One Day Trip to Tanjung Sepat

The last trip I went to Tanjung Sepat for a holiday was in 2010, exactly 12 years ago. The recent road tour to Tanjung Sepat was just decided a few days before the excursion. The place is about 1.5 hours road journey from Klang Valley without a traffic jam. We passed KLIA 2 and turned into Sg Pelek before reaching Tanjung Sepat town. At Sg Pelek, we spotted a lot of dragon fruit stalls along the roadside. At last, we decided to stop at a random stall to have a look. It was a dragon fruit stall just in front of Sg Pelek police station. We parked beside the police station which was in front of a restaurant that was safe to park without blocking any vehicles.

Shopping: Dragon fruit

We initially thought of buying the dragon fruit on the way back after visiting the town but we worried we might be late as they might close early. So we decided to buy first since Sg Pelek is known for its dragon fruit plantations (we do have an ice box in the car). And the price we expected to be cheaper than Klang Valley plus it is now the harvest season.

The dragon fruit stall is at the roadside (white tent). Before this, there were a few stalls along the way.

The fruit seller is a Muslim woman who takes care of the stall with her mixed-blood daughter. She married a Chinese man and the daughter is well-versed in the Chinese language. Their dragon fruit farm is just behind the stall. There were special varieties of dragon fruits selling at the stall that was uncommon in the local hypermarket. The yellow skin dragon fruits were a Vietnam variety that they grow here, The other variety is a mixed breed from the red and white variety which appears to have light purple pulp inside. Both were selling at RM10/kg.

The other normal variety of the red pitaya was selling at 6 or 8 pieces for RM10 depending on their size.

Shopping: Arowana factory (tapioca chips)

It was my first time here as the factory/shop was closed during my last visit as we were late. The shop was attached to the factory.

They were selling all kinds of snacks. Some were not manufactured on their own. 

Visitors were able to observe a small part of their food processing process from the transparent glass in the shop.

They allowed visitors to taste it (sampling) prior to purchase. Our favourite was the keropok dhall 500g cost us RM9/ pack. We bought 3 packs for this favour. This is a highly recommended must-buy.

Keropok dhall is highly recommended!

 Lunch: Hai Keng Restaurant

It was already lunchtime when we reached the town. We headed directly to Hai Keng Restaurant for lunch. The place does not have many Google reviews but I would like to have the coconut wine since not many places are selling it.

To our surprise, there were a lot of people inside the restaurant when we reached. Some tables have been reserved. Five minutes after we were seated, a group of diners could not find seats and left the place. Hai Keng restaurant is a bit run down from the furniture to its environment. Even though it is next to the seaside, but there is no scenic view as the grown trees obstructed the sea view. The tables and chairs also look dusty. Nevertheless, we saw many luxury cars including those with Dato car plates come here to dine as well.

It is believed the restaurant was run by family members. Two young girls helped to take the orders. She showed us the written menu as above when we asked for the menu. We had no issue ordering from the menu. But for coconut wine, we had to wait for about an hour as they didn't have any stock in the fridge. We kept reminding them a few times about the coconut wine but they were just too busy to ignore us (when we saw them already restock)? So in the end, when we paid the bill, we directly got one bottle from the fridge and asked for the price. It was not expensive as it cost RM7.5/ 1.5L bottle. It was lucky as we had an ice box in the car to keep it cold.

We ordered 4 dishes. Lala, deep-fried sotong, fried vege and fried rice. My MIL liked the mini lala a lot. But she disliked the fried vegetables as she said it was too salty for her.

The lala was in mini size. We never saw that small.

The two tables in the top left corner were reserved when we arrived. The tables and benches were wet since it was after the rain. Nevertheless, the shop owner did not help to clean it. Right in front of us is a swamp forest.

Breakdown of the bill:

Lala RM16

Fried sotong RM40

Vege RM15

Fried rice with petai RM26

Ai Yu Bing (drink *2) RM7 

Coconut wine *2 RM15

Total RM119

Visit/ shopping: Ganofarm factory

Since my hubby's family had never been here, I revisited the Ganofarm homestay for a second time. This wooden carved door was not there 12 years ago.

The details for Ganofarm can refer back to my previous post. They cultivate ling zhi, black fungus and other mushrooms.

The cultivated ling zhi is safer to consume compared to the wild one.

50g ling zhi slices in pack sold at RM50/packet

It is believed that ling zhi can improve mental health.

Their shop also sells mushroom drinks (RM2.80/ bottle). You can give it a try.

Visit: Guang Li Liang durian farm (Lot 279)

Found out this from Google Maps, nevertheless, the owner said they don't have any harvest this time. We will try our luck next time again.

Picture: Dataran Tanjung/ Lover's Bridge

The lover's bridge is renovated. We saw a few men fishing at the end of the bridge.

He cut the worm into a few parts and used the worm as bait.

The fish he caught on that day with a bait.

At the back of me on my right-hand side is Pantai Cunang.

Snack: Hin Leong coconut cendol

After lunch, we decided to go for dessert. a bowl of coconut cendol sounds great on a hot day. We were shocked when we saw the queue outside the famous cendol stall.

We decided to look for others and came back later (perhaps shorter queue). Nevertheless, when we came back around 3pm, all the coconut cendol sold out.

Shopping: Joo Fa coffee factory, Hai Yew Heng Pao, Ambarella Fruit Juice, Yek Loong, Mr Black Bean pao

Joo fa coffee factory is within walking distance from coconut cendol. They are no more available for a factory tour. A counter is set up and if you need to purchase a coffee powder, you could order from there. For more info about Joo Fa, please refer to my previous post.

different grading of coffee beans in display

We walked to Hai Yew Heng pao factory and passed through the Ah Gao Uncle Fried Oyster and Lala. It smelt great but we did not manage to try.

Walking down the street, we reached Hai Yew Heng pao and Mei Mei Ambarella fruit juice stall. 

The waiting time for a pao order took around 30 minutes. Thus, we left without buying anything since the price was not cheap.

Mei Mei Ambarella fruit juice stall is opposite Hai Yew Heng pao factory. There were few people queueing in front of us.

Honestly, this cup of icy ambarella fruit juice was not worth RM4 at all. After a few sucks, the juice is finished. It was estimated she put around 80% of ice and only 20% of the juice.

Since Tanjung Sepat is known as a fishing village, it is expected their seafood products are fresh and affordable. We headed to Yek Loong to buy some fish cakes, fish balls and tofu. They had already been packed into a plastic bag and sold at RM5/pack.

On the way back to Tanjung Sepat town area for dinner, we found this Mr Black Handmade Bao shop. They have fresh hot bao from the steamer and frozen bao to take back.

Dinner: Tanjung Sepat Ocean Seafood

We did some research the night before we came here. All the restaurants here received less than 4 stars which is not much difference for us to select one. 

This restaurant Tanjung Sepat Ocean Seafood also serves without any menu. One thing I didn't like was the waiter's attitude. We asked them what is their signature dish (拿手菜) since they don't have any menu, he just answered us all their dishes are signature dishes and they don't use leg to cook. I was in shock when he told us this answer.

Overall, the dishes are also disappointing. I think Hai Keng is better than the cook here.

Breakdown of the bill:

Tofu RM20

Teppanyaki egg with clam RM33

Vege (yao mak) RM13

White rice *4 RM4

Tea RM4

Total RM74

Shopping/picture: Qingren Qiao Local Products Shop

There are 2 Qingren Qiao local products shops at Tanjung Sepat. One of them is in front of the Lover's bridge while another one is opposite Tanjung Sepat Ocean Seafood restaurant.

Personally think the Qingren Qiao shop is very creative in decorating the place to be an instagrammable spot.

The Chinese say a pig‘s trap flowed by water meaning abundant of wealth is coming.

We went back with another route on that day. We passed by the Morib beach and saw a few seaside restaurants that were quite full of diners. Perhaps we could explore that next time if we have any chance later.