Food

Like many other beachside destinations, Bagan Lalang has some fame for its seafood offerings. Its restaurants can be found perched along the main road facing the beach, a collection of shanty structures patched together from planks, nails and zinc. Spanning almost the entire beachside row, each restaurant is a hawker stall specialising in traditional Malay cuisine, but mostly concerned with seafood and grilling. Visitors dine around aging wooden tables on plastic chairs with natural ventilation; the environment may be crude, but the food is almost always fresh, decent-tasting and relatively cheap. On good weekends, the restaurants enjoy brisk business with even queues forming.

Night is when much of the culinary excitement starts; restaurants spill extra tables and chairs on adjoining open-air terraces, the smell of barbeque lingers in the air, and patrons squak noisily under dim fluorescent lights. Each restaurant also transforms into a small wet market; trays of raw fish, crabs, prawns, clams and cockles are heaved onto grimy tables for display, surrounded by floors drenched with slippery water. Using flimsy scoops - sticky from a vile combination of multiple hand sweat and fish juice - diners pluck their selections into individual baskets, get them weighted, priced, then cooked to order. The choice of style usually involves some method of grilling or frying, with different kinds of spices and herbs to achieve the required effect.

Shellfish such as crabs, clams, mussels, cockles and oysters are usually stir-fried in a light but spicy sauce; prawns and squid are deep fried in batter and served alongside gravy made from turmeric, curry, 'sambal' (chilli paste) or black pepper. Fish is almost always grilled in the traditional 'Ikan Bakar' style, with a banana leaf wrapping. Other non-seafood dishes can be ordered too, like Tom Yam and Satay (traditional meat kebabs). While the food is cheap, the crude hawker stall environment may not be pleasant for some. Fortunately, Sepang Gold Coast within the vicinity offers fancy dining opportunities, including upscale international restaurants and cafes. More classy F&B outlets await at the adjoining luxury resort, while Chinese seafood restaurants can be found at Sungai Pelek town, just 7km away.