Travel Media Escape @ KEJORA from a foodie perspective – Part One

By Laura Lee

A group photo at Matic Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur before our departure to Desaru, Johor on 26 March 

My three-day trip to the southeast parts of Johor covering its eco-tourism products in Bandar Penawar, Desaru, Tanjung Balau, Tanjung Sedili, Teluk Sengat and Johor Lama turned out to be like most media familiarisation (fam) trips. It was filled with lots of wonderful food experiences throughout the three days.

Upon arrival at our first stop at Teratak Penawar in Bandar Penawar, Kota Tinggi, we were greeted by the local boys playing kompang and ushered to have our lunch at the bottom open section of this elevated traditional Malay house which operates as a farmstay.

The nasi ambeng laid out on the enamel trays were placed on the mengkuang or weaved screwpine leaves floor mats.
Since each tray has four sets of rice, we were eating in groups of three or four with our hands dishes such as chicken, fried bee hoon or rice noodles and serunding, the Malay version of our Chinese meat floss except that theirs is spicier.

Sharing the nasi ambeng with Nurul and her husband Kamarul Mansor from Malaysianews TV, who was busy taking video

While we ate, we were entertained with melodious numbers played by a live band comprising young men and a female member.

Datuk Azlie Halim flanked by tow of the participants from Batam

After our meal, to cuci mulut, we were served sliced oranges and locally grown rock melons.

We could see from atop Teratak Penawar the greenhouses belonging to Taman Fertigasi KEJORA (TFK) where jade and rock melons are grown and harvested. These melons are graded and packed at a store near TFK's entrance.

According to South East Johore Development Authority or KEJORA website, TFK was established in 2012 with agrotourism in mind. It uses the fertigation system whereby water and fertilisers are applied simultaneously via an irrigation system.

This system can produce about 1.5 tonnes of jade melons from 2,280 crops in two months. Alas, there weren’t any jade melons during our visit. Only rock melons with their orange sweet and juicy flesh.

The staff cut some for us to taste. They were juicy and sweet, which encouraged me to get one.

Just because mine had a tiny scar, its price was knocked down from RM7 a kg for top grade to RM5 per kg. I happily paid RM10 for my two kg rock melon.

Since I have covered it the review on my dinner at Els Club on my Facebook during the trip, I will skip it here. If you are wondering what was my verdict, I gave it a thumbs up.  

The next morning when we were back at this golf clubhouse for the Ocean Course for a briefing on the projects undertaken by Desaru Development Holdings Sdn Bhd at Desaru Coast, I looked out for its chef.

Shaiful Lizam, its Chef de Cuisine gave credit to his team as well but revealed that his secret lies in using fresh ingredients and preparing the food three to four hours before our dinner.

It’s Dragon Fruit Festival @ Sepang in May!

By Laura Lee

The Dragon Fruit Festival @ Sepang, one of the major annual events in Selangor, is held this year in May but it will be on in June for 2020 and 2021. I just love this fruit, especially when made into a fresh juice and recently discovered that there’s more ways to eat and cook with this fruit.

Ahead of Visit Sepang Year or Tahun Melawat Sepang (TMS) 2020 which was soft launched at the recent ITB show in Berlin, Tourism Selangor jointly organised with Movenpick Hotel and Convention Centre KLIA a two-day/one-night media trip from 9-10 April 2019 to visit some of its attractions here. 

Among them was a visit to the HL Restaurant & Café, whose operators are also involved in HL Nursery Trading and HL Dragon Fruit Supply. 

They wowed us with their food and beverage presentation first, fed us with good local dishes whipped up by their Indonesian staff before they took us on a walking tour of its HL Farm planted of course with dragon fruits.

Upon arrival at its restaurant, we were served its Lokal dragon fruit juice, a must try “smouldering” beverage using dry ice to create the effect. 

Our cameras and handphones continued to flash and click as its Sepang HL Jumbo Buns were brought out for photography and sample tasting. I tried only a morsel of it as everyone was milling around it.

Surprise, surprise! We were given one each to take home when we left the place. 

Although there was a halal certification placed outside the glass shelves where these buns are placed to say that the chicken used for the curry are certified halal, I learnt recently from one of my Malay travel mates that she was wary to taking this delicious bun made of dragon fruit which is filled inside with chicken curry as it was prepared by Indonesians.

I would gladly have taken hers home if I had known that day. We were advised to eat the bun immediately that day itself and at best not later than the next day.

It’s a huge bun and we have been stuffing ourselves during this trip, including our last stop at Mitsui Outlet Park's LeTen, a Chinese Muslim Restaurant that serves Asian cuisine, including dim sum. I just couldn’t take it for dinner when we returned home. 

We ate my colleague’s jumbo bun first the next day in the office and kept mine in the fridge for almost a week. After steaming it, mine was as good as newly prepared. Love its spicy curry where you can dip the bun into it. The bun is pinkish hue due to the dark red colour of the dragon fruit used.

How the bun looks like when it's opened and how our dragon fruit juice is topped with an appetising dragon fruit salad 

After our delicious lunch at the restaurant, which I had posted earlier in my Facebook, we walked around its farm, where they had a close-up building that houses swiftlets inside. That’s to produce bird’s nest, and another story.

Owing to the farm’s proximity to the KL International Airport, we could see airplanes flying above us every now and then. 

Noted for their anti-oxidant properties and a good source of vitamins C and E, the dragon fruits with the red flesh variety grown here are exported to Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. The red variety is more expensive and sweeter than the white variety. 

Just outside the farm is a stall that sells these fruits to the public according to their grades and sizes.

We bought two higher grades ones at RM7 each but forgot to remove them from the plastic bag due to our hectic schedule. One of them spoiled after a few days. It’s a safer bet to keep them in your fridge.