TastyPot BBQ / Steamboat Restaurant

I can still recall correctly what and how it happened on that day. It started with the teeth. I just could not stop grinding my teeth even thought there wasn't anything in my mouth to munch. My lips became dry. Soon after that, my hands started to shake and my palm sweated. I could not focus on the whatever I was doing at that time as my stomach growled and hollowed.

I looked up at the clock and it was 6.00pm. I felt an unstoppable urge inside me growing stronger and stronger with every minute went by. I tried to relax my mind but I just could not.

The symptoms persisted but... but... I was not a slightest worry because I know exactly what the remedy was.

I could not think of anyone else except Ah Hung so immediately I rang him up and told him about my situation and the cure that I had been thinking. He knew there and then that we need to meet up 7pm at Sunway Mentari. I guessed he had those symptoms too on the other side of phone.

Once in a while, both of us feel the need to challenge gastronomical capacity: How much can go in. We normally patronize Yuen Buffet Steamboat at Sunway Mentari when we have abovementioned symptoms but recently we have found another buffet restaurant nearby Yuen that gives its customers good value on food freshness, quality and variety: TastyPot BBQ / Steamboat Restaurant.

Apparently, the restaurant has been around since June 2006 but it was moved to a new location recently due to fire. If you google for bloggers' reviews, which mostly before the shop moved to where it is located now, you would find the reviews have been so-so. Nothing to shout about. However, I have been there for a couple times now and I must say that for the price of RM23.80 per person, this has got to be blogged about!

Me and Ah Hung reached there at about 7pm.















As you can see from the photo on the right, the place was started to pack with people. Judging from the number, the crowd has increased from the last visit.

I am not a business man but I think for a fact that Yuen Buffet Steamboat is, literally, just around the corner. TastyPot has to be, at least, up to the mark or better than Yuen for long term survival. Anyway, what TastyPot has to offer is much better than Yuen from my humble opinion. No, I am not paid to say this.

My observation is that the food is very fresh and freshly prepared. That is, to me, the prerequisite of good steamboat and the food variety is up to my satisfaction. Basically, they have about the similar items in Yuen but they offer something extra in terms of seafood: Big and small bamboo clams, mussels, scallops, and meat crabs （肉蟹）on top of flower crabs. They are very generous with the meat crab which I know it's quite pricey in the market. The crabs are prepared by cracking and separating the pincers from the bodies. So there are two containers: One for pincers and the other one bodies and occasionally, you would find some crab roe with it. The crab is quite sizable as well. I swear I had one pincer that is as big as... er... Lux bar soap. Bad comparison I know but it is BIG.











I love seafood perhaps that is why I find TastyPot is so lovingly attractive for me. By the way, very limited choice in terms of poultry. They have barbecue lamp though. Look at this photo down here.















I am talking about half of the whole lamp here. By the time I took this photo, easily 80% of the meat was eaten up. The lamp tasted just fine for me. I had news from my friend that there was one time they had barbecued salmon fish head. Lucky him!

I also like the fact that there has been a grill corner that offers different way of cooking. It is great to have your food cook in a simmering pot of broth. It is even better to have your food grill to perfection as grilling brings different level of taste to your food.















There are grilled potatos / sweet potatos, grilled corns, grilled bamboo clams (Love it!), grilled scallops, grilled crabs, grilled squids, grilled prawns, grilled fishes, and grilled whatever.

Everybody knows that the signature food of Yuen Steamboat is the delicious roasted chicken wing which is notoriously responsible of making people totally forget about decency and behave like monkey. Likewise, TastyPot has roasted chicken wing too but I like Yuen's chicken wing better.

More photos for you.




























Condiment is so important in steamboat and the more choice the better. I mean the right dipping sauce would enhance the taste and add flavour to the food. Geez, the way I put it sounds like chef's comment from a cooking show. Well, they have chopped parley, spring onion, chili pepper, chili padi, fried onion, garlic flake, and etc. You can be as creative as you like with the sauce.

There are six soup base to choose from tranditional ones like chinese herb, porriage, soya bean, to exotic / adventurous ones like tom yam, spicy and curry soya bean. As we like it simple, we had our soup in chinese herb and soya bean. Not bad at all I would say.











The best way to end your meal would be fruits and desserts. Sorry for I don't have any photo on this because they are just usual stuff: sliced orange, honey dew, watermelon and a few selections of ice-cream. Use your imagination.

The place is spacious and good thing it is open air and the heat from the stove disperses quickly into the air so you would not feel warm while eating there.

One thing that I found unreasonable was the charge of RM7.00 for a simple pot of chinese tea. This was a bit much. That asides, TastyPot is my kind of place and seafood lovers out there.

The cure was very effective indeed and all symptoms were gone by the time dinner was over... until they return next time.