Sort-of-Babymoon Bintan - Part 2

I honestly wasn't expecting much from the meals at our resort and was quite happy to get by on sloppy 'chos (rhymes with Joe, no?) and pizzas, which look as if I had prepared them during Home Economics class.

But our meal at The Kelong Restaurant was truly special. We sat away from the main restaurant as the restaurant had set up a private dining area for us at the Calypso.

Thanks to my MIL, the restaurant even organised a 4-men band who could belt out pleasing tunes from Simon & Garfunkel to Theresa Teng.

 

Hello, beautiful!

Hello, parents!

Gong gongs are a specialty of the island so we ordered a batch of them to kick things off. They were simply steamed and came with a chilli-vinegar dip that I used for every darn thing that followed – not because the other dishes were bland but because my tastebuds begs for oomphier flavours these days.

The butter-fried crayfish was effing awesome. Couldn’t get my fingers off the egg drop, curry leaves and basket bits…

I should have a taken a picture of the chicken and silver bait fried rice as those were mighty moreish as well.

 

The chilli crab, with its lip-tingling spiciness, was second to none. Though we knew we might have to roll ourselves out of the kelong, we couldn’t resist getting some deep-fried mantous that were bigger and denser than what we were used to. No worries, change and adaption are paramount to being successful in life, no?

It would be my mum’s birthday the next day so she was really surprised when the band starting singing “Happy Birthday” and the waiter brought forward a chocolate cake studded with candles.

The Kelong Restaurant alone is worth a trip to Bintan!