Cheap Seafood and a Petting Zoo in Desaru?!
Source: JOHNPATCROSS on YouTube · embedded, not re-hosted
Watch this if you’re driving over from Singapore as a family and want the cheap-seafood, hands-on-animals, fireflies side of Desaru rather than a resort-pool weekend.
by JOHNPATCROSS
What’s in it
- A Singapore family road trip (~2 hours over via Woodlands) — and a note for EV drivers: there’s a car charger at the Hard Rock and more chargers around the Coast than they expected.
- The kids’ highlight was Desaru Fruit Farm: they paid ~RM 598 for a 2-person family package — a 1-hour guided ATV tour plus indoor and outdoor petting farms, hand-feeding emus, ostriches, donkeys and ducks (they even held a raccoon).
- Food verdict: Nelayan Seafood By The Coast — lobster (~RM 240) and an XO fried rice the host called the best he’d ever had; the whole seafood dinner came in under ~RM 400.
- Brunch at Yard & Co, a sea-facing café outside the gates — smoked duck, laksa pasta, mochi.
- The Sungai Lebam firefly cruise: book ahead (no walk-ins), get the 7:30pm slot, and allow ~40 minutes’ drive each way from the Coast — the trees light up “like Christmas trees.”
- Honest steer: outside the resorts “there’s not much going on,” and the seafood spots are most fun with a group of 4–6 so you can order a proper spread.
More from this video
They drove from Singapore at 99–100% battery and arrived at roughly 70% — comfortable margin with no range anxiety. The BYD in-car screen showed more EV chargers around the Desaru Coast area than they expected; the one at Hard Rock requires an app and QR code to activate payment.
The indoor petting zoo section let them hold a raccoon — the staff noted this is unusual and only happened because they arrived at the right moment. Feeding sessions at the outdoor farm use long beans and corn, and staff give a very generous RM 20 worth of feed that covered all the large animals — emus, ostriches, donkeys and ducks.
The firefly cruise costs RM 20 per person (tickets bought on Klook). The 7:30 p.m. slot is recommended and walk-ins are not accepted because the boat has a fixed capacity — plan the 40–45-minute drive each way from the Coast into your evening.
Lobster at Nelayan Seafood ran RM 240; everything else — XO fried rice, tofu, other dishes — came to under RM 150, so the full seafood spread for the table was under RM 400. The creator singled out the XO fried rice as the best he had ever had, anywhere.
Our take: The best outside-the-gates food-and-family run — cheap seafood, the fruit-farm petting zoo and the fireflies, exactly the Desaru the Coast brochures skip.
Where this lines up with our guides
Embedded from YouTube and the property of its creator — we don’t re-host or re-edit. The summary is our own, cross-checked against primary sources and last reviewed 2026-06-01. Creators are also credited on our attributions page.
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