Seremban Seafood Village Still Popular After 30 years

Despite more seafood restaurants being set up, Seremban Seafood Village at Jalan Tuanku Munawir is still packed with guests who love to savour its famous crabs here.

There are some that claim to be branches of Seremban Seafood Restaurant, but according to the restaurant owners, they have only one outlet in the whole country.

It is run by three brothers – Kong Min, Kung Choy and Kong Yoke Keong. The eldest sibling, Kong Min had worked as a chef for more than 40 years, and Kung Choy, 53, and his younger brother, Kong Yoke Keong, 50, have some 30 years of experience as chefs each. So, in total, they have about a century of cooking experience.

Judging from the response from their clients through the years, their signature dish is the BBQ Crab dish, which uses the Ketam Batu imported from Indonesia. It is best eaten on its own for the gravy taste although some may prefer it with the Kong brothers’ special chilli sauce prepared using fresh milk.

Despite more seafood restaurants being set up, Seremban Seafood Village at Jalan Tuanku Munawir is still packed with guests who love to savour its famous crabs here.

There are some that claim to be branches of Seremban Seafood Restaurant, but according to the restaurant owners, they have only one outlet in the whole country.

“It depends on our customers, whether they like it hot and spicy, or steamed, or cooked with salted eggs, black pepper, herbal, or fried with Tom Yam.”

The “Kam Heong” crab dish is prepared using belacan and curry is also a favourite among the patrons. “Because our crabs are fresh, they are tastier,” added Kung Choy.

To enjoy the crabs, you have to forget your table manners and just use your fingers, instead of forks and spoons. And if you think it is prepared in the same way beef or lamb chops are barbecued, you might as well forget about eating crabs.

With thick shells, Kung Choy said there is another way the crabs are barbecued. “We use the Chinese wok instead of the barbeque grill set,” he said.

The bigger crabs can weigh anything between 700 and 800 grams, whereas the smaller ones are around 400 to 500 grams. It may be costly depending on the season, but it is worth trying the bigger crabs especially for those who want their crabs to be meaty.

Another of their signature dish, the Marmite Crabs which uses Marmite as the condiment. In the review written by a guest on TripAdvisor it is true that one would hardly think of using Marmite as a condiment but it gives a great taste when used to cook crabs and even the chicken.

“If you are looking to have a crabby evening, you definitely have to be here! I’ve never tasted such a good Marmite Crabs!” he wrote.

Besides the famous BBQ Crabs, they also serve the deep-fried prawns marinated with soya sauce. It is slightly salty and most importantly it tastes fresh.

“We have deep-fried prawns, sweet and sour prawns, and prawns marinated with salted eggs. In all, you can choose from a long list of 30 different tastes from our prawns menu.”

Another dish worth trying out is the squids (or even prawns), which are deep-fried with salted duck eggs and batter. It tastes crispy, moderately salty and most suitable for young children.

A number of day trippers from Kuala Lumpur would end up having their sumptuous meal here before returning home. After all, the drive is just one hour away on either the PLUS or the LEKAS highway.

It is hard to imagine that the crab business can be so good that after 30 years, people still eat the crabs here. When the restaurant first started in 1983, the Kong brothers were the only ones selling crabs in Seremban.

People were teasing them saying that the business would not take off. Back then, it was known only as Restoran Makan Seremban, but it has evolved into its new name and concept as the Seremban Seafood Village. When the business picked up subsequently, other restaurants also started jumping into the bandwagon, but they are not doing as well as the Kong brothers.

At a time when there was hardly any social media, when I first met Kung Choy some ten years ago, he told me: “Our reputation was built on word-of-mouth.