I plan to share on how you can get around JB after exiting the CIQ customs. For those of you who took bus 170, 160, 950, CW1 or CW2 from Singapore and alighted at the CIQ, I’m pretty sure you’ve encountered those irritating cab driers who touts at the walkway heading towards City Square, the mall adjacent to the SG-JB custom. Don’t go with them! And walking is a no-no unless you are only planning to cross over to City Square or explore old JB town (the area where lots of old, quaint shop lots are located 5 minutes away from the mall).

The south of JB is most accessible. To explore close downtown areas such as Taman Pelangi, Taman Century and Taman Sentosa, I suggest taking cab from City Square. It will cost roughly RM6-8 to get to these 3 areas. Since cabbies in JB don’t charge by the meter, make sure you don’t get ‘cheated’. Negotiate the price when you get in.

You can either drive, cab or grab a bus to Taman Pelangi, Taman Century and Taman Sentosa to check out some local hot spots.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Jusco Tebrau City. They have good house brands and is also right opposite Tesco, yet another huge hypermarket.  Ok you can grab a bus there if you don’t mind waiting but honestly, the bus system in JB is awkward. We are totally clueless on bus timings and there’s no official transportation guide. To explore the city via bus, get ready to be friendly and ask bus drivers where are they heading. Some pointers.

• A make shift bus terminal (that’s what I thought when I see mutiple bus stops) is just along the streets between City Square and Sultan Iskandar CIQ Complex. After crossing the borders, don’t cross the main road. Just follow the barricades and you’ll reach the bus stop. See the small yellow bus in the picture below? That’s where you can find buses heading towards north all the way to Johor Jaya, Jusco Tebrau City – meaning, the buses will pass by Plaza Pelangi and Taman Sentosa along Jalan Tebrau/Tebrau Highway.If you are willing to rough it out, I suggest taking bus 101 or 10A to go about downtown areas.

• Another ill-maintained bus ‘terminal’ is at the opposite side of City Square, right across the road where MacDonalds/Coffeebean is located. Make your way there if you are planning to go locations in the west of JB  such as Skudai, Taman Ungku Tun Aminah, Taman Skudai Baru, Taman Bukit Indah, Taman Perling and Taman Nusa Bestari.

• Bus fares are cheap and cost just between Rm1-4.
• Bus conductors will be shouting and touting. Don’t be overwhelmed by their rantings. They are actually very helpful if you want to check with bus can bring you to your destination or find out when the next bus is ooming!
• Before boarding, confirm with the bus driver again if you are heading the right direction. If you have problems with the Malay language, write out the address in a paper and show him. Generally, bus drivers can read in Malay.
• There are more than 2 bus operators and you can easily tell by the colour and condition of the bus. I trust your judgement not to board any cranky looking old bus infested with cockroaches. Keep your eyes open for the yellow smiley Cause-Way Link buses or white-blue Maju Express.
• Be prepared to inhale lots of toxic fumes while waiting for your bus to arrive.

Personally, I think there are more stuff to explore if you head north rather than west.

Well, hop on a bus if you are feeling slightly more adventurous. If not, stick to cabbing. Cabbing is good if you are running short of time but DO NOT go with the cab drivers who tout for passengers at the walkway heading towards City Square. Their charges are exorbitant.

Instead, continue walking to the mall and get to RHB bank located at level 1. Walk out of the slided doors and out to the main road. There is a shabby-looking taxi stand to your right. Wait for a cab there.

Another place where you can grab a cab is right outside the entrance/exit between Levi’s and a watch shop.

Otherwise, drive in with GPS/updated map. That said, be very careful. Roads in JB are going through major changes every now and then. Get a local friend to show you the way or get directions from them before you embark on this road trip. Do remember to never flaunt your stuff an hide everything in your boot including shopping bags.

(:

Have a good time discovering JB !

Look how gorgeous the bowl of beef goodness is. I always order the dry version because I prefer having my thick white rice noodles drenched in thick beefy gravy. The QQ rice noodles is accompanied by tender morsels of braised beef brisket, beef tendons, slices of beef tenderloin, bits of salted vegetables, some peanuts and lots of spring onions! In my opinion, this tasted better than the pricey Hock Lam Beef Noodle I had in Singapore.

Are you a huge fan of chewy beef tendon? I am! I love that piece of gelatinous, transparent, soft yet chewy morsel to bits. The texture of the beef tendon here texture is similar to boiled pig’s ear but it is bouncier and does not taste as funky. Nonetheless, it’ll taste bland if not for the yummy beefy saucy. Thumbs up for the tangy flavoursome sauce.

Every bowl of beef noodles comes with special homemade chilli sauce and a steaming bowl of beef soup. The chili sauce is strangely appetising. Must be the dollop of extra spicy green chilli the auntie mixed with the usual red one. I suspect she used those tiny chilli padi! By the way the chilli sauce is slightly thicker than what you get when you order chicken rice. It is perfect for dipping the beef.

(:

Oh before digging into this dish, do remember to add a sprinkle of fresh lime juice on the noodles and chilli sauce to enhance the flavour. Mix well! If you like more lime, just request from the friendly auntie at the stall. It’s free. I always get extra lime because I like my beef and noodles to have a zestier taste.

It cost just RM6 for a small bowl of beef noodles and RM8 for the larger serving. Unless you’re really hungry, I think the small serving is perfectly fine for a hearty lunch. I always drop by when I’m in Pelangi area and craving for BEEF.

Don’t worry you can’t miss Kakilang because it is a corner lot coffeeshop. Ah it’s very near Restoran Mei Sin that sells Mee Hoon Kueh. Mom likes it alot too and most of the time, I’ll be here with her after shopping at Plaza Pelangi. Yup that mall is actually of walkable distance to this food centre. Just 2-3 minutes drive away?

Actually there’re a few places that sells beef noodles in JB, I know of another stall at Ang Kim Chwee Coffee Shop which sells this scrumptious delight somewhere near the CIQ. Will cover that next round! Watch this space!

Kakilang Food Court Centre
Jalan Abiad 1
Taman Maju Jaya
80400 Johor Bahru

We were there on a Saturday evening and it was almost full house; prepare to wait if there’s a crowd. Over here, the chef take his own sweet time to prepare his goodies. But it is worth the wait. Anyway time passes quickly when we were chatting about what to eat next and if we should go for durian ice cream dessert after dinner. Gluttons!

After about 20 minutes, we could smell our first dish coming. Behold, the Chinese drunken chicken! We ordered the medium sized one that cost RM14.

As we ladled the chicken pieces and soup we were enthralled by the extremely fragrant smell of Chinese rice wine but guess what. It tasted even better. The chicken meat was tender, moist and We could taste the rice wine and a slight hint of Chinese herbs, ginger and sesame oil which really gets the taste buds going. I particularly like the sweet wolf berries.

Absolutely superb. I could have this for dinner everyday. It was rich and really delicious. Ah no wonder this dish is considered a health-building soup. We felt so ‘strong’ after slurping the soup that we can stomach anything and continue the food hunt!

Next, the Asam fish! We loved it! The fish was so soft, silky and was slathered with asam gravy that was distinctively sweet, spicy and sour. For those who can’t take spicy stuff, you’ll be pleased to know that the spiciness was not to the extent of numbing the tongue. I would say that the asam is more sourish than spicy.

Not wanting to overeat and waste food, we ordered a small serving of the asam fish at first but we finished the entire serving in less than 10 minutes because it was damn good. So to satisfy our cravings, we ordered the asam fish again. This time, we got the medium sized serving with 3-4 large piece of fish. That’s the one you see below.

It was served with eggplants, long bean and fried tofu skin. After soaking the fried crispy fried tofu skin into the tangy gravy, you’ll get a soft and rubbery crumpled sheet. The tart sourish flavor of the asam gravy really accentuated the golden fried flavor of the tofu. Another side dish that were meant to match this dish is the papadum, a thin crispy wafer that taste like a cracker. We dipped it into the asam gravy and it’s amazingly tasty. By the way, if you have no patience to pick out fish bones, no worries. It’s 90% flesh.

By the way, it cost just RM33 for a small and medium order of the asam fish.

Besides these 2 specialty dishes, we ordered a plate of stir-fry vegetables (RM6) and claypot beancurd (RM7) with mixed vegetables as sides. These 2 dishes were fine but they were still outshone by the drunken chicken and asam fish.

Surprise surprise. Just when we were about to finish off all the dishes, there was an electric cut in the area. The entire estate was pitched black. Interesting. But we did not dined in darkness. The chef and a few of his customers/workers drove their car and positioned them strategically facing the restaurant. All headlights were turned on and the warm orangy lights lit the entire place with a cosy feel.

Despite the sudden electricity cut, dinner was a cooling and relaxing affair. We spent about RM65 for here which I find reasonable, considering the quality of the fare. Can’t believe we managed to chow down all these even after eating for the entire day.

Jie Sheng Restoran
3, Jalan Permas 10/B
Permas Jaya
81750 Masai Johor
019-7989123
3pm-12am
Closed on Thursdays

I guess Mar was feeling pretty happy after a good lunch. It totally showed on her smiley face. Speaking about parking lots. We came to a conclusion that Malaysian loves to park head-in while Singaporeans ace in parking butt-in. What you think? True?

Anyway I love this place because I love mango and I love sago. Well I’ll only have green bean soup if there’s sago inside and do you know that sago tastes exceptionally good in bubur cha cha and dessert pastries. But the ultimate sago partner is the slushy-cushy MANGO LOO! That’s how we call this mango dessert in JB which may originate from Hong Kong. Oh I still dream of the heavenly mango dessert I had at Xu Liu Shan, Hong Kong! *drools* Anyway, finally, a decent dessert place in JB where I can head for when the occasional mango sago cravings hits me.

Theses are the mango delights JB pig-outers had that afternoon. Mar and I decided to share a dessert to save space for whatever food that’s coming next.

Out of 4 orders, 3 were mango mango mango! Kelvin was the odd one out with watermelon ice. He wanted something more refreshing. So watermelon works better for him.

Can you see the sago sticking on the ice? Hard to tell eh? Can’t remember how much we spent here but it shouldn’t be more than RM30. The price of the desserts ranges between RM5-8.

Overall, La Gourmet is not bad but it can never beat the mango goodies at Xu Liu Shan. I so wanna go Hong Kong again!! Cablenazi, heard that?

La Gourmet
No 11, Jalan Kuning Dua,
Taman Pelangi. 80400, Johor Bahru
10am – 3pm
07-3313782

Now that I’m a big girl, Ah Soon Bak Kut Teh is where I’ll head for piping hot herbal pork ribs soup with friends who don’t mind the heat! So last Saturday, I was there with Kelvin, Vic, Mariko and Cablenazi.

Vic looked like he was glaring at Cable Nazi for scooping ladle after ladle of broth from the claypot. Haha. By the way, Kelvin and Cablenazi was so pleased with the fare that they ate 2 bowls of rice which they really shouldn’t had. GUYS DON’T EAT SO MUCH RICE. Must remember to always leave some space for more yummy goodies when you’re in JB.

:S

Basically the most important feature of this dish is the broth: it is a balance between the herbal and peppery version of Bak Kut Teh. Ah Soon’s herbal version is a tad milder than Kedai Bak Kut Teh Hin Hock (another one of my favourite) but it is still delectable. I’m a really big fan of herbs and spices. It should contain star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic.

Well we were late, so there wasn’t much ‘stuff’ in the Bak Kut Teh lest for pork ribs. Normally in the morning before brunch,  we can find additional ingredients such as offal and pieces of dried tofu or fried tofu puffs added into this claypot delight at Ah Soon Bak Kut Teh. If you woke up late, just like us, then just be happy with the pork ribs.

Secret. The Bak Kut Teh tastes so good because uncle Ah Soon insist on using charcoal to prepare his specialty dish.

(:

The Bak Kut Teh came in a big claypot so we gotta scooped the herbie treat into individual bowls. Hm. It’s weird how I dislike to have my Bak Kut Teh served in little porcelain bowls.… If I can, I would just slurp the broth straight from the claypot because I like my Bak Kut Teh extra warm. Haha. Or perhaps it is the claypot illusion that there’s more broth and meat inside.

Oh when you’re here, do try the Yellow Rice Wine Claypot Chicken, Tau Pok/Fried Bean Curd and Salted Vegetables.

Yellow Rice Wine Claypot Chicken was awesome. The meat was so tender, moist and and we can tell from the taste of it that the usually dry and unspectacular chicken meat had successfully retained the sweet taste of rice wine! It must had been simmered really slowly over a small fire the entire morning.

Also, the soft and a little goey Tau Pok went extremely well with the thick soy sauce and cut chillies. Do remember to eat the Tau Pok immediately when it is served because it will not taste as nice after it turned cold. As for the salted Vegetables. In my opinion, Ah Soon’s salted vegetable is one of the best among the Bak Kut Teh restaurants in JB. It’s not too heavily salted yet briny enough to tantalise my taste buds with a slight hint of pickled sourness.

If you noticed, we didn’t have You Tiao/Chinese cruller fried bread stick. Another reason for you to have breakfast here instead of brunch/lunch.

For Bak Kut Teh (4 persons), Claypot Chicken (2 persons), 2 bowls of Salted vegetables and 2 bowls of Tau Pok, we spent roughly RM65 on lunch for 5 hungry adults. Not sure if Vic, Mariko or Kelvin gonna crave for this and be back again but I will definitely say yes  if dad wants to date me for breakfast this coming week when I’ll be back in JB for holidays. He’s the best. Cablenazi shall tag along if he has been a good boy this week.

Ah Soon Bak Kut Teh
141, Jalan Keris 1
Taman Sri Tebrau
Johor Bahru
016-7152678

Ah Soon is just 5 minutes walk away from the ‘famous’ Bamboo paper-wrapped herbal chicken which I personally think is over-rated. Would not recommend that Bamboo chicken restaurant because quality of food deteriorated after the renovation.

So why KFC tastes wayyy better across the causeway?

The chicken is bigger,  juicier and much more tender. Also, the chicken flesh is so moist that it actually oozes out the herby flavours. I always ask for thigh meat. Most of the time, the service staff will oblige to my request. While most feel that chicken thighs are too fatty to eat, I think that the thigh is the best, most flavourful cut. Chicken breast meat is hopelessly bland and dry.

As for the sides, I like their coleslaw better than most places. A lot of times it’s either too watery or has too much mayo but KFC’s one is just right! The little cup serving of coleslaw is so crunchy and fresh! Shredded cabbage never taste so good elsewhere. BTW is mashed potatoes one of your favorite comfort foods? It’s one of mine so I really enjoyed KFC’s smooth and creamy mashed potatoes with piping hot chicken gravy. The gravy was was nice and thick and coated the top of the mashed potatoes nicely!

We spent just RM12.10 for a “finger-lickin” meal at KFC. Sharing a dinner plate is perfect for tea because we need to leave some space for dinner!

KFC Holiday Plaza
LG 68, LG 113-116, LG 140-145
Jln. Datuk Sulaiman
Johor Bahru
80250 Johor

I’ve heard alot about Ah Piaw from hungry young JBreans who are still awake after 12.30am. Yes it opens at 12.30am only. Any earlier, you have to settle for the so-so only abalone noodles from Ah Piaw’s neighbour, Fifty Nine Restaurant.

The noodles are being served relatively dry and dressed with lots of special chilli sauce! Slices of char siu and kailan/Chinese kale was added to the dish. The thin noodles were exactly how baby likes it. Perfectly Al dente!

The noodles had a good bite to it because it was firm enough. You see, my partner here is very fussy when it comes to noodles. For him, noodles have to be cooked so as to be firm but not hard. If the noodles stick to his teeth when it is being chewed, it is considered undercooked. Need to also avoid overcooking them else it will be too gooey. That’s why I don’t handle noodles whenever we attempt to whip up supper. He does.

Loving soups of every kind, I enjoyed the steaming hot soup with minced pork wontons more than the noodles. Well, it helped that the soup was garnished with spring onions which gave the piping hot soup a unique bouquet.

Not sure about you but I’ve always fancy wantons boiled in the soup rather than those deep fried in oil. I liked how the smooth velvety feel of the wanton slips through my throat.

No wonder the wantons were so tasty. It’s made fresh!

At first I thought that RM5 for a plate of wanton is a tad expensive, but the pricey tag was justified by the reasonable serving. We got 7-8 pieces of wanton and more noodles as compared to the normal RM3 wanton noodles we find elsewhere. Then again, it’s kinda sucky that they don’t cater to light eaters who are contented with the average RM3 serving. I had no plans to eat so much for supper leh. Ended up have to dump some noodles to my dearest rubbish bin again. Sorry baby. By the way, here’re the pricing for 3 different sizes of Ah Piaw wanton noodles.

Small RM5
Medium RM5.50
Large RM6

If you are driving, you can park along Jalan Kelewang 2 (right next to my church, the Sacred Heart Cathedral) and take a 2 minutes walk over to Ah Piaw. Or you can park opposite Ah Piaw which is just in front of Wisma Tiong Hua. Pretty safe as the area is bright and there’s security guards at Wisma Tiong Hua but don’t be an easy target. As how I would advice all my friends, keep all your valuables in the boot and just bring enough cash in your pockets for supper.

Restoran Ah Piaw
Jalan Keris, Taman Sri Tebrau,
81100 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening hours: 12.30am – 10.30am

Warning: never never try this bbq delight if you can’t take spicy food. These dynamite sticks will blow you up for sure.

Last week, Evelyn was in town with her bf so we decided to grab some of these special satays! and chill. We ordered a good mix of prawns satay, chicken satay and also sotong satay.

I liked the prawns best! It tasted so damn good that we ate the shells too! Ah yes the satays come with a plate of sliced cucumbers and mangoes to refresh our tastebuds after each fiery chunk of meat.

Seriously. The prawns were bbq-ed till perfection, distinctively smokey and crispy enough for us to crunch on. Really addictive. I believe we could easily chow down 10 sticks of smoked prawns in a jiffy.

The chicken and sotong was well-marinated because the satay had so much flavour and bite! We went ga-ga over the charred bits on the satay. Oh another reason why this special satay is so good – unlike those normal satays which we dip into a peanut sauce, Kimdo’s satay didn’t tasted oily and there wasn’t any chunks of disgusting fat cubes!

According to hub, we spent RM19 for 10 chicken, 5 prawns and 4 sotong satays. Actually, they mixed up the orders because we wanted more prawns than chicken. Thus, if you are thinking of patronising this restaurant, make sure you double confirm the orders when you’re there and feel free to rush them if you think they are taking too long to serve the food.

We could not get enough of the tantalising ultra-spicy dip made from green cilipadi. Enough said. I’m getting hungry.

:/

Will be back for more dynamite sticks and dip.

Restoran Kimdo
23,25 Jalan Sutera
Taman Sentosa
80130 Johor Bharu

One really hot and humid afternoon, pa brought us to a new place for delicious, hand-made baked cakes/pastries. Apparently all of their baked goodies are prepared fresh daily.

They really have a huge variety of delicious cakes and pastries!

Oh NO! We are simply spoilt for choice!

Dad had to bug us to hurry up because he wants to go home to catch a golf game on TV. So we settled for the most attractive looking cake. The Cocoa Ivory! RM68 is pretty decent for a cake this pretty!

There’s this thing about chocolate cakes. They are so sinfully tasty. But I like cakes that are not so sweet and most cakes are laden with sugar! Thus I must say that Cocoa Ivory is a confectionery delight because it gives a lighter take on chocolate. Mm and the cocoa powder coating did made a huge difference to the yummy factor. Fantastic texture and taste. This is the kind of cake that makes me go “ummmmm”.

If you’re not a chocolate fan or you prefer something unique, no worries. There are other quirky cakes here such as Cendol Sago, Lemon Aloe Vera and Raspberry Yoghurt!

I find that the variety of cakes here beats those popular outlets such as Lavender or Seasons. They are more creative. But Taman Gaya is not very near JB city center. Here’s how to get there.

Beside cakes & pastries, Moonlight Cake House also serve local food and western food ie. Chicken Chop, Lamb Ribs and Nasi Lemak. I haven’t tried them though. Tell me about it if you’ve tried!

Mm. Who would like a slice of cake?

Moonlight Cake House
No.1, Jalan Gaya 25,
Taman Gaya
81800 Ulu Tiram,
Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
Tel:07-8612171

It’s the third shop lot from the left, next to the pharmacy.

Cannot resist not taking a pic with the candy auntie who is so friendly! She keep asking me when was the last time I came with ma and where am I staying now. Baby was kinda astonished I ‘know’ them like old friends. Haha. Guess every young adults who come back for candy/snacks are still seen as kiddies to the cute auntie here who owns the place.

Yes auntie I love your shop! I feel like a kid! Haha.

Anyway I was here looking for the retro 20 cents cotton candy. It comes in a small triangular packet with all sorts of colour. My favourite is green! Asked auntie where is it and she told me it’s no longer available! The factory stopped producing it already. I was super sad when I heard that.

:/

Oh well, shifted my attention to her brother who was jabbering something over the background. Her brother is an interesting man. Drank water from an original Tupperware tumbler (the office is along the same shop rows) while I took a candid shot of him with all the loose ‘samples’ for sale at the background. If you walk between the narrow aisle, you can find boxes and boxes of assorted candies/snacks all ready for distribution.

Most of the retro brands are here. Apollo, Mentos, Fisherman, Bubbleyum, Mamee, Jack & Jill, Kopiko, Choki-Choki, Chupa Chups (yeah you can get them here in those large cute-looking tins), Yam Yam etc but don’t expect to find Ruffles here though.

Most people pop by when it’s nearing Chinese New Year to grab lotsa sweets because it is auspicious to load your house with tonnes of candies for the coming year to be sweet-sailing. On normal days. here’s where mama-shop owners/sundry shops/retailers get their stock. Well, random people like me also drop by to get a nice sweet treat.

This trip, I bought a few boxes of Horlicks Malties!

Sin Tong Yuen Food Products Sdn. Bhd
54, Jln Perang, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru, Johor
07-3321734