Continuing KY’s miniseries of food places to check out when you visit Labuan: looking for more than just noodles? How about a slap-up seafood dinner?
For many visitors to this charming island town in Sabah, Mawilla Yacht Club – also known as Mawilla Seafood Restaurant – is a destination of choice.
It’s located just 1.5km away from Grand Dorsett Labuan, which is about a 20- to 30-minute stroll, depending on your speed – perfect for building up an appetite!
While “Yacht Club” suggests a luxurious setting with a beautiful jetty and multi-million-ringgit sailboats, the reality is much, much more modest: a somewhat tired-looking building straight out of the ’90s, with stilts, wooden flooring, and plastic chairs.
The seating area is mostly al fresco, and gets a bit warm when the sea breeze isn’t blowing.
Go ahead and order from the seafood stall boasting the fresh catch of the day, with prices indicated on a board above: crab for RM5, squid for RM10, silver fish at RM15 and so on per 100g.
Select the precise fish or squid you’d like, as well as the cooking method. Note, however, that there’s no live seafood here.
This writer went with five dishes for three people, and was not left disappointed!
The butter prawn is creamy and flavourful: exceedingly fresh prawns in fragrant gravy that goes perfectly with steamed rice – though you might wish you had some mantau to soak up the rich buttery goodness.
The deep-fried silver fish is somewhat of a specialty here, and you can’t go wrong with having it flavoured with salted egg yolk. A mix of crunch and creaminess, this would make an excellent pairing with beer at an izakaya or pub setting!
For veggies, this reviewer ordered the fried bitter gourd with salted egg yolk – “perhaps a stupid decision to have repeated flavours”, he writes – which provided the illusion of a more balanced meal.
Then there’s the deep-fried squid, a simple dish that relies squarely on the quality of the squid and execution. The batter is light and crunchy, the squid moist and tender while retaining its flavour. Spot on.
The steamed garoupa in superior soy sauce is another dish that is done well here, albeit not particularly a standout. The fish is properly flayed and not overly steamed, though it comes with few ingredients other than some fried shallots and coriander.
Overall, the bill came up to RM240 including drinks, averaging RM80 per pax, which is a fair price for an overall enjoyable and satisfying seafood dinner.
Mawilla Yacht Club Restaurant
Jalan Tanjung Batu,
80696 Labuan
For location, click here.
Business hours: 11am-11pm daily
Read the original article here, and read more articles by KY Speaks on FMT Lifestyle here.
Trying to influence your cravings since 2005, Kar Yeong was Guest Judge on Versus 1001 Rasa Baba’s 2018, R.AGE Food Fight Judge 2015 and NTV7 Foodie Blogger 2014. To read more about Kar Yeong’s food journeys, visit his blog at KYspeaks.com.