The restaurant boasts gorgeous views of the expansive golf course beyond. — Photos: ONG SOON HIN/The Star
Simon Sim and his wife Elaine had long dreamt of opening a restaurant when they retired. The avid foodies frequently travel to different parts of Asia to satiate their food cravings, which is why opening an eatery made perfect sense to them.
A few years ago, Simon’s children took over the running of his decades-old marketing services agency and his dream came to fruition with the launch of the Malaysian-focused café, Auntie Sim Kitchen, in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. But a visit from an old friend turned the couple’s original idea into a much bigger plan.
“I bumped into my friend who was a very popular chef from Hong Kong, and when he saw the café, he said ‘You can’t make money out of a café – don’t waste time! Why not do a Hong Kong-style private kitchen instead?’,” says Simon.
So Simon and Elaine, with the help of the friend, did just that. The private kitchen grew in popularity and one day, was chanced upon by the senior management team of a large corporation, who instantly fell in love with the food.
Simon (right), his wife Elaine and Rusli all work together to drive the success of Victoria Harbour.
And that is how Simon – after some cajoling – ended up opening his Hong Kong-themed seafood eatery Victoria Harbour Seafood Restaurant in the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.
The 10-month-old eatery boasts exquisite views of the sprawling manicured golf course lawns beyond and on sunny afternoons, seats by the floor-to-ceiling windows offer slivers of buttery sunshine filtering gently through, allowing for whimsical, magical escapades of the imaginative sort.
Simon’s Hong Kong chef friend has since passed away, so for the restaurant, he hired experienced chef Huo Yao Quan who hails from Guangzhou, China. The chef is responsible for introducing more Hong Kong-style fare on the menu. Restaurant advisor Rusli Hashim was also brought in to help Simon develop a strategy for the diner demographic at KLGCC.
When developing the menu, Simon realised that 70% of the items offered at the private kitchen was pork-free. He decided to keep to that theme to ensure that the menu remained inclusive and open to all groups in Malaysia.
Fresh crabs are covered in a quilt fashioned out of fried garlic, dried chillies and fermented black bean in what proves to be a truly delicious meal.
“If you are not going to cater to 60% of Malaysians, then you are competing with other typical restaurants serving Chinese food, so we feel that there is a bigger market to explore here,” explains Simon.
The restaurant has a strong focus on seafood and Simon and Elaine ensure that everything is kept fresh i.e. live so you can expect to see live lobsters, crabs and prawns on the menu. Elaine also goes to great lengths to import dried seafood like scallops, fish maw and olive fish from Hong Kong to ensure total authenticity while meat is entirely halal-sourced.
To begin a meal here, try some of the dim sum on offer (only served at lunch). The eatery’s Har Gow (RM15.80) is a take on the classic prawn dumpling so popular in dim sum restaurants. In this iteration, the dumpling has a wetter consistency as there is a broth hidden in the little packet that only reveals itself once you bite into it. It may not be quite what you are expecting, but honestly, this version packs so much more flavour.
Victoria Harbour's prawn dumpling is an elevated take on a classic favourite. — ONG SOON HIN/The Star
Up next, try the Bean Curd Skin Roll (RM16.80). Here, you will find crispy homemade bean curd skin wound around plump prawns in what can only be described as a most satisfying discovery.
Salted egg yolk is still enjoying its moment in the sun and nowhere is this more evident than in the Charcoal Bun (RM14.80). Here, pillowy soft, pitch black bao skin is pulled apart to reveal rivulets of hot salted egg lava coursing out with a vengeance. It’s the sort of addictively good bun that means one simply isn’t enough.
From the appetisers, there is so much on offer, including Huo’s Prawn Cakes (RM88 for six pieces). Although the price point might seem hefty, you’ll discover the reason behind it the instant you sink your teeth into this meal, which is so stuffed full of voluptuous, fluffy prawns, there is precious little space for anything else.
From the mains, look forward to an underwater adventure filled with the treasures of the sea, like the Stir-Fried Australian Live Lobster with Superior Stock (seasonal price).
Simon says (see what we did there?) that with lobster, it is always best to be able to taste the true freshness of the crustacean without adding too many additional elements. So things are kept simple – the lobster is stir-fried with spring onions, dried prawns (imported from Hong Kong) and ginger and a superior stock fashioned out of chicken feet and cooked for hours to extract flavour.
The result is a simple, unvarnished dish that highlights the corpulence of the lobster and its meaty, sweet succulence. This is accentuated by the broth, which gives it enhanced appeal.
The buttermilk claypot seafood pot is a true treat for the senses that is bewitching from the very first mouthful.
Up next, definitely try the Seafood in Claypot with Butter Milk (RM118 per portion). Each portion is enough to feed at least five people and can be further pimped up with the addition of other seafood options, like crabs or even tiger prawns (RM78 top-up).
This is a sensationally good dish. The buttermilk has got curry powder in it, which gives it lightly nuanced curry flavours that are oh-so addictive. The pot is also filled with literally every kind of seafood you can imagine, from squid to prawns to clams. Crisp fried mantou buns are also provided on the side and once you dip the soft bread into the curry – well, I dare say it would be nay impossible to stop you from finishing up the entire meal all on your own!
Have a final dip into aquatic territory with the Hong Kong Typhoon Shelter Fried Crab (market price). This is a dish that was created by Hong Kong fishermen who took shelter during typhoons in the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. As demand for seafood was low during typhoons, they would deep-fry whatever seafood they had with plenty of garlic, chillies and fermented black beans – a covert operation designed to mask fishy smells.
The dish soon gained acclaim in Hong Kong and has been popular ever since.
In this iteration, the crab is blanketed with a layer of crisp fried garlic. Many restaurants now mix breadcrumbs with garlic (as deep-frying garlic to perfection is tedious and quite an art) but at Victoria Harbour, no shortcuts are taken. The garlic co-mingles with dried chillies and fermented black bean and gives the crab additional oomph. The crab itself is fat and filled with sweet, fluffy crab meat.
If you’re angling after something carnivorous after all that seafood, definitely look at indulging in the VHS Fried Black Australian Beef Cubes (RM128). Made using Angus beef, this is a dish that shows restraint and finesse, with the beef still retaining a limber suppleness and slight pinkness in the middle.
This simple dish highlights the natural attributes of Australian lobster to perfection.
End your meal at Victoria Harbour on a triumphant note with dessert in the form of the Ice-Cold Thai Coconut with Avocado (RM22). Ooh, this is a wonderful treat and the perfect denouement to your meal. Imagine if you will: an icy coconut filled with smooth, sweet avocado puree and tiny sago pearls, all buoyed by the tropical undertones of the coconut which gives it a fresh, sweet life of its own. Honestly it simply doesn’t get any better than this!
Moving forward, Simon hopes to be able to open more restaurants – provided he can find the right people to help navigate his vision for growth and expansion.
“The idea is to try this out and then maybe we want to open a few other restaurants. If it works out, then I will look at getting more experienced chefs from China to come in and open new outlets,” he says.
Victoria Harbour Seafood
Ground Floor, East Lobby
Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club
10, Jalan 1/70D
Bukit Kiara
60000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 2093 1258
Open daily: 11.30am to 2.30pm; 5.30pm to 10pm
