Dinner on the Sea (Kelong)

What’s big, can hold many people up but doesn’t sink into the sea?

A kelong!

A platform built mainly with wood, kelongs are primarily used for fishing purposes but can be used as housing too. They hover above the sea and are anchored by wooden piles driven into the seabed.

We planned a surprise dinner at Mr Tan’s kelong to celebrate my father’s 55th birthday. It had poured earlier in the afternoon, but thank goodness the rain stopped a few hours before we set off!

Just off Pulau Ubin, we reached the kelong on a bumboat from Changi Point Ferry Terminal. The rain earlier had cleared the skies so the sunrays glittered on the water’s surface. With the wind in your hair and the sun beaming down, if only there was a hammock you could lie down on. That’d have been bliss!

We were the first party to reach, and got a bit of time to ourselves to explore the kelong.

You definitely have to book in advance if you want to dine at the kelong! About 20 minutes after we arrived, other groups started to file in from the boats. Being the first to arrive, we had the dibs on tables and managed to sit at a quiet spot away from the rest of the diners.

The food portions were big! The six of us couldn’t finish some of the dishes. Rice was self-serve, so fastest fingers first. It ran out towards the end!

There are some soft drinks which are free to take, but just grab one or two as there aren’t many! It’s better to bring your own drinks, although ice cubes and cups will be provided.

Being a kelong, their dishes were mainly seafood. But because of the recent algae problem in Singapore, the kelongs had to throw all their fish away. Mr Tan had to buy fish from elsewhere for our dinner. That said, all the seafood were very fresh.

There isn’t a menu, and when you call to book, Mr Tan will recommend the dishes based on the number of people in your group. We had 7 dishes in total – steamed fish, cereal prawns, fried sotong, (mild) chili flower crab, prawn dumplings, kangkong, and an omelette.

There’s nothing much to do on the kelong except relax and take in the scenery. And scenery did it give.

The sunset was beautiful, with the pink sky and dramatic cloud shapes.

We sat at the edge of the platform, chitchatting as the skies turned dark. Sometimes, the simplest things give the most joy.

Later, we asked my father if he’d enjoyed himself. He did, indeed.