DESARU BEACH JOHOR HOLIDAY | 3D 2N Weekend Escapade Day 1

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.

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.

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.

Add caption

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



Penang Rojak - who would have thought that you can eat such nice Penang Rojak in Desaru Johor.

followed by his creamy Authentic Seafood Tom Yam Kung

and his aroma filled Deep Fried Chicken with Lemon Grass.

Deep Fried Fish Dressed With Miang Kham Sauce (Daun Kodok)

Grilled Squid

and the flavourful Authentic Thai Chu Chi Prawns to finish our dinner with.

After our hearty dinner, it was time to go back to Tiara Desaru to have a good rest for the next day event. Catch our Day 2 adventure here.

Tiara Desaru Seaview Residence Video

Desaru Fruit Farm Address and Location



Tiara Desaru Seaview Residence Address and Location



Lotus Desaru Beach Resort Address and Location

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Malaysian Food: Iconic and Signature Malaysian Dish From All Over Malaysia

Eating Malaysia: Travel around the country of Malaysia in search of the iconic and signature dishes all over Malaysia, as we celebrate the delicious diversity that has united us as people of Malaysia and put us on the world map.

Source: Star Special Malaysia Day

The following are some of the top Must Eat dishes as compiled by Star Special Malaysia Day edition from each of the State of Malaysia. To read the details write-up and where to eat these specialty dishes; please click on the link for each of the state.

PERLIS

Must Eat Perlis Specialty & Signature Dishes: Ikan Bakar, Pekasam, Laksa Kuala Perlis, Pulut Mempelam

KEDAH

Must Eat Kedah Specialty & Signature Dishes: Laksa Kedah, Gulai Nangka, Dodol, Bahulu

PENANG

Must Eat Penang Specialty & Signature Dishes: Nasi Kandar, Char Kway Teow, Assam Laksa, Mee Goreng

PERAK

Must Eat Perak Specialty & Signature Dishes: Hor Fun, Rendang Tok, Chicken and Bean Sprouts, Ipoh White Coffee.

SELANGOR

Must Eat Selangor Specialty & Signature Dishes:  Satay, Mamak Rojak, Bak Kut Teh, Yong Tau Foo

WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN

Must Eat Wilayah Persekutuan Specialty & Signature Dishes: Hokkien Mee, Pan Mee, Banana Leaf Rice

NEGERI SEMBILAN

Must Eat Negeri Sembilan Specialty & Signature Dishes: Kuala Pilah Rendang, Rembau Rendang, Masak Lemak Cili Api, Daging Salai, Serembab Siew Pau.

MELAKA

Must Eat Melaka Specialty & Signature Dishes: Debal Curry (aka Devil Curry), Ayam Pongteh, Satay Celup, Chicken Rice Balls.

JOHOR

Must Eat Johor Specialty & Signature Dishes: Laksa Johor, Otak-Otak, Pajeri Nenas, Ayam Pedas.

PAHANG

Must Eat Pahang Specialty & Signature Dishes: Ikan Patin Masak Tempoyak, Laksa Kuah Putih, Ikan Bakar Petai, Jala Mas Puding DiRaja.

  

TERENGGANU

Must Eat Terengganu Specialty & Signature Dishes: Nasi Dagang, Keropok Lekor, Solok Lada, Sata

  

KELANTAN

Must Eat Kelantan Specialty & Signature Dishes: Nasi Kerabu, Laksam, Ayam Percik, Ketupat Sotong

SABAH

Must Eat Sabah Specialty & Signature Dishes; Pinasakan, Mee Tuaran, Ngiu Chap, Hinava

  

SARAWAK

Must Eat Sarawak Specialty & Signature Dishes: Sarawak Laksa, Umai, Manuk Pansuh, Kolo Mee

There you have it, for all you Malaysian Foodies, hope you can try all of these. You can comment on how many you have tried and which is your best signature and specialty dishes from all over Malaysia. 

Happy Food Hunting and Happy Malaysia Day.

MUAR JOHOR | South Food Trail by Best Restaurant to Eat

There are many blogs and TV shows featuring Muar in Johor as a food haven. With that in mind, we decided to make a trip down south to savour this offering.

There is a TV series which highlights Muar streets foo. Today, we will be eating street food rather than restaurant food that we normally featured. After a series of search, we have shortlisted a couple of some of the best of Muar Food to savour for this trip.

We started quite early in the morning at 6am from Kuala Lumpur as most of the food stalls are open for breakfast up to lunch hours. We reached Muar at 830am and drove around town trying to spot the Wai Sek Kai Along Jalan Haji Abu (between the junction with Jalan Meriam and Jalan Ali). 

We notice that there are streets with the colour theme like red where most building along that street is painted with red and yellow as yellow streets and blue streets. A true community spirit of the people of Muar to promote this town.

We took a walk around the main makan street and try to see what was that they were selling and also to find out where our shortlisted store is.

Our first taste was the fried carrot cakes; we saw a big queue already before the store was open. We look around to see what was being ordered by the other patron and decided to order one big packet with eggs to be shared. The normal price for a small packet is RM3.00. For the big packet, it is at RM4.00. The uncle told us his version is the sweet type version (which is black due to the thick black soya sauce) and we also got to know that in Muar there is a white version from one of the fellow patron which she also recommends some places for other Muar favourite makan place.

Taste wise it is, it is a little sweet and they don’t fry it like in KL where the pieces of carrot cake are cut to smaller pieces and a little crispier on the outside. Moreover, we can’t really taste much of the choy poh.

Next, we venture into a restaurant called Hua Nam. In this coffee shop, there is 2 main food served here i.e the popular Muar Laksa and the Teochew Pork soup. The shop was packed when we arrived and took us a while for us to get a table. We look around to see what was being ordered by the other patrons.

The Muar Laksa was noting great compared to the one we had in Kuala Lumpur. The broth was not thick and was not spicy at all. It was quite bland. The saving grace was the cockles which were very fresh and succulent.

Next, we savour the Teochew Pork (Chap Chye) Soup with white rice. This is a totally new dish for me as the one we had in Kuala Lumpur is the Mustard Vegetable Pork soup. Well, this dish is only for lovers of pork spare parts. Taste-wise, it was short of my expectation of a good pork soup.

In this coffee shop, it does allow outside food from the outside to be brought in to be eaten. There are a couple of streets store just outside this shop.

The first one that we ordered is the Teochew Braised Pork and Spare parts. We had the pork, pig skin, pig intestine, eggs and tau foo. Taste-wise, it is not very fragrant as it lacks the taste of spices usually used to cook this dish.

Lastly, we ordered the Woon Chai Koh, compare to those that you normally find from the Pasar Malam, this is a super small bowl and for RM2.00 you get 8 pieces of it. One of the main difference is the garnishing, which is boiling hot, unlike those found in Pasar Malam, which is usually cooked hours earlier. Taste-wise, the texture was quite smooth while the garnishing blended well.

The next to the shop is the coffee itself. Understand that there are many coffee merchants in Muar, so the one we had in the shop truly has strong aroma with the strong aftertaste in your throat. Worth the money you paid for many times over.

We tried the otak-otak on Avenue 4 food court but found it to be too spicy and salty. Not much to shout about. Probably being introduced to the wrong place.

We were told of the best wanton noodle in the area and when we reach the shop, it was beginning to open its shop, so we waited patiently for them to unload box and crates of dumpling, suikow and wantan noodles and the must-have char siew.

At first, we thought we were in a treat, how wrong were we after our first taste, of the soup then the noodles, then the sui kow and wanton. The only saving grace was the price. At 3.50 per bowl, it is a real bargain but I wouldn’t go for a second after tasting the best wanton noodles in KL.

As we were chilling before the lunch break, we wanted to sample the famous chicken rice Jit Fatt, we came about a place where we park our car, the place is Kala Chicken along the makan street, they served the Grass Jelly Tea at RM3.00 per shot. Feeling thirsty after all the food intake, we decided to try one. To our surprise, it was not bad and considering the price we paid for it was good.

We left the place to find the Jit Fatt 119-4, Jalan Mariam. Here like Melaka, the chicken rice is served moulded into a ball. Some say, it is comparable with the one in Melaka, so we ordered a small serving of 3 rice ball with a plate of chicken breast. If you really want to know whether the chicken is good, you have to try the breast meat, you can taste the sweetness of the chicken if any, the tenderness not soft, and the juiciness (breast meat have the least) and if any it will make the chicken especially nice and top quality. To me, it fails all the 3 test.

The rice balls were too hard and not much taste compared to those from Melaka, they are soft and fluffy even when moulded into a ball. I would say the size of the rice ball is also bigger than in Melaka.

It was a truly disappointing food trip and really out of our expectation. So we decided to cut short our trip and head to Melaka.

Before leaving, we remember we passed by a store where they sell this Bentayan Lemon Lime drink but it was in the midst of opening when we had our wanton noodle earlier, so we decided to make t trip there to try it out. The first sips were mesmerising, you can feel the sourish lime lemon flowing down your throat. It was very refreshing and can wake up your senses up if you are sleepy. It was also very intoxicating as you want to have more sips after the first. This is the saving grace of our trip to Muar, Johor. Next stop is Melaka.

Read about our Food Trail to Tangkak Johor

Read about our holiday at Desaru Beach 3D 2N Weekend Escapade, Johor

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