Tg Tualang River prawns

The prawns here lured us back to Tanjung Tualang for another round of the famous big head river prawns . River prawns lovers would mind driving almost 2 hours to get their fix . This sleepy town located about 45 minutes from Ipoh , comes alive every weekend and during public holidays as prawn lovers from near and afar makes their way here and its every prawn lovers dream to be greeted by rows and rows of restaurants proudly display their prawns on the walkways to lure you in.

Being the 6th day of CNY and felt a little bored from the usual CNY programme , we headed down to Tg Tualang to meet another 2 couples on their way back to KL from Penang for our fix. Since we were early and ahead of schedule , me and my kaki makan fren decided to start our makan trip early by stopping in Bidor for wantan mee for part 1 of our makan trip !!


This particular wantan mee is much better than the much famous Pun Chun. Flavourful noodle which is cooked al dante , and each wantan comes with whole prawns . But doesnt comes cheap even with KL standard's at RM4 for a small serving and each wantan cost 50 cents each.


And after our initial stop we finally makes our way to Tg Tualang , the mecca of river prawns.

First stop was Sun Swee Kiong based on some recommendations from a friend.

This steam Pak Soukung ( Catfish ) was really fresh and firm at the belly side . Indicating that this is a true river fish and not the reared ones.

Fried petai with sambal and cuttlefish. This is really good with fragrant belacan and not too spicy

What was supposed to the star of the day turns out to be a failure. This ' Kon Cheen' fried prawns was rather bland . Would be much better with a little more saltiness and sweetness from the caramel. But the firm flesh of the giant prawns saved the day.

The heads didnt turned out perfect either. Could be better with a little more Shiau Hing wine . Another failure is that, steam prawns shouldnt comes with chinese parsley as it spoils the natural sweetness of the prawns. Spring onions would be a much better choice. However the creamy roe was really nice .

Just to show you how big the prawn head really is .

Steam crabs. Remember parsley doesnt goes with prawns and crabs !!!!! Wasnt flavourful and the chef kinda of stingy on the Shiu Heng wine I guess.

Overall this restaurant is a failure in my list except if you really want to have a good plate of petai, IMHO i would skip this restaurant and get back to restaurant we frequent normally. It doesnt comes cheap either. The bill comes up to RM 407 for 7 of us . The 7 prawns already cost RM280 !!!!!

And guess what we did after the dissapointing meal just now ??? We headed for another round of steam prawns at Sun Mee Fong !!!! To locate this restaurant isnt hard , just look out for this sign.

Even Ah Xian gives his thumb of approval. Check it out here.

Good steam prawns no need to be huge !! This medium size was allright as the meat was fresh n firm to every bite. Most importantly is that there is spring onion to add sweetness and fragrant as well as sufficient of Shiu Hsing wine in steaming the prawns. This dish get everyones thumbs up approval. And yes we only ordered just one dish here !!!!!! And we all left satisfied for just RM70.

We all left fully satisfied and decided to stroll along this sleepy town and came across this particular stall which sells freshly baked Sak Keh Mah.

Freshly baked Sak Keh Mah, was really a treat for the nose !!

Old skool convenience store before the hypermarket era.

Cant find these bamboo screen banner anymore in KL.

Tranquil little town

Kampung Timah ,where the cows roam the streets and prawns fills out tummy !

Directions :

Using PLUS highway from KL towards Ipoh direction take the Tapah exit and drive towards Kampar town. Look out for a Petronas station on your right prior reaching Kampar town . Take a left turn at the traffic light. Drive further 2 km and you should see the sign board which reads Tronoh Mines/ Tg Tualang. Turn right and drive all the way straight passing thru some small villages before reaching Kg Timah. At the T junction turn right and continue driving for another 4 to 5 km and you would reach Tg Tualang .

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