Review: Ibrahim's Fatty Crab, KL

Fancy a satisfying seafood dinner, especially one that serves fresh, succulent crab meat, preferably at a halal restaurant? Think no more as Ibrahim's Fatty Crab is your answer!

Thanks to my blogger friends, auntie Lilly & her family, I was introduced to this new seafood restaurant that serves Chinese-style seafood dishes in a halal setting. Mr Marzuki Mohamed is one of the business owners of this restaurant & his warm & cheerful hospitality sure makes his customers want to return for more fresh seafood.

Our sumptuous spread that evening 

The restaurant's kitchen is headed by Chef Zachary Yap, who has been specializing in Chinese cooking for more than 20 years. Chef Zachary enjoys experimenting and mixing various cuisines, so get ready for a gastronomical adventure with his various best-sellers in this restaurant!

The restaurant is very clean, spacious & being a corner lot is just perfect for a hot & spicy seafood meal (what most of my Malay friends are so used to having!). They have tanks of fresh fish such as the Red Snapper (which we had that evening), the special Jade Perch, a high-grade freshwater fish that has apparently the highest level of Omega 3 oils in any seafood available in Australia, & of course the usual Grouper & Sea Bass, to name a few. You'll also notice tanks of live crabs like the French Crabs, Mud Crabs, & you can even pre-order the Alaskan King Crabs, which they will have the crabs delivered & stored temporarily at the tank before it's cooked. This is Ibrahim's Fatty Crab's highlight - FRESHNESS is a MUST.

French Crab: Whatcha lookin' at?

French Crabs: Group hug before our time is up... 

Mud Crabs with Fresh Fishes in the tank 

Fresh lobsters at the top tank & fresh Red Tilapia Fish at the bottom tank

The restaurant is like a hybrid of Chinese & Malay style, where Chinese tea & fruit juices are served as part of the drinks menu. We tried one of their new innovations, which was the Starfruit juice with Preserved Plums. It tastes alike the Kedondong/Ambarella/Umbra drink with preserved plum, but it's not as tart, which was quite tasty.

This restaurant actually serves more than just seafood. They serve the usual "dai chow" chicken, egg, beancurd, & veggie dishes as well as fried noodles. So, if you have any family members or friends who are joining you for a meal here & they do not fancy seafood, there are still plenty of options available.

Our sumptuous spread for that evening started off with the Steamed French Scallop with their "Sexy Lady" sauce. This is their top grade scallop, the size of a ping-pong ball, I reckon, that is extremely juicy, thick & fresh. I thought it's too delicious by itself that I didn't really need to pair it with the "Sexy Lady" sauce...hahaha. The sauce consists of garlic, chili, & basil as the 3 main ingredients. It's a fragrant, spicy dip that actually makes the humble scallop "oh-so-sexy" in the mouth...mmmmm.....

Steamed French Scallop with "Sexy Lady" sauce (RM30.00/serving)

Looks so 'French', but it's served in this halal Chinese-style seafood restaurant! *wow* 

The highlight for that evening was actually this French Crab with Mongolian-Style Sauce. The French crab is actually a rather lazy crab, but it's really meaty & if you get a female crab, you can look forward to some delicious crab roe. This version of the Mongolian-style sauce has black pepper, Buttercup-brand butter (replacing goat cheese, that is found in the actual Mongolian sauce), chili sauce & bell peppers, with all sauces self-made by Chef Zachary & his team. The crab is deep-fried first, before it gets a 'bath' of the sauce. I'm quite a fan of black pepper sauce, so this buttery & pepperish style of gravy works for me, especially since they serve deep-fried mantao to soak up the crabby-gravy! *oolala*

French Crab with Mongolian-Style Sauce (RM13.90/100g of L-size crabs)

High cholesterol, but too delicious to resist...

Another of their best-seller flavor for crabs is the Salted Egg Crabs. If you're a huge fan of salted egg anything, you'll love this sandy & very aromatic crab dish. What we had for that evening was the Indonesian mud crabs.

Salted Egg Mud Crabs (RM8.90 - RM12.90/100g, depending on size)

This restaurant currently has 4 types of fish on their menu i.e. Siakap, Red Snapper, Tiger Grouper, & Red Tilapia. You can also call to inquire for their Jade Perch, which is currently not on their menu yet. Prices of fish, depending on type ranges from RM6.00 - RM10.00/100g. There are 6-7 types of cooking styles as well: Thai Style Fried Fish, Teochew Steamed Fish, Assam Steamed/Fried Fish, Indonesian-Style Steamed/Fried Fish & Sesame Chilli Fish. All you have to do is pick your fish & the style of cooking & it'll be done as per your fancy!

Assam Steamed Red Snapper (RM7.00/100g)

Not too sour, not too sweet, not too spicy - the home-made sauce was just nice! It was a very appetizing dish & I'm very pleased that our red snapper wasn't over-cooked. The flesh was still firm yet flaky & moist.

After 4 dishes of seafood, perhaps it's a good change to have some vegetables, eh? But even this new veggie dish comes with seafood! Hahaha...this is very Chinese, but as the majority of customers at Ibrahim's Fatty Crab restaurant are Malays, Chef Zachary added a slight heat (chili flakes) to the dish to suit the palate of the customers.

Broccoli with Sea Asparagus & Pacific Clams

The sea asparagus & pacific clams (canned products) are blanched with water and ginger before it's cooked in the superior sauce along with the broccoli. 

Back to more seafood, as if our cholesterol level needs to be boosted, *giggles* we were served with a rather large plate of Chilli Mussels. These green mussels are lightly stir-fried with a mix of dried shrimps, garlic, & dried chili blend, which is sauteed 'til fragrant before it gets added to any dish. It's really delicious & I enjoyed the still 'springy' texture of the mussels with the aromatic dried shrimp mix. Auntie Lilly found it too spicy, but I thought it was still alright. If you're not a fan of spicy food, but still appreciate some heat in your dishes, you can inform the chef to lessen the chili mix.

Chilli Mussels (not on the menu yet) 

Just alike a typical Chinese-style dinner, we actually concluded our dinner with a plate of Scallop Sauce Fried Rice! Similar to the XO sauce, this highly fragrant & has good 'wok hei'/'breath of the wok' fried rice will make you want to finish up every grain of rice unlike what you find in many Chinese wedding dinners (oh, it's a spicy fried rice, so you can ask the chefs to reduce the chili portion in the fried rice). Chef Zachary explained that the dried scallops are firstly toasted before being made into a stock/sauce for the fried rice. Chicken, shrimps, & squid are then added to the fried rice for a variety of texture & flavor. I would recommend this style of fried rice if you're a rice person.

Scallop Sauce Fried Rice (RM8.00, RM12.00, RM16.00/S, M, L serving)

Thumbs up!

We enjoyed our meal at Ibrahim's Fatty Crab restaurant & would recommend anyone living around the area or have cravings for some good seafood to pop by this restaurant. They already have their regular customers crowd, even on weekdays, so...

What are you waiting for...? 

Ibrahim's Fatty Crab Restaurant
18, Jalan Avenue 1
Ampang
Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: (+6011) 1144 4131
Business hours: 5:00p.m. - 1:00a.m. Tuesdays - Fridays (last order, 12:30a.m.), 3:00p.m. - 12:00a.m. Saturdays & Sunday (last order, 11:30p.m.); Close on Mondays
GPS: 3.1350837,101.768162
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ibrahimsfattycrab/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ibrahimsfattycrab/


Ratings:
Presentation (does it look mouth-watering): * * * *
Price (is it affordable - more stars = YES): * * * 1/2
Environment (is the place comfortable, cosy, clean, pleasant): * * * 1/2
Taste (is the food delicious, worth coming back for more): * * * *
Service (are the service providers friendly, efficient, polite): * * * *


Overall:






Crab crazee,