CHARCOAL STEAMBOAT RESTAURANT,
1-16, Platinum Mondrian, PV128,
Jalan Genting Klang, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-41319875
Business hours: 5.30pm to 11pm daily.
Closed on Thursday except public holidays.
Non-halal.
For a super steamboat, the base soup is cooked for four hours over premium charcoal.
IN any steamboat, the soup and fresh ingredients are the two most important things that make up a wholesome meal.
Charcoal Steamboat Restaurant in Setapak completely nailed it with its own special pork bone soup coupled with several homemade recipes.
The Charcoal Steamboat Restaurant.
I was greeted with a warm welcome by restaurant co-founders Mia Leow and Pete Hor as I stepped in to the homely outlet.
“That is when we thought of using charcoal as a different twist.
“The hexagonal charcoal we used has little smoke and ashes and does not emit any odour.
The hexagonal charcoal is prepared before customers order their meal. The charcoal emits little smoke and ashes, and is odourless.
“It also heats up the pot slowly so that the flavours in the ingredients are retained,” Leow said.
“We cook the entire pork bone with soy beans and red dates for four hours,” Leow said.
The time taken makes for a flavourful base, and the soup only gets tastier as the ingredients for the steamboat are boiled in it.
One of their specialty dishes is the Fire Diamond meatball (above), which is made of minced pork mixed with food grade bamboo charcoal powder from Japan and filled with Ebiko.
“We experimented with the taste for three months to come up with a suitable combination.
“I choose the Ebiko because it gives a different texture to the meat balls,” Leow said.
“The bamboo charcoal is also believed to have many benefits,” she added.
The meatballs are chewy and unique in taste and the bursting Ebiko in the mouth makes it quite fun.
The assortment of meat balls are homemade dishes.
Those who wanted to challenge themselves for a dish of hot and spicy meatballs can opt for the Mars Balls.
The minced pork balls mixed with diced bird’s eye chilli and filled with chilli sauce are spicy but acceptable to most Malaysians.
One can definitely smell the fragrance of the fresh, thinly sliced bird’s eye chilli but it is the fillings that give it an extra kick.
Patrons can also choose from 20 different kinds of sauces at the outlet and there is a recommended guide of carefully selected combinations as a reference.
I tried the pork loin slices and it was delicious when mixed with Leow’s special sauce, which is prepared daily.
The set consist of fresh seafood such as half-shell scallops, green mussels, dory fish fillets, brown squids, crab claws, lobster balls, prawns, and others.
There is also a seafood set consisting of half-shell scallops, green mussels, dory fish fillets, brown squid, crab claws, lobster balls, prawns, Shimeji mushrooms, Romaine Lettuce, Chinese cabbage and noodles.
The seafood was fresh, especially the prawns and fish fillets, and went well with the soup.
There are two other sets to choose from and the sets ranged in price from RM33.80 to RM53.60.
Other dishes such as snow crab leg, Japanese fish cake and Fu Zhou fish ball, were also unique in taste. Australian lamb shoulder and ribeye and Pacific abalone are also available on the menu.
The restaurant also sells premium quality bamboo charcoal at RM18.90 for five pieces and bamboo charcoal packs at RM5.90 each.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
