Revealing the veils of Johor (One)

Sungai Rengit, Pengerang
Pengerang is a coastal town in southeastesrn Johor, Malaysia where Sungai Rengit has its fame among Johorians and Singaporians for seafood. Sg Rengit is an essential fishing village for both economic and tourism.

Senai-Desaru Highway is newly built for the convenience of the locals and to ferry the seafood out of the village. From Senai to Pengerang, it take more than one hour for a one way journey. Whereas, from Singapore Changi Point Ferry Terminal, there's bumboats to and fro Pengerang. For more imformation, refer here.

Senai-Desaru Highway

Fishing village, view from the bridge

When the highway has ended, head right to Sungai Rengit where one will drive admist the lush greeneries. (Towards left will lead you to Teluk Ramunia.)  In the journey, there's a stretch of road which isn't the usual tar road which we have seen so look out for it! According to my dad, it's originally a railway track.
Also, along the journey on the highway to Sg Rengit, beware of potholes! Some are real big, so the cars have to slow down to avoid them.

The freshness of the seafood provides an assurance to the locals, which the succulent prawns and lobsters as well as fishes are supplied to restaurants in Johor as well as to our neighbouring country, Singapore. The fisherman which we stumbled upon declared that the high demand of fresh seafood from Pengerang has lead to a drastic hike in the price, especially during the current season when Chinese New Year is one month ahead. I will greatly reccomend Sungai Rengit for the variations of seafood, especially lobster. The juicy and bouncy meat of the lobster cooked in the broth or fried are equally delicious, just that the fried butter lobster needs a hint of spice for a better kick on the taste bud. However, I do think the price is slightly more expensive than other coastal areas of Malaysia as this fishing village which is easily accesible to Singapore by bumboats has gradually turned into a tourist attraction.

With the recommendation from dad's colleague, we decided to give Sin Kong Restaurant a try though there's quite a number of seafood restaurant around the town. Jade Garden and You Kee are directly opposite to Sin Kong so we can see that the competition here is pretty tough.

Sin Kong doesn't offer much choice of cooking the lobster, from what I could remember, there are pepper lobster, steam lobster with mashed ginger, lobster in herbal broth, butter-fried lobster, sambal lobster and salad lobster. Sadly, they don't serve Cheese Lobster like Straits View Seafood Restaurant.

Large lobster in a thick herbal broth. I find that the broth goes well with rice! 

 

The thick, juicy flesh of the lobsters

 Lobster: (L) RM160 per kg (S) RM130 per kg

 Stir Fry Broccoli with Scallops

RM22

Steamed mantis shrimp (locally known as Lai Liu Har 攋尿蝦 or Xia Gu 蝦蛄) in egg whites and ginger

 RM 40

Deep fried butter Lobster

We ordered a total of five dishes including a braised fish maw (花膠/鱼鳔) and sea cucumber (海参）which is not shown in the pictures. I dislike the gel-like taste of these so I never give it a try.

Total Bill:
Lobsters ( a total of 1.35kg ) - RM120 + RM 96
Prawn - RM 40
Braised fish maw and sea cucumber - RM 25
Stir fried broccoli and scallops - RM 22
Rice and drinks - RM 4
Total - RM 307

My Ratings:
Taste: 3.5 out of 5
Price: 3 out of 5

Sin Kong Seafood Restaurant  新光冷气海鲜酒楼
Address: 9, Jalan Kerisi, Sg. Rengit, 81620 Pengerang, Johor
Contact Number: 07-8265540

To be continued..