Pasar Awam Pontian, translated directly as “Pontian Public Market”, is better known as Pontian (Wholesale) Fish Market to many people, especially locals and Johorians, and is located in the outskirt of Pontian Kechil. The local market is where locals, Malaysians from outside town and in-the-know Singaporeans go to buy fresh seafood. Majority of the catches are from nearby Kukup Fishing Village.
Pontian Public Market has two sections. Closer to the entrance is a newly-build wet market selling all sorts of local agricultural produces, meat, fresh seafood, condiments, spices, etc. With neat rows of stalls, tiled floor and ample lightings, the environment is much cleaner and orderly than how the market used to be few years back.
The section to the rear is the “fish market” proper, under an old metal structure. From daybreak to around 11am every morning (except Monday), fishermen will return from the seas with the day’s fresh catches and deliver them to the fish market. Fishmongers will then sell the seafood to individual customers or in bulks to restaurants or other retailers through bidding.
You can observe the bidding process. Buyers will call out their prices for batches of seafood and haul them away after successful bids. However, the strong fishy stench in the air here is something to behold — skip the shed if you can’t take the stench and just visit the seafood stalls in the new section.
Singapore residents buying fresh seafood from here to take home for self-consumption will need to bring along ice boxes to contain the seafood and with ice. Note that bringing seafood into Singapore are subjected to Singapore regulations — see Singapore Food Agency (SFA) website for more info.
For travellers, it may be difficult to buy raw seafood even though they are very fresh. An alternative will be to buy the seafood, bring them to one of the coffee shops opposite the fish market and have them cook for you for a small price. Look for Ah Huat Kitchen (亚发代炒) in Kedai Kopi Seng (锦成茶餐室). Note that the cook-on-behalf service is available for lunch only — the Fish Market is opened till 12pm.
Be it to buy fresh seafood to bring home or to have a sumptuous seafood lunch on the spot, Pontian Fish Market is worth a visit. Note that the fishermen in Kukup Village will rest on Mondays, and the fish market and nearby coffeeshops are all closed on Mondays too.
Address:
Pontian Kechil, 82000 Pontian District, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
6am to 12pm | Closed on Monday
How to Get There:
Take BAS.MY J50 from Larkin Sentral or CW4 from Singapore to Pontian Bus Terminal, then walk. Read: JB Bus: To Pontian / Pekan Nanas in Johor.
Nearby:
More to do in Pontian:
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