Best Restaurant To Eat - Malaysian Food Blog: DESARU BEACH JOHOR HOLIDAY

Picture courtesy of Lembaga Kemajuan Johor Tenggara

Desaru is a beach and resort area in Kota Tinggi District, Johor, Malaysia. It is located approximately

88 kilometers east of Johor Bahru, facing the South China Sea. It is a very popular weekend escape for tourist from other states and Singapore who come to enjoy the attractive 25 km stretch of beaches and splendid golf courses.

Xplore Johor - Tourism Johor

+BestRestaurant ToEat was invited by the Tourism Johor to join in the Xplore Johor program to this beautiful resort town Desaru, Johor for a 3 days 2 nights (3D 2N) escapade to explore some of Desaru places of interest and Desaru attraction.

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Malaysia-Tourism Centre

Picture Courtesy of Wikimedia

We started our exploration from the Malaysia Tourism Centre (MATIC) office in Jalan Ampang Kuala Lumpur early in the morning as we are scheduled to arrive at Desaru in time for lunch.

Our first destination is the Desaru Fruit Farm one of the popular tourist destination; as there are plenty to explore on this farm.

On arrival, after a wash down, we were served an array of juicy and sweet local fruits which is freshly harvested from the farm; are offered to us to eat as much (buffet style) as your heart desire.

The local fruits which include my favourite fruit i.e Jack Fruit,

Guava & Passion Fruit,

Pineapples,

Red and White Dragon Fruits

Jambu Air & Rambutan and more; are freshly cut and peel to serve to you. Too bad, it was the end of the Durian season, so we didn't get to eat the King of Fruit and Mangosteen from Johor.

For some of the other fruits, the farm has also preserved some of them, so you get to eat the preserved Kedondong, Mangoes, and Papayas.

Fresh Papaya Chicken Soup With Tongkat Ali

After our fruit buffet, we were then served our lunch. The dishes here are very special; in that, most of the recipes for the dishes are using the farm fruits as one of its ingredient like our first dish which is the Fresh Papaya Chicken Soup With Tongkat Ali.

followed by the Assam Pedas Stingray With Passion Fruit Juice

Next, is the Deep Fried Squid with Red Dragon Fruit sauce.

As part of the Desaru Fruit Farm entrance fee (RM58.30 - Adult, RM50.90 - Child) which includes the fruit buffet, the set lunch; it also comes with a Fruit farm tour where you can experience and explore all the different fruit trees and its growing process which are explained during the tour on a specially crafted lorry.

Desaru Fruit Farm Tour

We were delighted to have learned a lot about the planting and caring process of these fruit trees.

Dragon Fruit

The fruit farm has over 100 varieties of fruits and herbs that are planted in this 100 acres (45.5 hectares) fruit farm.

Pisang Seribu

Passion Fruit Juice, Roselle Juice, and Lime Juice

Halfway thru our tour, you can also enjoy a cooling Passion Fruit or Lime juice to soothe your throat on a hot day.

As part of the attraction at the fruit farm; it also has a mini zoo where you can get up close with the Rabbits, Ayam Serama, Goats, Turkeys, Goose, Pythons, and more.

Dirt Kart Ride

For a premium entrance ticket (RM72.10 - Adult & RM63.60 - Child), the farm also offers you a chance to drives the Dirt Kart. The difference here is the Go Kart in on a tarmac road while Dirt kart kicks out a lot of dirt and dust. Truly enjoy the experience; good thing it was a dry day so no dirt but end up eating dust.

After our fun stop at the Desaru Fruit Farm, it was time to check into our hotel. Our stay for the entire holiday is at the Tiara Desaru Seaview Residence located at Jalan Tanjong Lompat, Bandar Penawar, Desaru Johor - a service apartment home stay style which has a beautiful beach facing the South China Sea.

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At Tiara Desaru, there are 4 swimming pools where you can take a dip to relax your tired soul.

As our units are located on a block which is nearer to the beach, there is also a swimming pool for the residents in this block which offers a more private swim.

We had the single room apartment (RM190.00) which is quite like a suite as there is a spacious living room area where we can chill out or just watch the television before calling it a night.

there is also a small pantry area where you can do some light cooking.

For our rooms, it comes with a queen bed and is quite spacious on its own.

with an attached bathroom.

After unpacking, we decided to take a stroll around to check out some of the facilities available at Tiara Desaru Seaview Residence, the first is the Gym which faces the beach where you can work it out while enjoying the serene view of the beach.

Or if you decide to cycle around, you can rent one of the bicycles to leisurely check out the places.

For those that loves BBQ, there is numerous BBQ pit available inside the compound and on the beach hut facing the sea. Please arrange with the staff if you plan to have a BBQ.

After that, we decided to check out the famed Desaru beach; as there is no adjoining development, you can virtually have the entire beach which stretched to around 3 km all by yourself. It is this seclusion that makes city folks like us enjoy the quaint & tranquil moments to relax while enjoying the quiet moment and the sea breeze.

For dinner, we headed to the Lotus Desaru Beach Resort which offers a water theme park and beach activities where we had some specialty dishes crafted by its Penang born Chef Leong which includes his signature