Restaurant “Celup Gembira” (涮涮乐火锅)

(Don’t worry, I am still here. Please add me back to your bookmark.) Last week my friend and I went for Prangin Mall for shopping and dinner. My mind suddenly blanked on what to eat in there as shops over there often came and gone. One shop which stays quite long and successful is perhaps – 涮涮乐 (Shuan4 Shuan4 Le4) which is famous for its Tomyam steamboat. So, we paid it a visit that day. It does not have English name so I just simply gave it one.

It took me half an hour to figure it out that it is not pronounced as “Shua1 Shua1 Le4”. 涮涮乐 means to rinse meat slices on hot boiled soup for just few seconds and consume. Leaving them in steamboat for 30 minutes is not considered as 涮涮乐. It is called “tim th’ng” (炖汤).

Unlike other buffet style steamboat restaurants, this restaurant provided you fixed raw ingredients. We ordered set B which is good for 1-2 persons (RM33.80. Additional 1 person charge RM1.50). It comes with (take a deep breath): prawn, chicken slice, sotong slice, sotong ball, fish ball, crab stick, vegetable ball, dumpling, chinese mushroom, abalone mushroom, bean curd slice, vegetable, cabbage, egg, inoki mushroom, meat ball, tou ki, and fish wantan. If you asked me whether the quantity will be increased if another person is added, this one I was not sure.

You can choose among instant noodles, Di Wang noodles, Tang Hun, bi hun, yellow noodles, or rice. We picked Di Wang Noodles (帝王面) that day. Don’t look down on its size. The portion is quite big once cooked.

One uniqueness of 涮涮乐 is that the meats are cut into thin slices, so they are easier to cook. You can pick two from beef, mutton, and pork. You can also pick two of the same kind, such as 2 x pork.

You can choose between clear or tomyam soup, or both (add RM2.00). We picked clear + tomyam soup. They use gas to fire up the steamboat.

You can also ordered some snacks. We ordered Eel Roll (RM5.20), which was fried into crispy and tasted good.

Whenever I passed by this restaurant, I saw many youngsters and couples enjoying their steamboat there. This time is not exception as well. Fortunately there are also some families and uncles like me enjoying their dinner there. At first glance, their tomyam is not bad. Perhaps the only concern is whether customers prefer fixed or buffet style.