Restoran Asli - Malaysia

This is my second visit to Restoran Asli. Thanks to a friend for bringing me there. It is about an hour's journey from my home provided there is no jam at the custom. Love the tranquility of the place, the laidback lifestyle and of course, the freshness of the food. I doubt you can find another place in Singapore where you can just space out, relax and enjoy good food at unbelievable prices.Even Pulau Ubin is too commercialise nowadays.

We went to the Restaurant at a neither here nor there timing and was slightly intimidated when we walked in as the staff were all sitting around at the entrance, resting and waiting for the crowd to arrive. They were literally staring at us and it did make me hesitant in pushing on. I almost wanted to turn and leave. Luckily, i didn't.. hahaha

The boss came very quickly and asked for our order. Not knowing what we wanted, the boss assisted in the ordering by naming us all the items available, by categories. I ended up making the bulk of the order and below were what we ended up with.

Seafood Toufu (RM6). We ordered this the last time too. Seems like a staple to order. Even children love them. The toufu this time round is not as smooth as the last and does not melt in your mouth. I am not sure if it was because we took too long to take photos or the heat of the oil was not high enough to cook the toufu properly (due to us arriving way too early for dinner).

Huang Di Miao (RM6). Decided to order a veg different from our usual. This was quite nicely done. Not too old, not too young and not too gluey (you will know what I mean if you have eaten huang di miao before.)

Baby Sotong (RM8). The baby sotong here is slightly different from what I had in mind. I was expecting to see a plate of dark and crispy baby sotong which are fried to death. Instead, we got a plate of pretty meaty sotong, each about the length of your thumb, lightly dusted with a batter and fried till they were just golden brown. I would  not called them baby any more, maybe "toddler", and if they were any bigger, I'd probably not be able to eat them whole as it woud get too squeamish for me to look at them in the eye. :P

Crab (RM 30.30). Cannot rememeber the exact name of this dish but remembered that it was stir-fried with curry leaves, hay bi (dried shrimps) and belachan. The meat of the crab was very tender and juicy. We decipher that the crab was steam-cooked before it was stir-fried with the remaining ingredients so that the original flavour of the crab will be locked in. Depending on your preference, if you like the flavour of the dried shrimps and belachan to be infused into the crab meat, this may not be for you. I'm ok with this as I get to taste the freshness and sweetness of the crab and at the same time, the fragrance of the hay bi ;)

Deep-fried Man Tou (RM3.20 for 4). What is eating crab without some deep-fried man tou?? I love the man tou here. They were fried to perfection. Golden brown , crispy on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside. Perfect accompaniment to the crab and provides the carb for the meal.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable meal! Good and fresh food, with a nice breeze, near the sea and (almost) under the stars and does not damage your pocket. What more can you ask for? :) As we ate our food, the smell of piping hot food keep whiffing by and we cannot help but let our eyes stray to the variety of food that was served at the other tables. By the time we finished our dinner, the place was almost 80% full. Considered very good business given its remote location.

Over run our timing to leave the place before sunset and took this night shot while enduring mosquitoes bites. The place has an entirely different feel at night. Even more peaceful and beautiful than during the day.

Restoran Asli, Johor Bahru

Photos taken with Nikon D50 (resolution reduced)