Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant 阿一海鲜 (Turf City)

i went to Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant at (Turf City) on 20th jan 2009 to celebrate my nephew's birthday and was extremely disappointed with their sharkfin abalone soup at $28 per bowl. We ordered 3 bowls and the sharkfin came out to be starchy, not the soup but the "sharkfin"... is so "rubber" that u can hardly chew and swallow, is sort like "sea cucumber" and it really tastes horible. we make a feedback to the waiter, and the answer was "is meant to be this way"... we took the bowl of "sharkfin" to the cashier and asked to speak to the manager, the cashier still asked wats on the plate we show her???? she cant even tell that's "sharkfin"!!!she called the manager but yet we waited for 10mins to 15mins with no one to show up and solve the problem. the waiter even said we shd eat it while is hot, so that the sharkfin wont taste rubberly.... have u heard that before? anyway, we had complained to the waiter when is served "HOT", the replied is... "Meant to be this way" "就是这样的"..."就是这样的"...
sigh, the manager refused to solve problem, not even a discount or asked to change a new bowl for although they offered us a FREE dessert (we rejected) cos for such standard in "AH YAT", it is not acceptable for such "sharkfin" to be served!!! all we want is an clear explanation....
we paid for $230+ for our disgusting dinner tonight. $98.80 jus for the 3 bowls of "meant to be this way" sharkfin!!! yucks! Do they look like "sharkfin to u??? refer to one of the picture on the "highlighted" area... gross!!!

upload another 2 pictures on the receipt, jus noticed from the receipt that they had these "?" "?" things on the name of the sharkfin... weird... they dont even know the proper name of the "sharkfin"???

I've lost count of how many times i've been here. But i remember my first visit was with my folks. Reason I keep comin back? Its damn good value for $$$. The current promotion 50% off all live seafood and dim sum(weekdays) make it a real steal. Weekends its 30%. I mean where else can u find live seafood at these prices?? For the Live seafood, you can choose how u want it to be cooked. If u know ur seafood u can choose from the large tanks outside the restaurant. If not they choose it for u. Ok on with the review.

-Live Crab
-Live 'Soon Hock'
-Live Prawns
-Peking Duck
-Stir-fried Kailan
-Live Bamboo Clam
-Assorted Dim Sum

Steamed Crab. If its a live crab its a waste to eat it any other way. The meat was sweet. This is due to the freshness of the crab. If it wasnt fresh the steam crab wud taste bland. Also the meat did not stick to the shells. Shows the chef knows his timing. There were 2 occasions i recall having it done differently. 1 was chilli crab(awful), 2nd was egg yolk(pretty gd). So there u go, either steam or with egg yolk.

Again Steam Soon Hock. The fish was also good. A lot of ppl like to order their fish fancy with all types of sauces but if u ask me, i tink the best way to appreciate it is to steam it. There is a cantonese word for this style of cooking but i am unable to translate it. But they service staff shld know if u just tell them to steam it with soy sauce. Needless to say the fish came out as well as the crab.

Prawns. We ordered 600grams and decided to split it into 2 halves. 300gms drunken style n 300gms cereal style. The service staff used to give us a hard time abt this. They wud say they have to charge us an additional fee as we wanted 2 diff forms of cooking. To which i say to them "rubbish". Now here's the trick if they tell u the same thing. Tell the Captain you wish to now order only 300gm of prawns in watever style u wish. Afterwhich u tell her u, after I have finsihed my first 300gm, I will order another 300gm done in another style. More likely than not she will then oblige. I usually dun like to threaten the wait staff but this 'rule' seems absurd. Btw, they do this because they say u only pay for the seafood u order. ie: how many Grams/Kilograms ur seafood weigh. The cooking is 'free'. This applies to the crab too.

Peking Duck. The duck is not 50% off but at 20 bucks(1/2 duck) its still pretty darn reasonable. Not to mention it tastes damn gd too. We had the remaining duck chopped and served as it was. On occasion we have it fried with chinese noodles. There is a $10 levy but i have no problem with that. In this case its justified cause there's extra work n cost goin into preparing another dish.

Stir-fried Kailan. Normal with garlic and not too oily. Well fried.

Live Bamboo Clams. First off must say I'm not a big fan of this dish. Only ordered it cause suggested by my Mom's fav Captain. Anyways, turned out ok. Other places have done better.

Assorted Dim Sum. Cant go wrong with the standard favourites. Very decent dim sum.

The 50% promo I've noticed comes n goes during certain periods of the year. Though this year it seems a permanant thing. So just call ahead to double chk and reservations is advised as this place can get really packed due to the promo. Wud not recommend this place for its ambience and setting. In fact it's a pretty shoddy place and wats more the location its not very accessible to those without a car, but the food n price more than makes up for it. I believe there is also a free shuttle from AMK/Toa Payoh/Clementi to Turf City.

Also ensure ur table is reserved by a Captain or manager. I suggest u make ur resevations thro' Jennifer. U can ask for her card. Unfortunately i am unable to write the rationale behind this, if u really must know feel free to drop me a mail and i will explain more clearly.

If u go there often enough, or if u chalk up a decent enough bill, desserts' usually on the house. Unfortunately, none of their dessert is even marginally edible. I therefore suggest, u ask for a platter of fresh fruits instead.

There are another 2 restaurants besides Ah Yat. 'Owen' n 'Unique'. Though run by the same management but operating from different kitchen n concept. Owen's ok but pass on Unique.

I often patronise this outlet for it's dim sum lunch. If I'm not wrong, there is a 50% discount off for the dim sum. There is quite a variety of dim sum and I like the banana fritters with red bean paste best!

I have eaten the seafood and I particularly like the "bamboo-shoot-clam" (not sure what it is called). It is cooked with garlic and is really tasty and soft. But felt that the lobster meat is abit hard and not tasteful enough.

Suckling pig is one of my favourite food and the suckling pig there is not bad! The skin is crunchy and the meat is not tough. For one whole pig, it cost $98 and for half of a pig, it cost $58. But do note that the whole pig is quite alot so if you were to order it, don't order too many other dishes. My family of 7 could not finish the whole pig and had to pack it home. My family also said that the crispy chicken is also not bad so you can give it a try!