D Day...Durians and Dining

We had previously wanted to dine out on 6 Aug, which was quite rare as we usually dine in my mum's place. However, I suggested to my sisters to go JB for durians instead. After much discussions and arrangements, the date, the venue and the programme were confirmed!

So, on 6 Aug early morning, a group of 13 of us, in two MPVs, headed to JB, to Dad's friend's place for durians. Dad's friend, Ah Tee, was very kind to wait for us after the Tua's Checkpoint and lead us to his house.

At his place, the durians were already waiting for us. He had bought Mao Shan Wang (MSW), D101 and D13 durians for us the day before. He told us that the durian season was coming to an end, therefore, he could only get us these durians. Ah Tee used to be a durian seller in Singapore. Even though he doesn't sell durians now, he has friends who has durian plantation in Johor. As he pried the durians for us, he shared about his durian experience with us.

A few tips we learned from him about durians:

1. Durians are best eaten in the day, latest by noon. This is because the sugar content in durian is very high. It needs time to be digested. Eating at night do not allow sufficient time for the durian sugars to be digested.
2. Durians are not suitable for those with high blood pressure and diabetic. Refer to #1. Eat with lots of moderation required.
3. The commercial durians have been added fertilisers, which are no good for us. The durians that Malaysians like are "Zhu Jiao" (I don't know if he meant "Pig" 猪 zhu or "Bamboo" 竹 zhu). He mentioned that MSW has a lot of fertilsers.
4. One of the best durians are actually "shan ba" durians. "Shan ba" 山把 means kampong.
5. Do not place durians directly on the floor if you do not intend to eat it immediately. The humility of the floor will cause the durians to crack, and make the durians watery. Best to place them either in a plastic bag, or in a carton box like what he did, at least a layer between the floor and durians. Also, he used rubber bands to tie up the base of the durians to prevent them from cracking up.
6. You can recognise durians' season end when you see small durians instead of huge ones. He called it "liu lian wei" (榴莲尾) durians.

No wonder I've been putting on weight lately, because I've been eating durians at night! Now I know!

After our durian feast at his place, he brought us to "Restoran Kah Kah Loke" for some bittergourd soup. Frankly, I don't really like the dishes. :p The porks served there tasted very porky, which is totally out of my diet! Hahaha... Therefore, I didn't eat much.

After lunch, he left us to go for our shopping at Aeon Tebrau City. Luckily for that, otherwise we would have imposed on him for the whole day! Since I've been to Tebrau almost monthly, we didn't really bother to shop. We ended up in Lavender cafe, spending a leisure afternoon having tea and snacks. I call this pure pleasure! Spending time with my family, drinking tea/coffee, having snacks, and building bonds!

Clockwise from top left: Blueberry cheese cake RM6.00, Seaweed Tuna Spicy Chicken RM3.50, 2C RM2.50, Mascarpone Cheese Mango RM5.80, Almond Peanut Roll RM2.50 and Tiramisu Cake RM5.80.

After our afternoon tea, we proceeded to go to the last stop, grocery shopping before heading back to Ah Tee's place in late afternoon. He brought his family of four, and us to "Yi Jia Restoran" for a good seafood dinner. Ah, this is what I like to have in JB! As we were not familiar in JB (except for Aeon Tebrau City & Aeon Bukit Indah), we didn't dare to venture out anywhere. Afterall, it's not as safe as Singapore! I find that it's always good to know a local person where ever you go. At least, you won't get cheated so easily!

I noticed that the sky was really pretty, with three distinct layers - dark clouds, clear blue sky at the background and white clouds at the foreground.

My twins were playing with their young children. My twins really like younger children!

Clockwise from top left: Yang Chou Fried Rice (big) RM12.00, Salted egg yolk crabs (1.2kg) RM72.00, Vegetable (big) RM16.00 and Shaopi Chicken (big) RM21.00.

There were many other dishes which we ordered, I didn't take pictures because I was busy eating!

Steamed fish (2 plates) RM60.00, Cheese big prawns (big) RM36.00, Fried toufu (big) RM18.50, Three-cup chicken (med) RM15.00, Honey crabs (1.2kg) RM72.00. White rice (big) RM1.00 each, 1 pot of tea RM7.00.

My personal favourite was the cheese prawns and the salted egg yolk crabs! Yummilicious!!

After a satisfying dinner, we went back to his place to pick up the remaining durians that he had bought for us. We requested that he helped to open up all the durians and packed them into containers for us. He obliged readily! Such kind person. Unbelievable, after clearing the durians, there were four big tubs of durians to bring home! After thanking Ah Tee, we left his place and finally head home. It had been a long day for all of us, we were tired but we had a FRUIT-FULL day! 

Guess what, I actually brought home all the tubs of durians as my sisters didn't want them! I already have in mind what to do with those durians. Stay tuned.


Yi Jia Restoran Sdn Bhd
No. 17,19,21,23, Jalan Setia 9/17,
Taman Setia India 81100 J.Bahru
Tel: 07-3597782/012-7187782

Happy 46th National Day, my Singapore!