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First and Foremost (see what I did there?)
I remember when we first visited Sinar 456 Malay Seafood. It was 2013, before we even started this blog. And we visited because my sister-in-law stays in Jurong. Sinar 456 Malay Seafood itself is part of Mr Teh Tarik but it had a pretty good reputation for sure.
And that photo of their Salted Egg Crab was really as good as it looks!
Yeah sure we visited once or twice after that first visit and pretty much all their food was good. We’re talking about their set meals with the Shark’s Fin Soup (not the real one lah), Thai Crispy Chicken and the works. Well, we admittedly don’t really venture up to Jurong very often and it’s been quite awhile since we visited Sinar 456…
So when my buddies in camp asked where we should go for one final makan during our final ICT, I suggested Sinar 456 for the simple reason that we were already in Jurong. And hopefully, the food was as good as I remembered…
We had 6 people dining so ordering from the Set Menu seemed to make a lot of sense. After all, it had pretty much all most of some the main dishes covered I guess!
But some advice – when you swap out the dishes with others on the menu, you still pay the full price even if the new dish is much cheaper. For example, if you swap out the Shark’s Fin Soup for the Tom Yum Soup, you still pay the price for the Shark’s Fin Soup even though the Tom Yum Soup is like $20+ cheaper on the ala carte menu. And they don’t compensate with a bigger size or anything like that.
I guess that’s pretty standard at most places. It’s just how the system works. Or a glitch in the matrix. It makes sense. But it’s just stupid lah if you ask me…
So as far as possible, try not to swap anything out!
Anyways, we ordered Set B!
So we swapped out the Shark’s Fin Soup with the Tom Yam Seafood Soup which was actually pretty nice. It was actually pretty spicy! Not as tangy as some versions which is probably why you’re gonna feel the heat with this one. Not bad at all!
Plenty of goodies in the soup including prawns, sliced fish, squid, tofu and Enoki mushrooms too.
More starters in the form of the Thai Style Honey Chicken. I will go ahead and say that this was actually a mistake on my part because I was really looking forward to a chicken dish I had the last time I was at Sinar 456 and I thought this was the one but this is not the one. LOL am I making any sense?
The one I was looking for is the super crispy breaded chicken fillet one with the sweet Thai chili sauce drizzled all over it. Ahhhhh that one lah power… this one also not bad but I guess I was just really looking forward to that one.
This one had a bit of a sweet flavour kinda like Teriyaki but hints of chili and lemongrass which is probably the parts that give it the ‘Thai’ in the name. Best enjoyed while still hot!
Please note that this dish is NOT from the set menu but hey what’s a seafood meal without some crabs right? And we went with the Chili Crab instead of the Salted Egg Crab (which we saved for the Prawns as you’ll see later).
Crabs are priced based on weight so you choose how many crabs you want to order by estimating how many people are gonna eat how many crabs. I guess this way of pricing is why there are no crab dishes offered in any of the set meals. Which is weird because there used to be as far as I remember. Well anyways, the crabs were fresh and a pretty decent size too so all you crabby people will definitely be slurping in delight at this dish.
The gravy was pretty tasty actually and perfect not only for going with the crab but also for sopping it all up with those fried Mantou buns! I think that part might actually appeal more to people than the actual crabs sometimes LOL but I personally felt there was too much egg in there but I guess since there was PLENTY of gravy to go around, overall it was actually pretty good.
The set menu actually lists Deep Fried Fish (gimme that Tiga Rasa!!!!) but seems like Steamed Fish is also a pretty good choice and increasingly popular. No extra charge this time since price was about the same so we went with the Thai Style Steamed Fish and chose Siakap (Seabass) over Kerapu (Grouper).
Wah the fish like macam power like that lah! The fish itself was super fresh and I will say that the choice of Thai Style turned out to be the right one after all. It had the right amount of tangy and the right amount of salty and the right amount of spicy. All adding up to the right amount of sedap.
So yeah we chose Chili Crab because there was gonna be Salted Egg Prawns.
Errrrr but if you compare the Salted Egg Prawns pic to the Salted Egg Crab pic right at the top, seems different…
Hmmmmmmmm……
To be honest, I’m not really the prawns kinda guy. Even like when it comes to Cereal Prawns and all that right, I’ll whack all the cereal and leave the prawns LOL which is pretty much the same case here lah actually. After all, I love #SaltedEggAnything right!!
So the prawns are deep fried to a pretty good crisp so you can actually eat it shell and all (leave the head out if you must) so you don’t waste any of that liquid gold.
Somehow, this seemed to be the least popular dish around the table with only 2 out of 6 giving it the thumbs up. I actually thought it was not bad (but me being a sucker for #SaltedEggAnything is a pretty big bias) but it definitely was not as good as the previous times I had visited.
The sauce was more watery and a bit on the sweet side. Not sure if they’re using the (readily available) powdered form of Salted Egg Yolks but bottom line is that it’s not as good as before. Oh well, I still whacked all anyways.
More side dishes to go along with the other dishes you’ll be enjoying with your rice, which is included in the set by the way.
The Vegetables with Seafood aka Chap Chye is pretty standard I guess but you could always swap it out for other favourites like Oyster Sauce Kai Lan or Sambal Kang Kong or something like that.
The set menu listed Hotplate Beancurd but we swapped it out for the Telur Dadar Bawang (aka Omelette with onions) which is a classic choice when you come to think of it. But I think this one was a bit thin… especially since it’s priced cheaper than the Hotplate Beancurd you’d think they might make it at least a BIT thicker right LOL
This one is definitely not on the set menu. In fact, it’s not even on the regular menu! LOL
It’s actually on a special menu I’m guessing because it depends on the availability of the siput on a day to day basis.
I’m not the Siput Sedut guy but those who had it says it’s not bad actually. So as weird as it would be to have it with your Chili Crabs, all you Siput Sedut fans have something to look forward to!
Overall, I guess that Sinar 456 Malay Seafood is still a pretty good place to go for a big seafood feast especially with family and friends. I feel that it’s not as good as I remember but I guess it’s still better than some other places I have heard about. Perhaps the fact that it’s located in Jurong means I probably visit as often as I’d like but those who are in the area definitely have that option.
Plus, since it’s part of Mr Teh Tarik, you can always order food from the other stalls on top of your seafood if you’d like or if some people don’t feel like having seafood at all. Convenient! Oh, and better to call and reserve if it’s a big group okay!
For me, I enjoyed this meal because I was with good company. People I have known for at least 10 years if not longer. Last meal as NS Men with my buddies. And I dedicate this post to them.
Sinar 456 Malay Seafood (Mr Teh Tarik)
Blk 456 Jurong West St 41
#01-750
Tel: 6569 7583
Operating Hours:
2.30pm til Midnight
All information (including prices, availability of item on menu and Halal status of establishment) are accurate at the time of posting. All photos used in this site are property of The Halal Food Blog unless stated otherwise.
