Tanjung Sepat, the place for seafood
Story and photos by CHIN MUI YOON
MENTION Tanjung Sepat and beaches, glorious sunsets, wooden houses and, of course, fresh seafood come to mind!
Therefore, it is not surprising there has been a steady rise of city folks travelling there to feast and frolic over the past decade.
Tanjung Sepat is regarded as the star of the famous seafood belt along Selangor's southern coast.
Chen's stall offers one of the widest varieties of fresh seafood at the local market and also to several large restaurants in the village.
Located two hours from Petaling Jaya and 30 minutes from Banting, the once tiny new village is today a boomtown of home-grown industries and restaurants.
"The lure of Tanjung Sepat is in our seafood, which is cooked just about any way you want it," said seafood supplier Kenny Chen.
"Local fishes are sweet and tasty, even just by simply steaming them with ginger and spring onions. The fishes served here are fresh and of good quality."
Indeed, fish and crustaceans are found in all dishes served at home and in restaurants – seafood porridge, seafood bak kut teh, seafood nasi lemak, seafood Maggi Mee and, most recently, seafood steamboat are available.
Visitors do not return home with merely stuffed bellies, but would take with them Tanjung Sepat delicacies such as fishballs, fried bean curd, locally grown and roasted coffee beans or powder, Chinese buns (pau), tapioca chips, longan fruit, bottled Lingzhi drinks and fresh mushrooms.
Chen's stall in the local market offers one of the widest varieties of harvest from the sea.
Some city visitors would even buy up to RM500 worth of seafood home to be slowly savoured over a month.
Nobody goes hungry in Tanjung Sepat as the writer had discovered.
Claypot Bak Kut Teh is as tasty as it looks. Tanjung Sepat's variety offers lots of seafood and pork.
8am
Now this is the place to rise and shine to the faithful call of crowing roosters. Breakfast choices abound.
Abu's Kopitiam, a ramshackle shed tucked beside the main road and school offers kampong (village) chicken eggs prepared half-boiled and eaten with a sprinkle of thick black soy sauce and pepper. Packets of fragrant Nasi Lemak still warm and wrapped in banana leaves are popular.
Seafood Bak Kut Teh is solely for those with a stomach for heavy, meaty meals in the mornings.
Locals favour Ah Heng's place fronting the old, unused cinema along Jalan Besar.
10am
Mid-morning hunger pangs can be settled with a plate of gooey, messy but tasty Indian Rojak Mee from the old Rahman's eatery tucked in the corner of Jalan Besar behind the police station.
The outlet is little more than a corner carved out of a row of wooden shop houses shaded by a mango tree. However, it is famous for its thick, creamy peanut sauce poured over cubes of tofu, cucuk udang (prawn cakes) and shredded cucumber. A fried egg is tossed over the sauce where the yellow yolk flows out to add a salty flavour to the sweet sauce.
1pm
Several shops sell delicious Seafood Maggi Mee. A good choice is Lo Ying just across the market. It offers delectable Seafood Maggi Mee topped with a variety of fish slices, prawns, squid, cockles, la-la. Even early in the morning, you will find families tucking into steamed rice served with lots of hot Seafood Tofu Soup and Ginger La-La.
Seafood Maggi Mee is a local favourite for breakfast or lunch.
3pm
Have you ever heard of a pau (steamed Chinese buns) seller who restricts customers to just buying two at a time? At the Hai Yew Heng outlet, buns are so popular that a limit is imposed on customers so that every buyer gets to take some home.
"During weekends and festivals, up to 50 tour buses would stop here; how can we fulfill all the visitors' demands unless we limit purchases?" said Lee Chin Teck, 62, who inherited the business from his father.
Lee produces Hainanese styled pau, which are large and flat and the fillings are still handmade. The pork comes from the nearby pig farms, while the kaya is made from local chicken eggs and coconuts harvested from the orchards.
In the early 1990s, Lee made just 100 buns a day. Now, thanks to modern mixers, he can produce over a thousand buns daily. The dough is still manually flattened and filled with red bean, kaya, peanut, Sang Yuk (pork meat) or Mui Choy Chi Yuk (salted vegetables and pork).
The buns are steamed by 1pm and often snapped up by 5pm. The buns are fragrant and fluffy, but locals said the buns were even tastier in the old days when the hot gravy spews out with each bite. In the 1960s, a Pork Meat Bun cost 25sen. Now, prices run from 80sen to RM1.50 for the large Meat Buns.
4pm
A cup of steaming hot local Hainanese coffee is ideal to get by a sleepy afternoon. One could smell the aroma of coffee beans roasting before one reaches the narrow lane of Lorong 5.
"I hope to establish Tanjung Sepat's very own brand of local kopi that is prized for its wonderful aroma and full-bodied flavour," said coffee producer Lim Seng Peng.
Lim sources his coffee beans from the Malay farmers near the village. The beans are of the Robusta variety that grows on the lowlands. Lee's coffee production process is fascinating, as his machinery dates back to 60 years ago.
Sacks of newly-picked coffee beans in vibrant reds and greens are cracked open and sun-dried, spread across the ground for several days.
Then Lim would roast the coffee beans over four hours with sugar and margarine till they are dark brown. This is the most important step, as proper roasting draws out the fragrance.
The result is a remarkably aromatic coffee with a potent flavour of bitter and "golden" tastes. The brew can be savoured in most of the village restaurants today, including Hai Yew Heng pau shop, Baywatch and Arowana retail outlet.
7pm
Lee's pau are still traditionally handmade and filled with meats and pastes.
Twilight at Tanjung Sepat is a magical moment. As the sky and sea merge in a blazing finale of reds and orange to end a day, dinner calls.
Several seafood restaurants line the coast where they offer fresh seafood with scenery.
Leading the pack is the village favourite Ocen Restaurant, which is perched on stilts overlooking the ocean just beside the local landmark of Lover's Bridge. Many families occupy the tables here for hours for daily dinners to birthdays and babies' full moon parties.
The restaurant serves a fantastic variety of food, from perfectly crispy Deep Fried Squid (RM9), and Curried Shark (RM9) to Claypot Seafood Tofu (RM10) and Seafood Curry. Of course, prices also depend on the choice of seafood.
Even the humble Fried Oyster is prepared in grand style here. A huge mound of tiny, juicy oysters is poured over the fried egg and batter base. It is priced at only RM13.
It is a huge difference to the ones we are accustomed to in the city where the eggs and oysters are fried together, and the number of shellfish can be counted with your fingers.
Over in the more obscure Restoran Batu Laut 10 minutes away from the village, the cooks here are famous for their unrivalled, fabulous fish. "Customers do not ask much variety in styles of cooking; their only constant demand is freshness," said owner Foo Chee Chuan.
The most popular orders here are Mango Fish with shredded sweet-sour local mangoes and the Assam Fish slathered with an absolutely addictive sauce. The artful blend of sweet and sour flavours with chunky tomatoes is poured over a Hung Cho fish topped by a lush tangle of fresh coriander.
The Restaurant Tanjung Romantic Seafood Beer Garden is a mouthful but its name says it all.
It commands the best seaside views with open-air dining and decent food washed down with cold beer.
The newest addition to Tanjung Sepat's booming food business is Baywatch, which occupies a prime plot of sea-facing land behind the temple. Balinese styled sandstone lights enhance the setting.
Additional activities to be enjoyed here include loud karaoke sessions inside the darkly lit interiors.
"Romantic," however, can be interpreted in many dubious ways here.
The newest addition to Tanjung Sepat's restaurant business is Baywatch. The restaurant occupies a prime, ocean-facing plot behind the Iron General deity's temple.
Landscaping details include Balinese-styled sandstone lights and fountains beneath the coconut palms.
The restaurant appeals to the young generation with its vibrant setting and a giant screen TV.
The usual offerings of seafood can go up a notch in prices. A platter of Four Seasons is tagged at RM100 plus.
11pm
Seafood lasts till the wee hours of the night with Grilled Fish being a tasty choice to call it a day.
A small home business along Jalan Tiga offers local fish such as stingray and Pak Cho grilled in either its own juices or a chili marinade. A selection of garlic and fiery chili-garlic sauce accompany the fish.
There are also plenty of food along the main road such as Fried Kuey Teow, burgers, pau and fried noodles.
Note: Most restaurants are non-halal although several are pork-free.
Ocen Restaurant, Lot 109, Jalan Laut, 03-3197 4443.
Restoran Batu Laut, Sungai Mosok, Batu Laut, Kuala Langat (near the bridge and fishing boat jetty, 019-384 4362.
Hai Yew Heng, 405, Jalan Pasar (opposite the new food court), 03-3197 4144 / 019-643 6043
Lim Seng Peng Coffee is at No 356, Lorong 5, Jalan Besar, 03-3197 4862 / 012-972 2886.
Originally published in The Star on Thursday June 9, 2005
