The Manhattan Fish Market at Jusco Tebrau City and Durians

My petrol was at the 3/4 mark (anything lower than that, one risks a fine of SGD 500 if caught at the Singapore custom going into Msia) so I decided to go into JB to pump petrol and to make the journey worth-while, have dinner and do some grocery shopping there as well. Thankfully, at 6.30pm, there wasn't the usual jam (that is usually from 7pm to 9.30pm) and I cleared both countries' customs in about half an hour only. There was a jam going to Jusco though, with all the reckless malaysian motorcyclists squeezing and speeding between cars. If one isn't used to driving in Msia, it can be quite intimidating because of these motorcyclists whizzing past noisily on both sides of your car.

I got to Jusco, Tebrau City around 7.15pm...I was so hungry by then (I don't think I had a proper lunch cos I went to the gym at the office) that I went for the tried and tested - The Manhattan Fish Market restaurant. While waiting for the main course, I went to BreadTalk next to the restaurant which was having a happy hour sale (4 pcs of bread at RM 10 only which works out to SGD 1 per pc). I bought 8pcs of bread, most of which the original price was RM 3.90. I'm not sure how the nacho cheese one will taste though but it looks mighty good!


When I got back to the restaurant, our appetiser, Crispy Whitebait, had been served. The cost of the appetiser was RM9.90 only (SGD 4 only!). The Slog Reviews: 3/10. Yeah, it was that bad. Although the whitebait was crispy and not burnt in anyway, there was hardly any taste to the whitebait. The coleslaw at the bottom of the pan was equally bland or sour (if one added the lemon). I would suggest having the fried country mushrooms which is priced at RM9.90 too.


We shared the Manhattan Seafood Platter as our main course. The seafood platter consists of one large slice of deep fried fish fillet (on the left), oysters (4pcs at the bottom), flaming prawns (4pcs), chips, garlic rice and because we didn't want calamari, they gave us more deep fried fish fillet chunks instead (4pcs on the right). The Slog Reviews: 8/10. The cost of this dish was RM42.90 (less than SGD 20 only!) and there was more than enough food for 2 hungry pp. The large pc of fish fillet on the left was soft and fresh on the inside, nicely crisp on the outside and the sauce on top added flavour to the fish. The cream on the prawns was as delicious as ever (they cooked the prawns in front of us), esp when mixed in with the garlic rice at the bottom and the fries firm and not too oily. I don't take oysters so I can't comment on that but my companion had no problem finishing all 4 pcs. The total cost of the appetiser, the main course, a mango juice drink and another drink was only RM 84 which works out to be slightly less than SGD 40. There is absolutely no way one can eat so much for that price in Singapore.


After dinner, we did some grocery shopping at Jusco supermarket and walked around a bit. I forgot where I parked my car at the massive carpark so we wasted about 15mins walking up and down looking for it. Parking at Jusco Tebrau City is only RM1 for the whole day - its just unbelievably cheap compared to Singapore. The durians were going at half-price after 9pm at the supermarket so I bought back these 2 packets of XO durians at RM27.90 (about SGD 12). The Slog Reviews: 7/10 - The durians were fresh and quite tasty but the seed was very large and meat little. SGD 6 per packet for 3-4 XO durians is a tad pricy.


Customs check on the Singapore side was very strict tonight, all the cars with Msian numberplates were stopped twice and even for my car, the officer rummaged through the groceries, maggi mee, durians and all.