Orkid Ria Seafood Restaurant - Pantai Cenang

After picking up my mom and sister from the airport and resting up for a bit at the hotel, we decided to head out to Pantai Cenang in search of a good seafood restaurant for dinner. Pantai Cenang is one of the more popular stretch of beach in Langkawi and it's lined with many restaurants, hotels and shops. It's practically dead in the daytime but when the sun goes down, it comes alive with tourist flocking to the many seafood restaurants and pubs around that area.

No visit to Langkawi is complete without a seafood dinner (we had seafood almost everyday we were there :P). There were quite a number of seafood restaurants to choose from but we decided to go to Orkid Ria. That restaurant has been around for the longest time. I remember eating in Orkid Ria as a child whenever we visited Langkawi, way back in the day. Of course it was in another location and way smaller, but the food is still the same. Good fresh seafood! The decor of the place has changed too, from a simple open air shop lot to fancy lights and cafe style tables and chairs.

What I really like about Orkid Ria is the fresh seafood. You can walk up to the front, pick your seafood and the waiter will suggest various ways to cook it. Here are some of the different fishes available that night and pictures of the various ways they can cook the fish.

Here is Ashley looking at the lobsters and tiger prawns. Lobsters and other seafood are generally cheaper in Langkawi, compared to bigger cities like Kuala Lumpur. Man, check out the size of the tiger prawn! It's almost as big as the lobsters :P The only disappointment of the night was when we wanted to order crabs but we were told that they didn't have any crabs that night. What a downer! :( Oh well, there are other nights I guess...

Wanna see what we ordered? Well, we had a Grilled Snapper with some sort of sweet sauce. We initially wanted grilled stingray but they didn't have any available. So, the waiter picked out a decent size snapper for us. That was a good choice. The fish was really fresh and good. It was still alive when the waiter picked it out! Cooking fish can sometimes be a little tricky - there is a very fine line between uncooked and overcooked. Guess what? This fish was amazing! It was grilled to perfection, with crispy skin and the flesh was firm and moist. Yummy!

We wanted to try some sort of shellfish, so we ordered some Bamboo Clams (aka Razor Clams). Some places have really tiny and thin clams but the ones we got that night was huge. It was as thick as my finger, really big and juicy (the clams, not my finger!). Also, unlike most places, it didn't come with any shell. I just hate it when there are tiny pieces of shell all over the place. So, this is good. Very good.

What else did we order? Ahhh, a plate of steamed prawns with egg. This is really good. A light and delicate dish, with prawns lightly steamed with egg, soy sauce and Chinese wine. It is then topped with fresh ginger, shallots, coriander, and fried garlic. Again, the prawns were really fresh and super sweet. Another thumbs up for this dish.

As a filler, we order some Hokkien Fried Mee Hoon (rice noodles). It's fried with some shrimps, fish cake, chicken slices, mustard greens and topped with some fried onions. It's also good, not super great and not bad either. Nothing to complain or rave about I guess. It's just fried noodles :P

Overall, we had an awesome dinner. Yummy fresh seafood and great company! What else can a person ask for? I must admit that it's not exactly cheap but the quality of the food makes up for it. Judging from the smiling faces of everybody in the photo, I must say that they too agree with me that it was a good dinner!

Orkid Ria Seafood Restaurant
Lot 1225, Pantai Cenang
Mukim Kedawang, 07000 Langkawi
Kedah, Malaysia
Tel: (604) 955-4128
Fax: (604) 955-3128