Smith Marine Floating Kelong Restaurant, the First of it’s kind in Singapore!
Any fresher and you’ll hafta catch it yourself.
Smith Marine Floating Kelong restaurant, is the first of it’s kind in Singapore. This point itself, is already worthy of a visit to, isn’t it? The restaurant is the latest extension of Smith Marine, an Aquaculture Farm, more affectionately known as a kelong in local context. Built in the year 2006, the company started off as a fishing kelong, located off Pulau Ubin, which later in the year 2011 the construction of the restaurant was embarked on.
Finally opened for business in January 2015, the restaurant provides diners the chance to fish and dine in the sunset out at sea. Not only that, diners can too fish for their own Snapper and Sea Bass and have the chefs cook for them thereafter.
Really spacious, and having quite a bit of big tables and lots of seats, this is the ideal space if you might want to do big groups for lunch or dinner, or simply host a small gathering. Located offshore, you can be guaranteed of strong winds all the time and you won’t have to bear the slightest heat from the sun.
We got started on their Fried Fish Skin ($15), good portion for a starter and each piece were bite size, which saved us the hassle from leaving crumbs all over. Crispy, not too oily, natural fishy taste of fish skin could still be found despite being fried. Couldn’t stop munching once you get started.
Next we had the Gong Gong ($25), which is my personal favourite. Been loving this since young, and glad I had the opportunity to try the freshest of them all. Meat was sweet, and chewy. The ones you find elsewhere either have grains of sand in them, or the meat is stuck all the way inside the shell. Not the ones here, and it goes so amazingly well with the chili sauce. Promise.
The Lobster (Seasonal Price) also won my heart (and stomach) for their chunky, white meat. It’s almost like having prawns, but a hundred times better. Delicately cut and served in small pieces, it is ever so easy to separate the meat off the shell and place it in your mouth. Garlic bits all over the dish, to cover off that seafood-y aftermath taste in your breathe.
We all hate vegetables in the midst of a seafood feast, I’m guilty. But hey, good to do greens and neutralise that seafood taste in your appetite for a bit. Home Made Tofu ($18) hits the spot with that soft, tender pieces of beancurd. Accompanied with vegetables that are easy to chew on and sprinkled with spring onion, this dish will make you feel healthier (for a little) before you continue feasting.
Another favourite seafood dish of mine is the restaurant’s Sambal Mussels ($15), by now you might already know I’m biased towards shellfish dishes. Though there’s sambal, I felt that it wasn’t as spicy as I expected it to be, but on the contrary it was sweet probably due to the chunks of tomatoes. Mussels were good because it wasn’t too chewy and was easy to bite apart, rather then the typical ones which make you feel as if you were chewing on a piece of rubber band.
The Steamed Sotong ($18) reminds me of a Teochew Cuisine dish where you eat these with bowls of plain congee. These, my friend, are chewy yet easy to bite apart, without having to feel the strain on your jaws as if they were exercising. The colour was prominently reddish which gave a very fresh vibe just by looking at it. Sauce that it was served with enhanced the flavour and at the same time covered up the squid taste adequately.
The highlight of the meal definitely goes to the Chili Crab (Seasonal Price), stir-fried in a semi-thick tomato and chili based sauce, which gives you both sweet and savoury taste in one. Needless to say, you can taste the sweetness of the meat just from the first bite, pipping hot and fresh, goodness awaits with the hot chili sauce too. Indeed a local favourite to most!
Don’t forget to dip these beautiful, little golden fried mantous in that mouth-watering sauce for a better taste experience.
The restaurant serves really fresh seafood, of course. Its probably fresher than the ones that claimed to be the freshest in other places. Besides, you get to take a chartered bumboat out from Changi Point ferry Terminal ($100 for a two way trip, and can take up to a maximum capacity of 12 people) before you can indulge in some good seafood. If you are bored of the typical seafood places back on mainland Singapore, you know where to try next.
Expected Damage: $80-150/pax
(not inclusive of the cost per pax for the chartered bumboat)
Smith Marine Floating Kelong Restaurant: Pulau Ubin Coastal Area, GPS : 01’23’52″N 103’57’42″E | Tel: 9792 7609 | Website
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