Labuan runs on seafood, not just duty-free chocolate

Most visitors land in Labuan for the duty-free shopping or the ferry connection to Brunei and Sabah, and never wander past the Financial Park shoplots. That's a mistake. Labuan is a Federal Territory island built on a fishing-village, port-town character — its east coast kampungs still run boats out at dawn, and the catch lands at stalls and stilt-houses the same day. This list is deliberately narrower than a general "best places to eat" round-up: every entry here has to earn its place on a specifically seafood-first basis — live tanks, catch-of-the-day boards, or a kitchen built around what came off the boat that morning.

We cross-checked every restaurant below against at least two independent sources — recent traveller reviews, active social media pages, or local food write-ups — as of this research pass in August 2026. Addresses and hours can shift on a small island economy, so treat opening times as a starting point and call ahead for larger groups.

Stilt houses and waterfront kampung spots

The most distinctly "Labuan" way to eat seafood is at the cluster of stilt restaurants built out over the sea on the island's east coast. Anjung Ketam in Kampung Tanjung Aru is the best known of these — a handful of separate stalls (locals number them Gerai No.1, No.2, No.3) built on stilts poking out over the water, where you handpick live crab, prawns, squid and fish from tanks before it's weighed and cooked to order. It's halal and pork-free, making it a safe pick for Muslim travellers, and closes in the late afternoon since there's no artificial lighting worth mentioning once the Labuan sun sets around 6:30pm.

A short drive away in Kampung Nagalang, Nagalang Seafood Restaurant does the same wooden-stilt, catch-of-the-day format but leans harder into its crab butter and udang galah (giant river prawn) — dishes that keep coming up in recent reviews as the reason people make the trip out. Mawilla Yacht Club Restaurant on Jalan Tanjung Batu is the more established, sit-down version of this waterfront model: big outdoor seating overlooking the sea, a fresh-catch display board, and a reputation (going back years, per recent food write-ups) as one of the island's go-to spots for grilled lobster and fried squid with house sauces.

Jetty-side and town-centre dining

Not every seafood spot in Labuan is a stilt shack. Deep Sea Raff Restaurant, right beside the Jetty Sri Ganti ferry terminal on Jalan Merdeka, is a halal, Malay-style buffet operation that's as much about convenience as ambience — grab a plate of grilled fish, seafood pasta or prawns before or after a ferry crossing, with open-air seating facing the water.

In Labuan town itself, New Sung Hwa Seafood Restaurant on Jalan Ujong Pasir is the elder statesman of the scene — a first-floor shophouse restaurant that's reportedly been trading for decades and is regularly cited as the oldest seafood restaurant still operating on the island. Expect a river view, sunset light through the open-air section, and a pick-your-fish, choose-your-cooking-style setup. For a more air-conditioned, family-dinner version of the same idea, Labuan Fisherman Harbour Restaurant on Jalan Kemajuan runs a comfortable indoor dining room known for a cheese-baked tiger prawn dish alongside fish maw soup and Nyonya-style fish. And inside the Tiara Labuan Hotel on Jalan Tanjung Batu, Tiara Seafood Restaurant keeps its seafood alive in tanks for a hotel-standard, slightly more polished sit-down experience — useful if you're staying nearby and don't want to hunt down a kampung stall after dark.

What to order

Across these restaurants, the recurring standouts are grilled or steamed whole fish (often local reef or river catch), butter or salted-egg-yolk crab, udang galah, and squid cooked in a house sauce — order these before defaulting to a generic fried rice. Several places let you pick your own live seafood and specify the cooking style, which is the most reliable way to get a fair price and a fresh plate.

What We Left Out

A few names came up repeatedly in searches but didn't make the cut. Welcome Seafood Restaurant, Gayang Seafood Restaurant, Imperial Seafood Restaurant and The Crab House Seafood Restaurant are genuine, well-reviewed seafood spots — but they're based in Kota Kinabalu, not Labuan, and this list is Labuan-only. Meng Chai Seafood is a real favourite too, but it's in Miri, Sarawak. We also skipped Thai Beach Restaurant, which is a well-regarded Labuan restaurant but built around Thai cuisine rather than a seafood-first menu, and a couple of smaller stalls with no verifiable, currently-active listing or social page.

A Note on Prices

Most of these restaurants, especially the stilt-house and kampung spots, price seafood by weight off a live tank or display — so your bill depends entirely on what you pick and how much of it. We're not quoting specific RM figures here because menu-board prices shift with catch and season on a small island market; expect the stilt-house stalls to run more casual and wallet-friendly than the hotel or air-conditioned sit-down options. Confirm pricing per 100g or per piece with staff before you order, especially for crab and prawns.

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