Less than impressed with Restoran Sri Karak

The sang har mee is famous at the restaurant, but we were sorely disappointed with the overcooked and extremely overpriced dish that we were served. – The Malaysian Insider pic, January 12, 2016.

Restoran Sri Karak has been a fixture in PJ New Town for as long as anyone can remember. Its roots can be traced back to Yik Kee Chinese restaurant in Karak town but the one here offers halal versions of its Chinese dishes and is especially renowned for the durian puffs and durian ABC. We've heard good reviews about the restaurant before so we decided to pay it a visit.

It was around 11.30 am when we got there and the restaurant was mostly empty. Most customers just dropped by to take away their baked goods so we decided to start there with a durian bomb (RM2.10), durian tart (RM2) and a Portuguese egg tart (RM2.10). 

The consistency of the egg custard in the Portuguese egg tart was divine – soft and smooth, with that slightly charred top. However, the tart left an odd bitter aftertaste, which was rather off-putting.

We had high hopes for the durian bomb especially since my dining group are big fans of the fruit but when the highly-anticipated pastry arrived, it was underwhelming. The durian filling was a paste-like, thick and creamy lump of durian flesh but it lacked the strong, pungent aroma and flavour that is the main draw for any durian lover.

Even my durian-loving dining partner thought the durian bomb was only just decent. – The Malaysian Insider pic, January 12, 2016.The durian tart fared even worse as the custard was too firm and tasted artificially-flavoured, and the pastry was too hard and brittle.

After a disappointing starter, we were looking forward to trying some of Restoran Sri Karak's signature dishes, and ordered the freshwater prawn noodles, or famed sang har mee. The sang har mee looked impressive when it arrived with two halves of a huge prawn sitting atop crispy noodles in an egg drop gravy.

Unfortunately, the freshness of the prawn was marred by overcooking, resulting in a tough, chewy texture. The flesh was bland and lacked the natural sweetness of fresh seafood. The only thing the dish had going for it was the creamy prawn roe. Even the gravy was thin and flat out salty.

But that didn't stop our jaws from dropping in incredulity when we found out the dish came in at a whopping RM84.50 (RM13 per 100g). Even if this was standard pricing for sang har mee, we didn't think it was worth it at all to pay that amount for what the dish was.

The tempoyak patin (fermented durian paste stewed with freshwater catfish) was no better. The tangy tempoyak gravy was quite subtle, which was excusable as not everyone can quite stomach the pungent flavour of tempoyak, but what really did us in was the patin fish which was not fresh.

The tempoyak patin looked as bland as it tasted. – The Malaysian Insider pic, January 12, 2016.Like the prawn, the fish had been overcooked which did away with the usual smooth texture of patin. Not just that, the fat had somehow congealed itself into the skin layer making it very unpleasant biting into the blobs of blubber. The hefty price tag for this dish was RM97.50 (RM13 per 100g).

Apart from the two dishes, we also had rendang curry chicken (RM20) and lotus root soup (RM9), both of which were bland and forgettable. With below average dishes and sky-high prices, we left swearing never to return again. – January 12, 2016.

Restoran Sri Karak | Address: Jalan 52/8, PJ New Town, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor | Tel: 03-79583240 | Opening hours: 10.30am-10pm daily | GPS coordinates: 3.098856, 101.646280 | Halal

* This is an incognito review. If you know of any restaurants, stalls or cafes serving up good food, drop us an email with details to [email protected].