations that were too sour , too watery , too fail even .

Below however , is the answer to our tamarind sauce ,connoisseur prayers . And for this I thank the Chinese gods of the kitchen for blessing the cooks with the wizardry required to whip up this rather simple but not easy to replicate prawn dish. 

Almost as good ....perfect enough for me ! When they are properly done , even the shells will be so delicious , you'll want to suck and lick every last bit of the savoury sauce out .

Right , so this here , is the almost secret dining chamber located upstairs . Dinghy and seedy looking , way past its prime , one accesses the rather unelegant dining room after trapsing the narrow wooden staircase . The entrance itself is cloaked on the outside with a cloudy cover of charcoal , aromatically wafting upwards from the kitchen downstairs .

Patience is a virtue . It takes a whole half glass of leong fun for me to slow motion sip before our food shows up .

Choon pia or Spring Rolls that are not very crispy . Not bad , sticky as a woo kok yam puff .

Because the kitchen still uses charcoal , that's one reason why these dishes possess the extra kick .

A plain plate of beansprouts with salted fish bits that remains so addictive towards the end , the liquid that escapes is so good , many spoons go into battle over the precious broth .

Quarter of a Kurau fish .

Fried with salt and nothing much . Served with half a large lime .

It's not Senangin but Kurau . 

How to tell the difference ? 

Senangin is light in colour while Kurau is a shade of black .

Skin was rather leathery and tough which made cutting with a spoon a challenge . However , it's one of the most popularly sought after fishes in this restaurant partly because of the belief that it is the Haruan of the sea , in terms of equal health benefits .

Note : make sure you use the toilet before you come here because um , you'll understand why I gave this piece of advice when you get there .

Location : Alor Setar , Kedah