Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow

Yard & Co is the kind of cafe people save before checking the menu.

The reason is obvious. It sits by the sea in Sungai Rengit, roughly a 30-minute drive from the main Desaru resort area, with wide windows, outdoor seating and the kind of coastal backdrop that briefly makes everyone believe their life has become quieter and better organised.

It has not. You are just looking at water.

Still, the setting works. Yard & Co feels removed from the usual mall-cafe rhythm, and that changes the mood of the meal. You come for the sea, settle in for the food and eventually accept that the bill includes an unofficial scenery tax.

Thankfully, the kitchen does enough to prevent the view from carrying the entire experience. For anyone accustomed to spending weekends hopping between cafes in Singapore, that’s an important distinction.

Here is what we ordered.

Ahma’s Bowl: Filling, Familiar and Perfectly Fine

Ahma’s Bowl is one of Yard & Co’s signature rice dishes, combining fried chicken, long beans, seaweed flakes and crispy shrimp chilli.

It is a hearty, well-built bowl. The rice gives the dish weight, the chicken supplies the expected comfort, and the long beans add some freshness and crunch. The crispy shrimp chilli brings salt, texture and a mild kick without taking over the whole meal.

Nothing here feels especially new. It is still fried chicken with rice and familiar Southeast Asian flavours arranged in a cafe bowl.

But it works.

This is the kind of dish that fills you up without demanding a long discussion afterwards. It will not become the reason you drive back to Sungai Rengit, but it is reliable, satisfying and unlikely to disappoint.

Not every lunch needs to reinvent chicken and rice. Sometimes it just needs to feed you properly.

Crunchy Spiced Squid: Generous, Hot and Adult-Spicy

The Crunchy Spiced Squid arrived in a generous portion, which made its RM26+ price slightly easier to accept.

The squid was served hot, with a crisp coating that held up well. More importantly, it remained tender. Fried squid can become a jaw exercise within seconds, but this was easy to chew and did not require the table to fight every piece.

The seasoning brought a noticeable level of heat without becoming punishing. Most adults should manage it comfortably. Children may react with considerably more emotion, so this is probably not the dish to use when introducing them to spice.

As a sharing plate, it is decent. The portion is generous, the frying is competent and the seasoning keeps it interesting.

Would we insist on ordering it again? Probably not. It is good rather than essential, especially if the table already has Ahma’s Bowl supplying fried chicken, chilli and crunch.

Gyoza: Bonito Flakes Doing Their Little Dance

The gyoza sits somewhere between a Japanese dumpling and a cafe snack borrowing Japanese flavours.

The fried chicken dumplings came covered with takoyaki sauce and bonito flakes. The exterior had enough crispness, while the filling was savoury and pleasant. As always, the bonito flakes moved dramatically when the plate arrived.

Very theatrical for dried fish.

The takoyaki sauce pushed the dumplings towards the sweeter, more crowd-pleasing end of the spectrum. It was easy to eat, easy to share and unlikely to divide the table.

This is not a dish worth making a special trip for, but it fits the menu and does its job. Between this and the squid, the gyoza is probably the safer side order for a mixed group.

Milk Mochi: The Simple Dessert That Stayed With Us

The milk mochi was the most memorable dish on the table, which is slightly annoying because it was also one of the simplest.

It arrived soft and wobbly, accompanied by peanut powder, black sesame powder and brown sugar syrup. Cutting through the doi-doi mochi was part of the pleasure. Each piece stretched slightly before giving way, then picked up the powders as we rolled it around the plate.

The mochi itself was barely sweet. Most of the flavour came from the nuttiness of the peanut and black sesame, while the brown sugar syrup allowed us to decide how sweet each bite should become.

That made the dessert feel interactive without turning it into a gimmick. Everyone slowed down, cut a piece, rolled it through the powders and adjusted the syrup to taste.

We did not expect this to be the dish we remembered afterwards.

Somehow, it got us.

Choc-O-Waffle: Sweetness With an Escape Route

The Choc-O-Waffle was easily the sweetest order on the table, but it had enough contrast to avoid becoming exhausting.

The Belgian-style waffle arrived hot, with a lightly sweet flavour and a soft centre that still held its shape. Granola brought a welcome crunch, while the banana added a familiar fruit sweetness alongside the Nutella chocolate drizzle.

On its own, that combination could have become heavy very quickly. But the espresso gave the dessert an escape route. Its bitterness cut through the chocolate and banana, making each bite feel less sugary and more balanced.

Somewhere between the espresso and Nutella, the word “bittersweet” became unavoidable. We sang the Madison Beer song for approximately five seconds, then remembered we were in public.

Thankfully, nobody judged our singing.

Pu’er Tiramisu: Interesting Idea, Missing Tea

Then last came the Pu’re Tiramisu.

We spent part of the previous year chasing viral tiramisu around Singapore and KL, so Yard & Co’s Pu’er Tiramisu immediately caught our attention.

The idea made sense. Pu’er tea should bring an earthy, fermented depth that could replace some of the usual bitterness from coffee.

That flavour never fully arrived.

The ladyfingers had clearly been soaked in something other than standard coffee, but the pu’er remained extremely mild. We kept waiting for the tea to become more obvious. It did not.

The rest of the dessert was pleasant. The mascarpone was creamy, the ladyfingers were properly softened and the cocoa powder added bitterness without becoming harsh. Judged simply as tiramisu, it was enjoyable enough.

The problem is that “Pu’er Tiramisu” promises a more distinctive personality. Here, the tea felt like an idea written on the menu rather than a flavour carried through the dessert.

Would we recommend it? Not really. It is worth trying out of curiosity, but curiosity does not always need a second order.

Is Yard & Co Worth the Drive?

Yard & Co serves good cafe food at prices that feel high for Johor, until you look outside and remember that the sea has joined the business model.

So, would we return?

Surprisingly, yes.

There is something about the water, the open space and a menu that mostly avoids disappointing you. Yard & Co is not a cafe we would cross the Causeway solely to visit, but if we were back around Desaru or Sungai Rengit, we could see ourselves making the drive again.

Come for the view. Order the milk mochi. Accept the bill.

Sometimes that is enough.