Very unfortunately this year is that special year. While eagerly driving into JB last week with my family, we were told the unexpected news that the durian season had started early last month and so now is already the peak. Maybe you would think something like ‘fwah! just nice now can whack the good durians since the prematured ones already dropped last month’. But for durians fanatics like my dad, it is bad news because this only mean that the durian season is coming to an end very soon and there isn’t a lot of time to enjoy those good durians.

If you’re driving into JB for durians, it is wise to actually avoid buying it in Johor Bahru which is technically the area just after you cleared the custom. Ok that area has good prices for many things like kopitiam food, pirated discs, chewing gums, cigarettes, basically almost everything is cheaper than what you can get in Singapore but yet you have to beware if you’re going to buy fruits there especially durians. Reason being there are a lot of unscrupulous sellers who would charge extra high for normal durians or they’ll cleverly change the A grade durians you’ve selected behind the tables and put in lousy grade durians into the bag.

Then I also heard of other stories like how the weighing machines were manipulated to give a higher reading which then you’ll pay for more. Now basically the nickname for these stalls are ‘Gold Seller’. They are trying to sell anything you want to buy but at the price of ‘gold’. Ok it’s very easy to spot such stalls. Usually they’ll operate from a makeshift table which is the back of their van or lorry with all the side chasis opened up. So what you’ll see is a durian stall connected to the head of a vehicle.

The thing is even if these durian sellers are trying to sell you real good quality durians, the prices are usually a tad higher than if you were to drive for about another 15kms into the Kampong. In Kampong area(usually along the road to the town Pontian), there are many stalls along the roads just outside those durian plantations and they’re usually going for something between RM$3 to RM$15 per kg depending on the quality.

For people who are really crazy about durians, they are willing to pay a lot more for the kind of quality that are just maybe 20 to 30% better than those durians that cost a lot lesser. Well not me, for me durians are still durians so all I care about is the freshness. As long the tip of the durian is fresh and when I shake it, the seeds doesn’t move inside, then it’s good. And using just this method, 90% of those durians I’ve bought are usually good even if it cost just RM$3 per kg.

In this trip, the main thing for us was actually the seafood in Kukup. But while driving along, we were in awe of the many many durian stalls and so we decided to quickly make it to the seafood place and make it a quick one before we happily stopped at every stalls along the way back to check out those durians. We had the usual stuff at Kukup like crab, fish, prawns, fried kampong chicken, mee goreng and noodles which costed us RM$129 which was about SGD$50.

Well we could had lowered the price had we got our seafood from the wet market along the way but didn’t bothered this time round as the durian became the main thing along the way. And that’s not the final price yet, considering we got back around $30 for petrol money later on when we pumped it to full, so that’s about around SGD$20 for a seafood meal for 5 person and that kind of price is something you can only fantasize in Singapore. Well, then we further got a few bags of durian weighing at least a walloping 50kg and if you take the money we managed to save on those durians(compared to those price you have to pay in Singapore), then the seafood meal was more than free and technically, the seafood place had given us some Ringgits after they served us a fantastic meal.

A good seafood meal for 5 plus a bag of 50kg fresh durians in Singapore would set you back around $500 no less. There we spent like SGD$150 with our petrol tank filled to full. The savings are astronomical. They have their business, we have our discounts. It’s a win win deal for both parties. So if you have a car then may I ask ” Lu Tan Si Mi ” ?

Price: SGD$50+

Recommendation: Everything

Conclusion: Simply unbeatable prices. Quality can’t be compared to high class restaurants but value is hard to beat.

Likes: Everything that has sambal in it.

Dislikes: No pork used. If they used pork lard for Mee Goreng or Steamed Fish then it would definitely be more fantastic.

Address		Overall Rating
Restoran Makanan Laut 66A Kukup Laut 82300 Kukup 82300, Johor p: 607-6960597		Food: 8/10   Value: 10/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.75/10

Well when it comes to driving to Malaysia, there’ll be 2 types of people who would have exactly the opposing views. The first type would say ” No no, never go, wait you kanna rob or your car kanna stolen!”. The other type would say ” Scared for what? I go so many years already also bo dai ji!”. Now there are really no grey area here and there is no in betweens. It’s either you’re scared of going because you’ve heard too much stories or you’ve been there done that and know even those stories are true, those robbers just won’t touch you somehow.

Now the truth is my family had been making trips there on a monthly(sometimes weekly) basis since the early 90s and nothing of those crimes we have heard had happened to us. But what is also true is we do practice certain precautions while we are there. I’ve compiled it into a checklist below.

1) Do not wear the prettiest clothes you have. Infact, wear really really lousy clothes for the trip.
2) Do not wear any jewelleries, not even watches. Keep all your rolexes at home!
3) When you’re in the car, lock all the doors.
4) Never park in a secluded area. Places like basement carparks or backstreet carparks should be avoided at all cost.
5) Before moving off from parked location, always check for anything unusual that is attached to your car. It could be drugs waiting for you to bring back to Singapore and they’ll come look for your car once you cleared the custom. And if you didn’t, you go take the charge for them.

Basically, if you flaunt what you have, then you’re obviously going to invite them. Another good thing for us is we’re only driving common sedans, nothing too eye catching.

If you ask any Singaporeans who visit Johor often what they go there for, then basically they will tell you a few things. Pirated disc, chewing gums, groceries, bakuteh, char kway teow, KFC blah blah but it’s just mainly 2 things for my family – durian and seafood.

My dad being a durian lover will really go once every few days when it’s in season. He will say “Aiya! Here so fresh and RM$4 per kg, in Singapore you pay $20 per kg for same quality, they charge premium for transport fees.”

Now if you are going and it’s a holiday in Singapore, you die die must take the 2nd link even it cost 10 bloodie dollars to cross it. If you want to save the $10 and go by Woodland’s causeway instead, then you should bring your packed lunch because you are going to have it in your car. You will never make it to the bakuteh or chap cai peng stall there by lunch time even if you set off at 8am. You’ll probably reach there just in time for dinner.

But we were stuck at the 2nd link a few weeks ago on the Good Friday for a good few hours. For those that have crossed the 2nd link before, you know that the bridge is very very long. I’m not exactly sure how long it is but I think it’s close to 5km or more. The speed limit is 120km/hr and I always need a couple of minutes at that speed to reach the Malaysia custom. So a few weeks back we got a shock when just after we crossed the Singapore custom, we saw something that looked like millions of cars filling up the road infront of us. Imagine a road 5km long and all filled with cars, we were moving like a tortoise in that queue for a good 2 hours until we decided to hijack the bus lane on the left and miraculously we reached the custom in lesser than 20 mins after. It is with this tactic in mind that we still dare to go on a Friday even if it’s a holiday :O

Yesterday we were stuck there for something like over an hour. A reasonable time for a holiday queue. If you love seafood, Kukup in Johor is the place to go. The setup is something like the old seafood place at old Punggol jetty(for those who remembers).

It is actually very near to Singapore and you can even take a ferry there but when if you’re driving there, then it’s a bit of detour.

The good thing is the driving journey is not all that boring, you get to drive past all kind of fruits plantation and when in season, you see them all lining up by the road selling their harvests at a fraction of what you pay in Singapore, so it’s no secret that half our car boots would be filled up with things like banana, pineapples and durians.

Well if you say “Banana is so cheap in Singapore why get from Malaysia?” Well simply because it’s much more cheaper in Malaysia, you pay $2+ for a bunch in Singapore, you pay the same amount for the entire cluster or the tier. So you can bring back here and cut them into 10 bunches and give to your neighbours, aunties, uncles, road sweepers, strangers and pretend that you’re a generous person.

Now along the way to Kukup, we’ll come across this little town called Pontian. Pontian is a fishing village and it’s at this junction where you make the turn to the famous Batu Pahat.

Sometime ago, a few good kind Malaysians told us that we can save considerably if we were to purchase our seafood from the wet market at Pontian before heading to Kukup because seafood sold at that market is really really cheap. If you want to know how cheap, it’s half the price of what we’re paying in Singapore. So we start practicing that until the restaurant owner at Kukup si bei tu lan us because we kept bringing our own seafood and obviously in that way, his earnings were cut.

We then decided that we’ll just get the fish(grouper usually) and order every every other items from the restaurant. In that way, it’s still very cheap ok?

For RM$150 you get a grouper, 2 big plates of crabs, lobsters, prawns, sotong and all other local delights like sambal lala, sambal kangkong, otah otah, fried kampong chicken and the usually mee goreng, char kway teow and stuff. Our meal yesterday was enough to feed 7-8 hungry adults and yet we only paid around SGD$60!

Where in Singapore you get that? Maybe in Pulau Ubin if you are friend with the kelong owner there.

Now if you’re going there for the first time, I will highly recommend you the kelong restoran at the end of the road and on the right side.

That is one of the few restaurants there managed by a chinese and the owner is a Teochew ah hia who still insist on doing all the cooking himself. The other restaurants are practically using cheap local labours as cooks who are probably dishing out the same standard as what you’ll get at hawker centres.

The whole journey to and back will take something like 300km and if you think for that is a lot for petrol money, it cost us just mere RM$19 to refill the tank at Johor Bahru before we crossed the bridge back to Singapore. And that’s when we went in with a full tank. You can go in with 3/4 full and make more money there when you top it up to full.

The petrol station there is literally handing you money to buy their petrol.

The Malaysian government is technically inviting you for free lunch over at their Kampong. Imagine the Malaysian government ask you to eat at Long Beach restaurant at East Coast and order every good food on the menu and when the bill comes up to $400, they hand you $350 and you just need to pay $50.

That’s the deal you’re getting when you go to Johor for a day’s trip.

Price: $40+

Recommendation: All sambal dishes

Conclusion: Cheap, authentic food. Can’t ask for more.

Likes: All sambal dishes.

Dislikes: Hygiene standard can be improved.

Address		Overall Rating
Restoran Makanan Laut 66A Kukup Laut 82300 Kukup 82300, Johor p: 607-6960597		Food: 8/10   Value: 10/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 6/10   Overall: 7.75/10