Pre-CNY Dinner @ Tong Hai Restaurant 东海冷气酒店

Introducing one of the best Chinese restaurants in Tangkak which serves delicious dishes ranging from Mongolian Chicken, Sweet & Sour Pork, Hong Kong-styled steamed fish and curry just to name a few. If you are in Tangkak, this is the restaurant you should dine in.

The day after we had prepared the Fomec's Chinese New Year hampers, we headed South to meet our aunts who were the recipients of these beautiful gifts. We embarked on our journey to Tangkak at around 5p.m. in the evening as yours truly me had to work on Saturday (duh!). Our trip was really fast as we arrived at our destination in 45 minutes. We knocked on our aunts' doors and had a good chit chat after exchanging the usual pleasantries. :)

 Usually this  restaurant will be full to hold wedding banquet

After catching up with each other for a while, we could see that the sun was giving a languid smile in the distant horizon. By then our stomachs were rumbling and it was time for dinner. We headed towards Tong Hai Restaurant (东海冷气酒店) which was one of the best Chinese restaurants in Tangkak. Usually the eatery will be brimming with people either by faithful patrons or there would be wedding banquet. We were lucky that it was not one of those days.

Spacious restaurant with really comfortable ambiance

The restaurant can serve up to 300 people at the same time and it really feels comfortable to dine in this luxurious setup. The place was really spotless and the whole ambiance was so cozy thanks to the Chinese New Year songs that were being played in the background. With the menus in our hands, my brother and I were still clueless as to what we should be ordering. In the end, we passed the buck to our aunt who is a regular customer of the restaurant. In no time, she ordered 7 different dishes for us without even looking at the menu. SEE! Regular! :p

Curtain raiser-Kangkung

In less than 5 minutes, our first dish-stir fried Kangkung, landed on our table. It was lusciously cooked as both the stems and leaves are soft and tender. The aromatic whiff of stir fried garlic really elevated our appetite. Though we requested for the dish to be in small serving, the portion was just nice and of course we still had 6 more dishes being lined up for us.

Sizzling Japanese Tofu with egg and minced meat

Sweet & Sour Pork

Up next was the sizzling Japanese Tofu with egg and minced meat. We really liked the combination as it was really, really flavourful. Of course the chopped spring onion did help to unlock the fragrance for the whole dish. Then we had the normal-looking sweet and sour pork which really surprised our taste buds. Looks can be deceiving they say and that was exactly what I felt the moment I sink my fangs into these tender, succulent pork. Every bite was so toothsome and the pineapple cubes added that zesty tinge to the dish.

THE BEST: Mongolian Chicken-I am sure Genghis Khan will agree with me

Bok Choy

Another highlight of our dinner was the Mongolian Chicken dish. This dish is a personal favourite of mine as I love its texture and bursting flavours. Shovel a spoonful of it into your mouth and you will immediately be tantalized by the savory salty sweet and spicy sauce which wrapped the boneless chicken strips. The peppery combo of this dish ticked all the boxes in my book. The next dish was another leafy affair which I did not touch at all. Yupe~I gave the stir fried Bok Choy a miss. They told me it was very crispy. :p

Hong Kong-styled steamed grouper

Vegetables curry

By then, our most expensive dish finally swam onto our table, being drenched with soy sauce. Behold the Hong Kong-styled steamed grouper which turned out to be quite a delectable dish. The fish was so soft and tender as it was perfectly cooked. I could actually feel the white soft meat slowly melting in my mouth. Perhaps my favourite ambrosial parsley did help a lot in my judgement as well. Last but not least was the mouthwatering curry vegetables. Yupe! Just vegetables; Lots of vegetables ranging from cabbage, eggplant, lady's finger and cauliflower just to name a few. And ouh yeah of course there were curry leaves as well. The curry was tangy but not too spicy. In fact all the oldies enjoyed this dish a lot.

Let's makan! 

One for our photo book 

Young and old got together for our reunion dinner. :)

We really had a great time dining together as a family in this wonderful restaurant. It was our pre-Chinese New Year reunion dinner and everyone was elated to be in each other's company. Nothing beats enjoying good comfort food with your loved ones right? I gotta thank my aunts for the awesome dinner. Hereby I wanna wish all of them a happy, healthy and prosperous Chinese New Year. Gong Xi Fatt Chai in advance. Huuuaaatttt ar! :)

Tong Hai Restaurant 东海冷气酒店

Address: 350-351, Jalan Sialang, Taman Pelangi 1, 84900, Tangkak, Johor.

Opening Hours: 11:00am-2:30pm; 5:30pm-11:00pm (Daily)

Contact: 06-9781415