I am back from Tioman, sunburnt but very happily so! I stayed at Berjaya Tioman Suites, an RCI timeshare serviced apartment cluster 10 minutes from the Berjaya Tioman Golf and Spa Resort. I got the stay free from a magazine subscription promotion, so we only paid for transport, dining and other expenses. We were still part of the resort, and we could enjoy all the facilities so I’m not complaining.
After sifting through my photographs I have decided to start with the customary food porn – even though these aren’t exactly exotic new dishes they were very delicious.
The first night we had the BBQ buffet dinner at Sri Nelayan at RM70 per head. It occurred to us most things in Berjaya Tioman are priced like Singapore. Not cheap, but not unaffordable either. The buffet spread was not bad, a great variety of food. However, we found it’s cheaper to eat a la carte for subsequent dinners.
BBQ Buffet
BBQ Buffet
BBQ Buffet
BBQ Buffet - dessert
The next day we had tea by the poolside. Sri Nelayan serves food and drinks to the poolside and it was the ultimate resort experience; lounging on pool chairs, reading, tanning, and sipping cocktails (at 3pm in the afternoon).
Baguette with herbs and cheese served with fries and side salad (RM17) and Tequila Sunrise (RM18)
In case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t get to read the book after all. All the half-nekkid angmohs prancing around was distracting, and not in the good way. But I suppose it feels nicer at an expensive angmoh resort; no one cares if you look like crap in a bikini suit, unlike a predominantly Asian resort (read: Malaysian and Singaporean overcrawled) where people are generally not as forgiving. Oh well, just a thought.
We liked the food at Sri Nelayan so much we only ate from there out of the other restaurants in the resort.
Blue Lagoon (RM18)
Blue cocktail at lunch. I am starting to love resort life.
Beef burger (RM23)
The beef burger is larger than it looks here. I love the side salad they serve; it tastes a little like achar, but not as tangy. The use of bell peppers lend amazing colours to my photos. Another plus.
Vietnamese glass noodle soup with prawns (RM23 - I think)
This restaurant serves a mix of Western and Asian food and to be honest this Vietnamese glass noodle soup tastes fantastic. The soup is sour and slightly spicy and yet light. It’s a very appropriate summer food.
Nasi padang with satay, egg, chicken and prawns (RM21)
This fried rice was very value-for-money, considering that they sell 6 sticks of satay at RM23 (extortion, I know). The egg has a very gooey yolk (which I happily gave to my travel companion Sarah). There’s a stick of BBQ-ed prawns that I did not catch in this picture but overall it was a tasty dish.
Jumbo Hotdog (RM25?)
Sarah and I are hotdog junkies. One thing we cannot give up. We ordered the jumbo hotdog which was described as “foot-long” in the menu. True enough, it was close to 30cm. Very satisfying.
To get to and fro Pulau Tioman we took a ferry from Mersing in Johor. On the way back to Singapore, we had a slight layover in Mersing so we visiting a small eatery by the jetty called The Portside Cafe. I think it caters to a lot of foreigners and backpackers. The staff were very friendly, giving us directions to our bus pickup point. They play fab music too!
- Fried calamari (RM1x – x meaning a number between 0 and 9)
We (or at least, I) might have developed a satay addiction during my trip. I never really knew I loved satay this much.
Satay (RM1x)
Yummy! There’s just something about satay sauce and the chargrilled meat that tastes really good.
So thus concludes the food I had during the trip. Next post I will talk about the trip, particularly my snorkeling experience!
