June 2013
On the same stretch as Tanjung Bungah post office is where this seafood restaurant stands, a little higher than road level. In typical no-frill seafood restaurant style, it’s interior is a cross between a well-built shack and simple restaurant with alfresco style dining, a few tables indoors and one air-conditioned private room that can accommodate 10 to 12 adults.
Food wise, the usual seafood fare is offered here such as fresh fish, prawns, crabs, squids and mussels cooked in various ways. From all they have to offer, we discovered a few dishes that stood out and won us over.
Rather than straightforward deep-fry or steaming the fish, we opted for cubes of fish of the red snapper family with large bones intact fried to a crisp then quickly sautéed with a thick sweet dark sauce along with chunks of boiled yam. The result is a soft and crunchy texture with a comfortable sweet-savoury flavour that’s good with rice. A large portion is RM60 and is good for four to six adults with two or three other dishes.
On a healthier note, we preferred the steamed stingray drowning in a garlic, chilli and ginger sauce. It’s not a dish to consume before an intimate moment, mind! The garlic is strong, the chilli is mild and the politely tasteless stingray lent a firm texture to each bite. A very large, meaty piece is RM65 and is good main dish for a family of six.
A comforting, fun dish is the fried chicken marinated in stout. Although crispy and deeply fried, the chicken pieces are both crispy on the outside and tender on the inside instead of dry. The stout gives the meat a sweet flavour that’s much favoured by kids. A large serving is RM20 and believe us when we say you’d want the large portion.
Their coconut milk based tom yam prawns offered a soupy respite from the usual crunch and munch with a shot of spicy tang. The large portion consisted of between eight to nine very large prawns with shells on at RM63. A nice accompaniment for this dish, we found, was the fried soft taufu dish that lent a gentle flavour.
The most unique dish we found here was the stir-fried slices of bitter gourd drenched in a few half-boiled eggs and drizzled with light soya sauce at RM10 for a medium portion. Velvety textures and flavour of the eggs counter the delicate bitter and crunch of the vegetable, evoked a childhood flavour long forgotten for us.
Just like any other seafood restaurants, it’s always more economical to go in a group of four or more people. This way, you can order a variety of dishes and not over eat. On an average, at Sunshine, with an order of fish, prawns, chicken, two sorts of vegetables, rice and non-alcoholic drinks will cost around RM30 per person. Su Aziz