Nong & Jimmy – Thai Seafood BBQ

Nong & Jimmy
Lot 27363 Jalan Cahaya 1
Taman Cahaya
68000 Ampang
Selangor
Tel: 019-261 1345/012-2738069
Opening hours: 6.00pm – 10.00pm (Closed on Mondays)

This Thai Seafood BBQ place has been around for some time and well-known among the Ampang folks and even non-Ampang foodies. Yeah, people throng the place from all over, despite its rather obscure location in the middle of Ampang. It’s a big shack-like place, smack next to a used-car carpark and opposite some flats. Square and round tables fill up every available space of the uneven cement floor and on Friday and weekend nights, people queue/wait to get a table.

Grilled seafood is their forte… and Crabs (RM42/kg) is topmost on their menu.

Baskets of these crustaceans are lined up… like these poor fellas…just waiting for a space on the hot grill…

… like their brethren earlier on, all already lined up nicely, happily being grilled…

Whoaaa…nice flames shooting up… if possible, try not to sit near this grill – the flames and embers flying everywhere – that’s enough to heat you up!

Stacks and stacks of BBQ-ed fat juicy crabs, waiting to be chopped up and served to the hungry packs of diners all waiting eagerly at their tables…
Ahaaa… this is how the crab is served…shells cracked through so that you don’t lose your dentures/teeth in the eating process… Try not to look at the fella’s eyes – it can be a bit unnerving, I know…
The crabs were grilled without any topping or marinade…so you need to dip them into Nong’s famous chilli sauces. Two types of sauces are offered – one is super-fiery-tongue-burning hot (red plate) and the other is just a wee bit milder, with roasted peanuts in it. Be sure to ask for more because one tiny plate of each is definitely not enough!

Actually, my favourite item is not so much the grilled crab… I usually go to this place for their BBQ Cockles!

Yes, those cholesterol-laden-Hepatitis-inducing cockles! (make sure you have had your Hepatitis jabs before going for these!). These baskets of shells (RM5/basket) are so popular that if you go there after 7.30pm, they would all have been sold out. Serious. So, be there early if you are a cockle-lover.

Besides crabs and cockles, they have other items on the grill too – sotong (squids), prawns and fish…

Besides grilled seafood, Nong & Jimmy’s Fried Rice is also world-famous. Actually, to satisfy your carbo pangs, you either have plain rice or fried rice, that’s it. Now, their fried rice looks deceptively simple – it’s just prawns and eggs, topped with sprigs of coriander leaves. But then… they use top-notch Thai fragrant rice, so their Fried Rice is really really great-smelling and simply delicious.

We prefer their Curry Squids (rather than the grilled version) (RM15) – there were lots of bombay onions, spring onions, coriander in this spicy dish – great to go with rice.What’s a Thai meal without Kerabu (salad), right? We had their Kerabu Chicken Feet (RM8)… but somehow it lacked a certain ooomph…hmmm, not enough of the limejuice + chilli kick! I have tasted better.

The disappointment for the night was their Grilled Stingray (RM12). I seriously do not recommend you to order this. This being LL’s favourite, we could not resist ordering it. Big mistake. It looked promising when it was served – currypowder nicely browned on top of the fish & wrapped in foil. However, when we dug into it, it was totally tasteless! Maybe they forgot about sprinkling some salt on it? Anyway, even dipping in into Nong’s famous chilli sauce didn’t help alleviate the total blandness of the fish. This was the only dish that we left unfinished.

Complementing the Grilled Seafood, there is this Yau-char-kway stall set up on the premise. They make mini yau-char-kway (which is a popular Thai snack)…
Almost every table would order this snack (RM6 for big portion) … happily munching on them while waiting for the main courses…
It’s served with a pandan-flavoured custard jam…(not exactly our local kaya because there wasn’t any coconut milk or egg taste in it)…
I don’t really know how to describe the directions to this place… hope the map below helps!

My rating: 7/10 – I have been going to this place everytime I get my BBQ-Cockles urges!