SEA FOOD @ SENIBONG VILLAGE

Mum trying out the crab


Attacking the nestum prawn


Dining under the twinkling stars


The botox-injected cheek fish - steamed


Don't mess with this black pepper crab


Crunchily fried - you can even eat the shell


Lalah cooked in ginger


The drinks that bowled us over

Me, Mum and Tini - my great house helper

The setting of the restaurant

We chose this makan house

The mobster had caught the lobster!

Look how fresh the fish is - from the sampan to be makan

Father and son tag team - so lean and mean

Mother and daughter - Version 1 & Version 2

LOBSTER OR MOBSTER?

Senoko Power Station, Woodlands and Marsiling were a stone's throw or a swim away from where we sat. Kampung Senibong, a rustic getaway for sea food lovers fronts our northeast shoreline. Our table commanded a majestic view of our island with the flickering lights beckoning us to our fast pace of our life while the lapping of the waves below our kelong-type restaurant lulled us to its slow-snail pace life of a sleepy kampung atmosphere

Going to Senibong can be tricky. We managed to locate it after our second try. You need to look out for the sign that says Permas Jaya Bridge from the main road leading to Kota Tinggi and turn in towards Taman Sentosa or Pelangi Plaza to reach Senibong. The route in is hidden by a façade of semi-detached houses and the gigantic Jaya Jusco shopping mall. Even the solitary road that leads into the kampung seems to an average driver to serve only condominiums and apartments in the vicinity.

As you drive further across the commanding Permas Jaya Bridge, look out for the mangrove trees and the depositional and erosional features of the winding river which your physical geography teacher had taught you before. That is off course, if 'slip off banks, mudflats, meanders, cut-of, and ox-bow lakes' still ring a bell in your mind or you still have these features stored somewhere in your hard disk; I mean in your grey cells. Your human geography lessons become alive too with the chugging of the motor of the sampans out for a fishing trip, the mangrove ecosystem and the linear settlements that dot the river banks.

The scenery takes a change as you drive in with wooden kampung houses and outdoor toilets built on sandy and clayey soil. Life for the folks is simple and unhurried. The men exchange gossip for the day at the 'warong' (road stalls) while the women chatted across the cloth line over what's cooking for the day. Some of the folks take to open small 'mamak' shops in front of their verandah, others man the warong selling 'tea tarik' and maggi mee goreng while the Malay SMEs have become sea food restaurant owners, specialising in Thai and Malay cooking. There is also a Chinese owned restaurant, Senibong Seafood Village, which caters to busloads of tourists during the holiday season.

Parking can be a problem on any decent night at Senibong because of its limited parking space and popularity with the Johorians and Singaporeans. The nasi lemak huts are always packed but they are not what we came for last Tuesday night. We wanted seafood because we missed on that at Batam. We found a parking space at one of the villager's compound house but not without forking out 2RM to the girl who acted like a gantry guard. I counted over sixteen cars were parked around us. The owner of the house could easily make fifty bucks nightly by just sending their daughter to be the toll collector!

We stopped at the first stall and made our choice of seafood. We had steam ikan pipi tebal (thick cheek fish) cooked samboi style. On closer inspection of the fish, the thick cheeks did remind me of botox injected lips. The son wanted the nestum prawns while I opted for black pepper crab. We also had lalah ( a type of shellfish) cooked with ginger and the meal would not be completed withoug kangkong belachan. I love eating in Malaysia because the locals are never short of ideas on new concotions for food or drinks.

I was introduced to the goodness of the water melon juice mixed with lychee. My son sipped his Samboi special juice quietly with pleasure. That's life man .... a tall glass of rejuvenating drink and fresh sea food cooked at your favourite request. However, I was dissapointed at not getting the 'siput gonggong masak lemak' as the cook had resigned and the new one pleaded ignorant at cooking it. The last time I ate those escargots, it lifted my whole body and soul to the stratosphere level. It was cili padi hot, spicy and fragrant with kafir leaves and coated in thick coconut milk.

The fish and the lalah tasted almost alike - sourish due to the tomatoes and pineapple being thrown in. We should have opted for one of them to be cooked in sambal or sweet sour instead. The prawn was the hot favourite and at 8RM per 100g, even the head went into our digestive system. The total bill came to 150RM for the five of us. Thanks Senibong for the nite out!