Top 5 Equipment Every Seafood Restaurant Needs

Fresh fish, oysters, clams and crustaceans. Seafood restaurants are incredibly popular in Malaysia for their fresh food, which is possible because Malaysia has many coastlines where seafood is freshly caught and processed. These restaurants process and cook lots of fresh produce daily. Fresh seafood is essential, not only for the dishes to taste good but also for food safety. 

When you run a seafood restaurant, you’ll likely use lots of different cooking techniques like steaming, frying, boiling, and steamboat to prepare all sorts of tasty dishes. You need high-quality seafood restaurant equipment to store and prepare your products. 

This article recommends the top 5 OTN equipment every seafood restaurant needs.
 

1. Tabletop Steamboat / Seafood Display Chiller

OTN Tabletop Steamboat/Seafood Display Chiller

Keep your restaurant seafood supply fresh and chilled by using a display chiller. OTN tabletop display chillers are easy to move around the kitchen, and you can also serve steamboat ingredients straight to your customers’ tables with it.

Keep prepared seafood inside the two compartments - choose the chiller (0 to 10°C) or freezer (0 to -10°C) depending on the ideal storage temperature of the seafood type.

You may now be wondering - why don’t I just use trays with ice to make a tabletop seafood display?

Ice can melt over time and may melt faster on hotter days (for example, if you’re displaying the seafood outside, or if your restaurant has outdoor seating). You may also forget to top up the ice regularly.

This variable, fluctuating temperature isn’t good for seafood freshness or food safety. Seafood that isn’t properly chilled can encourage more bacteria to grow on it, which is dangerous for consumption and can cause food poisoning.

A seafood chiller provides stable and cold temperatures for your seafood display, so you won’t have to worry about consistent chilling. The stainless steel material is easy to clean and wash, ensuring hygiene after each use.
 

2. Cooking Range

OTN Cooking Range

A robust cooking range is a must-have in your commercial kitchen. 

Cooking ranges are specially designed for large-scale, high-capacity cooking. They provide a powerful, intense heat source for stir-frying food with a wok, and you can keep using them for hours. They’re great for stir-frying clams, prawns, fish, and side dishes like vegetables, fried rice, and meat.

Wok frying is popular in Malaysia because it gives the dishes a well-seasoned, smoky wok hei flavour.

OTN has 1 to 5-hole kwali or cooking ranges for all kitchen sizes and business scales. 

Each high-powered burner has a built-in stand that supports your wok for easier handling during fast cooking. Multiple burners also allow you to cook many things simultaneously, including boiling, simmering, and braising.
 

3. Mee Boiler

OTN Mee Boiler

A mee boiler (or noodle cooker) helps with cooking noodles for noodle soups, like seafood or fish soup. 

The OTN mee boiler has 6 large, robust noodle baskets and soup compartments or ‘holes’ that you can cook different types of noodles in. It maintains a high, consistent water heating rate to ensure it’s always boiling and ready to cook. 

With this commercial-grade mee boiler, you won’t have to boil a new pot of water every time you cook a different batch of noodles. Keep cooking consecutive noodle batches as long as the water is boiling. The control panel is easy to use, with knobs to turn and adjust the heating as needed.

Cleaning is fuss-free with the food-grade stainless steel construction. Wash and wipe down the interiors and exteriors between uses or after every shift.

Dimensions: 70cm (front to back) x 60cm (width) x 78cm (height)
 

4. Fish Steamer

OTN Fish Steamer

All seafood restaurants must have fish processing equipment and a fish cooker. Steamed fish is a popular dish in Malaysia because it preserves the freshness of the fish and is also light and comfortable to eat. 

You’ll need an OTN fish steamer with four steaming compartments to cook multiple batches of fish for your restaurant.

Commercial fish steamers have faster cooking time, so you can get the food served out much faster. They also save more energy using bulk steaming and can help you reduce electricity costs in the long run.
 

5. Bone Saw Machine

OTN Bone Saw Machine

Bone saws are an important seafood processing equipment to debone fish before cooking. Bone saws are commonly used to cut meat of large animals like beef, mutton, and pork. But they’re just as effective when used on fish.

Frozen fish meat is hard to cut by hand. With bones, the job becomes tougher. That’s where you need a bone saw cutter to cut up frozen meat fast.

Bone saw cutters are easy to use. Put the meat between the bottom slab and the saw, and push it until it comes up against the stop plate. Slowly move the meat through the saw to cut the meat to your desired portion size.
 

Conclusion

Seafood restaurants serve some of Malaysia’s best seafood cuisine, cooked with time-tested and well-loved recipes. Treat your customers to the freshest seafood dining experience using automated OTN equipment that makes preparation and cooking more clean and efficient.

OTN Machinery Sdn Bhd is Malaysia’s biggest kitchen equipment supplier. With 25+ years of experience helping food businesses in Malaysia and overseas, our equipment is compliant with local safety regulations and maintenance standards.