Sin Hong Keng - deep fried fish steamboat with yam

I'm very particular about the fish I eat .

It should not reek of a fishy pong but should smell like the ocean .

Though I'm not expecting sashimi grade flesh , if it arrives on my table with an odour straight out of a market drain , no matter how many people are enjoying it , I will not touch it .

And it's pretty telling of the sad state of affairs when one can find fresher fish in Kedah than in Penang , even though by virtue of Penang being just next to the sea , fish meat supplies ought to be super fresh , right ? Wrong a lot of times before I finally learnt my lesson and stopped ordering steamed fish at any chu cha place on the island .

Anyway , we're having the rare fish meal today . 

Deep fried red snapper ( it's all farmed off shore today ) boiled with round cabbage and yam .

Not only is it succulent and naturally sweet , he cannot remember when was the last time he actually had snapper this fresh . We'd probably have to pay a bomb for it on the island but even though what we had here is not THAT cheap , it still cost less than that airconditioned giant garoupa place near Chew jetty .  

Tastewise : oily , plain , with a slight hint of Chinese wine , full of aromatic yam flavour ( the root is the very fibrous type )

Kum Loong - a very old gem

Never seen anyone order Kaya Kok by the bags full before . Actually , I've seen people buying a lot , in that Raub kopitiam but that Raub cha pou  , cannot even compare nor come close to this outlet .

One lady before me , wanted 40 pieces of this and that , which made me wonder if she was going to eat this by herself or resell them elsewhere . 

And that's how I needed no persuasion to get 2 of each for our table which turned out to be quite scrumptious with surprising underlayers of crust enveloping the thick kaya and so much minced meat encased in the siew pau , it felt like I was dining in a more generous and extravagant miners era , rather the year 2016 .

See the glossy texture and flakes . You tell me if this is going to be keng or not .