During our one night getaway at Turi Beach Resort in Batam, we dropped by at Infinite Studios, 5 minutes away (Turi Beach and Infinite Studios are part of Nongsa Resorts). Infinite Studios provided the location sets for Hollywood blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean, Hitman, Crazy Rich Asians and more - something I didn't know till now.
I unknowingly walked into the set of HBO Asia TV blockbuster Grisse at Infinite Studios. Grisse is modern day Gresik in East Java (just east of Surabaya).
During the Dutch colonial era, Gresik known as Grisse then, was a garrison town. The TV series tells the historic-fictional story of rebellion, honour, courage and sacrifice centred on Grisse. According to showrunnerMike Wiluan who owns Nongsa Resorts (which include Infinite Studios), Grisse is "a nasi goreng western", a "western set in a Southeast Asian melting pot".
The set looked like an eerily silent abandoned John Wayne type town with weathered walls with lots of captivating stories to tell. Oh yes they do - 4 episodes worth of them, in fact.
Nearly full bottle of whisky on a dusty table - looked like townsfolk left town in a hurry.
The bar - the town's trading post for stories, intrigue, lies and quarrels which were often settled in blood. Dried blood still on the floor from brawls of nights past.
Grisse just premiered on HBO Asia on 4 November 2018.... new episodes will debut at 8pm every Sunday... whee!! Indonesian actress Adinia Wirasti, or Asti, played main character Kalia. Fans of Hossan Leong and Joanne Kam (Singapore and Malaysian comedians), look out for your idols 😄
The "cannons" of Grisse now stand guard at the Infinite Studios staff canteen 😄
👆Click on the photo to read about my 1 night getaway at Turi Beach Resort. Date visited: 5 Nov 2018 Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
We had a memorable omakase dinner at VOiD Restaurant, the newest and youngest eating place in Johor now.
VOiD is the brainchild of Chef Shawn and Pastry Chef Sunny. Folks familiar with the JB food scene will know Shawn from his W Espresso Sporting Club and Rowan & Parsley days.
We asked Shawn why he picked the name VOiD for his restaurant. He said the restaurant is like a pure canvas where he and partners can paint anything they like - no boundaries, full of surprising delights yet always ready for more ideas.
VOiD is JB's youngest not only because the restaurant opened less than a month ago, but also because it probably has JB's youngest team. Shawn the oldest in the VOiD team is 26 and the youngest member is just 19 😮 It's a young team brimming with energy and aspirations.
VOiD serves fusion omakase for dinner and brunch (including vegetarian options) from 10am to 5pm.
Once our whole party arrived, Sunny briefly introduced VOiD's omakase dinner and checked with everyone of us, one by one, on our food allergies, if any. VOiD's omakase dinner consists of 11 courses. Prices range from RM288++ (fish) to RM398++ (wagyu beef) per pax depending on the choice of meat for the main course.
Sunny recommended us a 2017 Chilean Concha Y Toro Resvardo Cabernet Sauvignon from VOiD's cellar. The red wine felt light-bodied with a nice finish. It's a versatile wine with fruity aromas that went well with the red meat, cheese and pasta we had.
All set, wine flowing, our omakase dinner ready to rock and roll - we can see the intense focus of the crew in the open kitchen.
Pastry Chef Sunny making our starter.
Our starter - a tiny tart with a crumbly buttery base studded with a marshmallow, topped with cheese, torched and then crowned with a pinch of sea weed. It's an interesting blend of buttery savoury sweetness with a mix of crumbly crunch and spongy gummy mouthfeel.
Good ol' melty butter on warm fluffy bread - what more need I say.... ?
Chopped shrimp wrapped in avocado mousse served chilled on a hard crackly biscuit.
Buttermilk chicken - this was like a piece cut out of a typical fried chicken chop. Perfectly executed, cooked to just the right doneness, it was much juicier, more tender inside and crispier outside. Nice gentle savoury sweet flavour. Great starter as it made us hungry for more 😄
Foie gras mousse dressed with truffle puree served in an egg shell.
The soft airy creamy mousse was stacked deep with layers of robust savouriness from the foie gras and truffle. I love this.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery premiering on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 on Tuesday, 13 Nov 2018 at 8:30pm. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities featured, and believe you will enjoy it too.
Salad of deconstructed cherry tomato dressed with balsamic vinegar reduction.
Classic French Onion Soup.
This was the best French onion soup that I've had for a long time. Deep layers of savoury sweet flavours from the Gruyère Swiss cheese and caramelised onions. Love the bread which sponged up the grease and flavours from the soup and cheese.
Pork snow and pork lardo on an almond meringue. The candy like sweetness of almond meringue paired with lardy savoury sweetness of pork lardo. It's an acquired taste and I love it 😋
Unagi with angel hair spaghetti. The soft pasta was well greased with butter and olive oil well infused with the distinct taste of unagi (eel). A bit of chili gave the dish a hint of spicy heat.
Mackerel with spinach and beurre blanc (French white butter).
Iberico pork with pork jus and pumpkin puree.
Lovely juicy savoury sweet chunky blocks of sous vided, pan seared, then baked Iberico pork. I enjoyed it by slicing it into thiner slices. The pork jus reminded me of savoury char siew or BBQ sauce.
Sweet dessert of aerated chocolate with hazelnut snow and orange foam.
Two heady shots of espresso filled chocolate before we hit the road.
👉 VOid is a nice new, trend setting avant-garde restaurant in Johor Bahru. VOiD exemplifies the daring and confidence of creative new blood in the JB food scene. Come and enjoy a delightful dinner, be inspired by youthful aspirational energy and support the leading edge of Johor food. Disclosure: Please note that this was an invited tasting.
We enjoyed some excellent Arabic dishes at Zaituna restaurant in Taman Tasek in JB.
Zaituna is a simple little shop lot restaurant popular with locals. The quite extensive menu consists of 70% Lebanese dishes and Yemeni, Syrian etc dishes make up the remaining 30%.
Zaituna's kitchen is led by Chef Amr from Egypt. Chef Amr has 18 years of experience starting as a kitchen hand. He was with Intercontinental Cairo before coming to Malaysia 5 years ago. I first met Chef Amr when he was at Wadi Hadi Elarabi Restaurant.
The first things that come to my mind when I think of Arabic food are mandi chicken, mandi lamb, kebabs, foul medammas (kacang pool), falafel and hummus. We had them all, plus a bit more today 😋
The mandi chicken costs RM17 and mandi lamb RM22 (prices at Zaituna are nett i.e. no GST, no service tax). When we are having both, we can ask them to serve it in a sharing tray (dulang) like this 😄
The long grain basmati rice was boiled in lamb stock and spices. The soft and wet rice was well infused with rich lamb and spice flavour and aroma.
The New Zealand lamb was tender and juicy. It had mild spice and natural lamb flavour. Zaituna uses NZ lamb which has less fat and gaminess than Aussie lamb, so it is good news for folks who prefer less fat and gaminess in their mandi lamb. I love this 😋
Beneath that char outside, the chicken was fall-off-the-bone tender and juicy with mild spice and chicken flavour.
Mixed grill platter of lamb cubes, kebab halabi, shish tawook, Lebanese kafta, meat arayess and lamb chops (price RM75).
The grill meats were tenderly firm and moist with spice and natural meat flavours.
Nice grilled lamb chop. The thin slab was tenderly firm and moist inside. Good mild gamey flavour complemented by savoury spices.
Arabian dishes are eaten with several complementary dips similar to the Malay, Indonesian etc custom. There's sesame dip, garlic dip, and this fiery looking pepper dip which is savoury sourish spicy. The right dips certainly make the food taste better.
Foul Medammas Lebanese style with fava beans, chopped garlic, onion, herbs and spices like cumin i.e. vegetarian (price RM9). Eaten with house made fresh soft unleavened flat bread. (Known as kacang pool in Malaysia and Singapore. The famous version by Kacang Pool Haji contains beef or lamb.)
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery premiering on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 on Tuesday, 13 Nov 2018 at 8:30pm. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities featured, and believe you will enjoy it too.
Hummus - finely mashed chickpeas served with olive oil and lemon (price RM10).
Falafel - chickpea paste and parsley blend made into little cakes and deep fried till the outside is browned and slightly crisped (price RM9). Eaten with savoury sourish spicy pickled chili peppers, garlic dip (paste), hummus and soft unleavened bread.
Zaatar Mana'aosha (price RM13).
My first time tasting this dish and oh..... I love it because of the interesting layers of savoury flavoursome spices. The soft unleavened flat bread is topped with powdered thyme, sesame seeds, and other spices.
Tabouleh - a salad of finely chopped parsley, tomato, bulgur (grain) and onion seasoned with salt, lemon juice and olive oil (price RM11).
👉 Reasonably priced freshly made authentic Arabic cuisine in a comfortable environment. Wide ranging menu including meat and vegetarian options with something for everyone.
Disclosure: Please note that this was an invited tasting. I will gladly come back as an ordinary customer.
Restaurant name: Zaituna Address: 27, Jalan Glasiar, Taman Tasek, 80200 Johor Bahru, Johor GPS: 1°29'14.1"N 103°43'31.2"E 🌐 1.487261, 103.725344 Waze: Zaituna Restaurant Tel: 013-735 6645 Hours: 11:30am - 11:00pm (opens at 2pm on Fri) Halal
You know right, decades ago we used to hang out a lot at restaurant chains like Jacks Place and The Ship for family and budget friendly Western meals. Hung Kitchen 韩小厨 is like a Jacks Place or The Ship but more charming to me as it is set in a kampung (village) 😄 It's probably the only Western food restaurant in a village in Malaysia.
The restaurant is an extension of the Hung family home along Jalan Ahad in Kampung Ungku Mohsin.
The simply furnished restaurant is clean, cool and comfortable inside. Hung Kitchen is very popular with locals for simple nice food at affordable prices. It is very busy during lunch as many people working in the factories and offices around here have their work day meal at Hung Kitchen.
The menu and daily specials are displayed just outside the kitchen.
Write your choices and table number on the order slip and the lady boss will take it to the kitchen. She will deliver the dishes to your table when it is ready, just like in any restaurant. Good right?
We started with a Hainanese Chicken Chop (price RM9).
The batter was crumbly and crispy. The thin slab of chicken was tender and juicy.
The fried chicken chop was well complemented by the savoury sweet subtly tangy ketchup sauce.
Grilled Chicken with Mushroom Sauce (price RM9).
The slab of chicken was tender and juicy. It tasted savoury sweet with a bit of toastiness (from the slight char outside). The brown sauce (with real mushrooms) added savoury mushroomy taste to the chicken. I like this a lot.
Sirloin Steak with Black Pepper Sauce (price RM30).
Lady boss asked me how I like my steak done. She said most customers request 七分熟 70% doneness. I asked for 四分熟 40% doneness (which I meant medium rare). The steak was tender and juicy but slightly chewy. Beefiness was slight with most flavours coming from the savoury peppery sauce. This is probably the best steak one can get for RM30 nett in today's market.
We also had the chicken rice set which was the special of the day (price RM6.50).
The chicken meat was tender and juicy. It tasted savoury sweet with natural chicken flavour.
Average quality grains only but the rice was nicely done with the tender fluffiness well infused with chicken flavour and aromatics.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery premiering on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 on Tuesday, 13 Nov 2018 at 8:30pm. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities featured, and believe you will enjoy it too.
👉 Hung Kitchen is a family oriented, budget friendly Western restaurant with unique kampung ambience. We paid RM55.50 for all our food today (no GST, no service charge hehe). If you like Western staples in a Malaysian village setting, check out Hung Kitchen in Johor Bahru. Uniquely Malaysian, authentic foodie experience lah. I will be back for their popular curry chicken, nasi briyani etc.
Restaurant name: Hung Kitchen 韩小厨 Address: 331, Jalan Ahad, Kampung Ungku Mohsin, Johor Bahru GPS: 1°30'51.8"N 103°44'23.4"E 🌐 1.514381, 103.739826 Waze: Restoran Hung Kitchen Tel: +6012-766 4652 (Madam Yit 梅姐) Hours: 10:00am - 3:00pm (Sunday off) No pork, no lard, no Halal cert
Makan buddy John tipped me off about Kungfu Master Mee Hoon Kueh 真功夫手工面粉粿 in Bestari Impian, Taman Dato Onn (near Larkin) in Johor Bahru.
真功夫手工面粉粿 is one of the little shops inside this small commercial building near Bestari Impian (Smart Dream) Apartments at Jalan Serantau. The mee hoon kueh shop is just beside Fiz Mart (a convenience shop).
The comfortable little shop is air conditioned, simply furnished, clean and well kept. 真功夫手工面粉粿 have been here for 13 years and many customers are regulars.
真功夫手工面粉粿 serves only mee hoon kueh and only the soup version (there is no dry version). They do have options - small or big serving, add raw egg or add fried anchovies. That's all, but it's enough to keep their fans coming.
The soup was light bodied with savouriness of dried anchovies. Adding a raw egg thickened the soup slightly.
Crunchy leafy fresh sayur manis (mani cai), the only vegetable that would do for mee hoon kueh.
Tender juicy savoury naturally sweet pork balls. The other stuff in the bowl were generic factory supplied fish balls and pork balls.
Fans of 真功夫手工面粉粿 are here for their kueh which are something special. The broad hand torn ribbons of dough were not thick but they have delightfully springy tender chewiness distinct from all other mee hoon kueh I have tasted in Malaysia and Singapore.
When you are here, you will now and then hear sharp claps of dough slapped on the kitchen counter. This is the kungfu that gives 真功夫手工面粉粿 mee hoon kueh its delightful texture. Mdm Chin then pinches the stretched and thoroughly smacked dough to make pieces of her famous kueh.
Two of us had three bowls of mee hoon kueh. Yums 😋😄 Our total bill was RM23.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery premiering on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 tonight at 8:30pm (Tuesday, 13 Nov 2018). No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities featured, and believe you will enjoy it too.
👍 Champion kueh of Johor and Singapore mee hoon kueh shops. The dried anchovy soup, sayur manis (mani cai) and minced pork balls are nice too. Just excuse the generic factory made fish balls and pork balls 😄
Restaurant name: Kungfu Mee Hoon Kueh 真功夫手工面粉粿 Address: G-09 Bistari Impian, Jalan Serantau, Taman Dato Onn, Johor Bahru GPS: 1°29'14.3"N 103°45'09.0"E 🌐 1.487309, 103.752485 Waze: Bistari Impian Apartments Tel: +6016 663 0466 Hours: 10:00am - 7:00pm (close at 2pm on Monday) Non Halal
Visiting Thian Hock Keng temple 天福宫 will give you insights into Singapore's early Chinese immigrants, especially the Hokkien people who make up about half the Chinese population on the island. THK is the oldest and most important temple of Singapore Hokkiens (who came from China's Fujian province).
Thian Hock Keng temple began in 1821 as a makeshift sea facing joss house dedicated to Chinese sea goddess Mazu 媽祖 on Singapore's southern shoreline (in the old Telok Ayer basin). The sea passage from southern China to Nanyang was often treacherous and sometimes lethal at that time. So new arrivals in Singapore were filled with gratitude to Mazu for protection during their journey. Praying at the Mazu joss house was among the first things a grateful new immigrant would do in Singapore.
Temple building work started in 1839 with the Mazu statue from Amoy (today's Xiamen, China) enshrined in the main sanctuary in 1840. (To put the dates in perspective, Sir Stamford Raffles established Singapore as a British trading post for the British East India Company in 1819).
Thian Hock Keng was built according to the southern China temple style of the time by master artisans from Fujian, China. Much of the building materials came from China. The temple built without using a single iron nail was filled from the floor, through the walls and columns to the roofs with intricate artwork of religious motifs and designs like dragons, phoenix, fairies, lanterns etc (which were thankfully well preserved).
The ornate temple has three halls with an entrance hall, the main hall, and a rear hall as commonly found in such temples of the time. The whole temple is enclosed by a long single storey building which forms a rectangular ring around the three halls - the low buildings house the smaller shrines, monks' quarters and offices.
The 37,000 Spanish dollars needed for temple building was raised by public donations with the largest sum from Tan Tock Seng of Malacca who led the project. Much of the money went towards land purchase.
The Tamil Muslim (Chulia) community also contributed to building Thian Hock Keng temple. Their contribution is acknowledged with several Indian figures holding up the roof beams. Mutual respect and support between different faiths is deeply ingrained in Singapore's social fabric since its pioneering days.
Reclamation works which started in 1880 filled the Telok Ayer Basin and moved the shoreline several kilometres south of Thian Hock Keng. Telok Ayer Street in this early 1900 photo once filled with human powered rickshaws still fronts Thian Hock Keng. (So, now I realised all the buildings south of Telok Ayer Street are on reclaimed land 😄 )
Mazu, the main deity of Thian Hock Keng was Hokkien shaman Lin Mo Niang 林默娘 who lived from 960 - 987 A.D. during the Song dynasty. Her gift in predicting weather and storms saved many seafarers' lives. After her death, she was deified as the Chinese sea goddess Mazu. Hokkien communities in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore etc worship Mazu - thanking her and seeking her blessings for safe travels.
Other Chinese deities including Guan Yin 觀音 (Goddess of Mercy) and Cheng Huang Ye 城隍爺 (City God) are in the pantheon of 12 deities at Thian Hock Keng. Mazu, the main deity 主神 is in the main sanctuary in the centre of the temple and the other deities in smaller shrines in a constellation ringing the centre court.
Thian Hock Keng was the first stop of grateful immigrants from Fujian, China thanking Mazu for safe arrival. THK was also the last stop to seek Mazu's blessings before embarking on outbound journeys. Today's worshippers include any believer (not only Hokkiens) who seek a variety of blessings ranging from peace and safety to good health.
From the beginning, Thian Hock Keng welcomes visits by all faiths and tourists. Entrance is free of charge. Just no photo taking inside the main sanctuary out of respect for devotees' privacy.
Don't worry, these door gods 門神 welcome you and ward off evil.
In 1849, the Chung Wen Pagoda dedicated to the written word, literature, poetry and learning was added outside the main temple.
The Chong Hock Pavilion (an annex to the main temple) was built in 1913 and in 1915 housed the Chong Hock Girls' School. Chong Hock was Singapore's first girls school and it used Hokkien as the medium of instruction. (To put the dates in perspective, Qing Dynasty, the last Chinese imperial empire collapsed in 1912 and Sun Yet Sen declared the Republic of China.)
Today, Chong Hock Pavilion renamed Chong Wen Ge houses a Peranakan cafe, decorative tile shop and music box museum. Chong Hock Girl's School is today Chongfu School for boys and girls, and moved to Yishun town.
From the beginning, the Mazu shrine had been the focal point of the Hokkien community in Singapore. The Singapore Hokkien Clan Association 福建会馆 was founded within Thian Hock Keng temple in 1849. The Association moved just across Telok Ayer street in 1955. Today, the Association's modern glass and steel tower completed in 2003, stands opposite the temple.
Thian Hock Keng was gazetted a Singapore national monument in 1973. Restoration works began in 1998. In 2001, Thian Hock Keng won an honourable mention in the 2001 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards.
Every element and small detail in Thian Hock Keng has its own fascinating story. Heritage enthusiasts can spend days here uncovering the secrets of Singapore's oldest Chinese temple.
Join me to watch the second episode of Tours of Discovery on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm (Tuesday, 20 Nov 2018). No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because it features both Thian Hock Keng 天福宫 and Chong Wen Ge 崇文阁.
Thian Hock Keng 天福宫 Address: 158 Telok Ayer St, Singapore 068613 GPS: 1°16'51.5"N 103°50'51.9"E 🌐 1.280978, 103.847762 Nearest MRT: Telok Ayer (distance 150 metres) Waze: Thian Hock Keng Parking: Limited street side parking. Best to use public transport Tel: +65 6423 4616 Hours: 7.30am – 5.30pm
Episode 1 of Taiwanese TV series on the legend of Mazu
We came here two days in a row - Mughni Saujana Cafe is one of the best places for nasi lemak in JB. Many fans call this Warung Sebelah Rumah Menteri Besar because it is just beside the Chief Minister's Residence.
The queue at 7:30am. Even though it has a kampung ambiance, Mughni Saujana Cafe is just a stone's throw from downtown JB. Many people come here for breakfast before going off to work. Stay calm - the queue clears quite fast 😄
Nice rustic kampung ambiance inside the warung (stall). The friendly owners of Mughni Saujana Cafe told us that they have been here since 1991 (that's 27 years ago). Most people call the stall Warung Sebelah Rumah Menteri Besar which means "the stall beside the Residence of the Chief Minister".
Nasi lemak tastes better to me in places like this (compared to shopping malls and restaurants) 😄
We arrived at Mughni Saujana Cafe on our first visit at 10:30am. Most of the food like their famous fried chicken was already sold out 😂 So, we settled for rendang chicken with our nasi lemak.
We love the savoury sweet spicy sambal chili which had a lingering hot sting in the aftertaste. The rendang chicken was tender, moist and we can taste a bit of natural chicken sweetness underlying the aromatic spices and mild heat. We enjoyed the rice which was moist, starchy and clumpy but well infused with coconut milk taste and aroma.
We also caught rendang lamb on our first visit. The lamb was moist, tender though slightly chewy. I liked it too.
We rounded up our first visit with bee hoon soto ayam. The chicken soup was mildly savoury with spice flavour. Add a bit of their savoury spicy tangy sambal if you like a bit more heat in your soto.
We came back the next day at 7:30am because we wanted to taste Mughni Saujana Cafe's nasi lemak in it's full glory.
Fried chicken, ikan kuning, tempeh, chili sotong - we were in nasi lemak heaven already 😋
The chicken was well browned and crisp outside. The white meat inside was tender and moist. The spice flavour outside was very mild but there was little taste inside.
The floppy sotong slices were stewed in savoury sweet spicy sambal chili till they were soft and nearly jelly like. I love chili sotong and have it with my nasi lemak all the time.
Perennial nasi lemak favourite sides, fried ikan kuning and tempeh.
When the lady we shared a table with noticed that we didn't order any fried beef lung, she suggested that we try some as this is the speciality here. So, we quickly got this plate for RM3.
Like everything at Mughni Saujana Cafe, the fried beef lungs are freshly cooked at the stall. The beef lung was cut into thin slices, marinated with spices and then deep fried to a crisp.
The thin deep fried beef lung was like crispy fried crackers. It has a slight savoury bitter flavour which is an acquired taste. I love it 😋
Forgot to order this chili cockles, this round. Shall make sure that we get some, next time.
The teh tarik here is good. Can taste the sweet flavour and fragrance of tea underlying the taste of the sweetener.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm Tuesday, 20 Nov 2018. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities in Singapore featured, and I believe you will enjoy it too.
👍 Mughni Saujana Cafe (or Warung Sebelah Rumah Menteri Besar) is a great place for delicious nasi lemak with a full range of side dishes in an authentic local setting. Prices are reasonable.
Restaurant name: Mughni Saujana Cafe (Warung Sebelah Rumah Mentri Besar) Address: 8, Jalan Abdul Rahman Andak, Bandar Johor Bahru, Johor Bahru Waze: Mughni Saujana Cafe Hours: 7:00am - 12:00 noon (Friday off) Halal
Date visited: 15 Nov 2018 I added Mughni Saujana Cafe to my list of 100 best hawkers in JB.
Johor Bahru Malaysia has numerous public hawker centres, each with its own character. Taman Tasek Hawker Centre set under huge leafy trees and surrounded by fruit trees may be among the smallest, yet it is well loved by its immediate community and visitors from out of town Malaysia and Singapore.
Taman Tasek Hawker Centre have just four hawker stalls - all are seen in this picture. There are two Malay stalls and two Chinese stalls. Hawker centres in Malaysia reflect the multicultural community of the country.
Community fruit trees around Taman Tasek Hawker Centre give the community eating place a sense of community ownership. The lush greens around the hawker centre give the place a nice rustic kampung feel and keep the place cool in Malaysia's tropical heat.
The stalls at Taman Tasek Hawker Centre open at 7am and close after 1pm. Many office workers come here for their breakfast before going to work downtown (10 minutes drive away). Many people living nearby come here in groups after their daily morning exercise.
Day trippers from Singapore come here for the popular kway teow kia stall (which serves one of the best renditions of the traditional Teochew staple in JB). Many have been doing so for over 20 years. You will often bump into former Taman Tasek residents who come back regularly to reconnect with old friends and the stall holders here.
This is the Taman Tasek Kway Teow Kia stall in the 1980s before the hawker centre was built. When MBJB, the Johor Bahru City Council built Taman Tasek Hawker Centre in the 1990s, four mobile food stalls operating nearby were moved into the centre.
It's a simple roof over the heads of the food stalls. No frills, just shelter from the rain, piped water, electricity, public toilets - that's all. But, that's enough to facilitate an organic thriving community hub for affordable tasty meals and community "club" of sorts.
The hawkers are charged nominal rent by the City Council. Monthly stall rental today (2018) is about RM300. The idea is to provide viable career options and affordable meals for the people (with minimal state intervention). Another benefit of the nominal rental is the preservation of traditional heritage food and craftsmanship. With nominal rental, the stall holders are under less pressure to be more "efficient", to scale up production in order to meet costs. Making traditional heritage food the old way is very inefficient and "unproductive". Like any art form, preparing authentic heritage food cannot be rushed or mechanised without compromising its authenticity. If operating costs are high, "less productive" artisanal hawkers who prepare and cook their own food will be edged out by generic mass produced food vendors (and eventually, even just vending machines 😱 ). Authentic heritage food will not survive in this market place. Making traditional heritage food requires a lot of manual work and human touch. Changing the way of preparing the dish like mechanised production basically changes the dish - the end product may look like the real thing in superficial aspects but it is different in taste, mouthfeel, smell and spirit because it is simply something else other than heritage food. Fortunately, Taman Tasek Hawker Centre hawkers still hold steadfastly to the old ways of preparing traditional heritage hawker dishes. Let's take a walk through Taman Tasek Hawker Centre.
Starting from the left when you walk into the hawker centre is Selera Melaka. It's a Halal food stall serving roti canai, mee goreng, mee siam, mee rebus, ayam goreng etc for breakfast. For lunch, Selera Melaka serves nasi campur, asam pedas, nasi lemak, kari ayam, etc. All familiar local staples. Stalls run by MBJB have the City Council crest prominently displayed on its signboard.
Selera Melaka hand make their own dough for their roti canai. It is more "productive" to buy mass produced dough from central kitchens (i.e. food factories) but not at Selera Melaka.
Nasi Lemak Taloon stall - they are like a nasi campur stall now besides serving nasi lemak (coconut rice) and ayam goreng (fried chicken). They still cook their food the "unproductive" way with a small charcoal stove.
Nasi Lemak Taloon's fans come here for the warmth of Malay homestyle cooking.
To the right of Nasi Lemak Taloon is a chap fan 杂饭 (or economic rice) stall known as 樹下美食 Delicacies under the Tree. It is the Chinese equivalent of the Malay nasi campur (mixed rice) which consists of Chinese homestyle staple dishes that go with boiled white rice. 樹下美食 also serves fried bee hoon and mee hoon kueh.
To the right of 樹下美食 is 南濱園粿條仔 Taman Tasek Kway Teow Kia which is probably the best known hawker stall in this hawker centre.
The Lee family ran Taman Tasek Kway Teow Kia since 1981.
Kway teow kia is an iconic Teochew dish of Johor Bahru, Malaysia. It is rarely found outside of Johor Bahru. It originated from leaner times when every part of the pig is eaten. The dish traditionally consists of pork offal, head (snout and ears), skin, belly etc braised in mild herbal stock. These are side dishes eaten with slender ribbon rice noodles known as 粿條仔 kway teow kia, hence the name of the dish.
The Lees do their kway teow kia the totally inefficient way - they braise their pork offal and parts separately i.e. large intestines in their own stew pot, pig skin in another stew pot, pork belly in yet another and so on, and so on. This is far more inefficient than hawkers who braise everything in one large pot 一鍋熟. The difference is the Lees' braised pig parts all have their characteristic tastes rather than everything tastes more or less the same.
It takes a lot of commitment and dedication to prepare and cook traditional heritage dishes in the truest way instead of taking shortcuts and cost cuts. No wonder Taman Tasek Kway Teow Kia keeps winning new fans and multi-generation old fans keep coming back year after year. Taman Tasek Kway Teow Kia stall is a dating hot spot of many couples and many return regularly with their children.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm Tuesday, 20 Nov 2018. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities in Singapore featured, and I believe you will enjoy it too.
👉 Drop by JB's Taman Tasek Hawker Centre to experience Malaysian hawker culture and taste some traditional heritage food. Taman Tasek Hawker Centre hasn't changed much because heritage is timeless and need not be trendy to be cool.
Taman Tasek Hawker Centre Address: Intersection of Jalan Lembah and Jalan Tasek, Taman Tasek, Johor Bahru, Malaysia GPS: 1°29'08.5"N 103°43'21.2"E 🌐 1.485680, 103.722567 Waze: 南濱園粿條仔 (type Taman Tasek Kway Teow Kia) Hours: 7:00am - 1:00pm (stalls close on different days)
Today, I joined Urban Sketchers Singapore during their sketching outing (sketchwalk) at the famous Old Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh restaurant in Tiong Bahru. This time I observed and took pictures only lah. Maybe next time, I may actually pick up the brush and sketch 😄
Old Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh is in this pretty deco art style building. It makes an interesting subject for sketchers.
The Urban Sketchers perched across Seng Poh Road facing Old Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh. I took some snaps of urban sketchers deeply engrossed in their passion.
Sketchers say sketching is very therapeutic and calming - a much desired respite from fast paced urban living.
Same building, same perspective but everyone's interpretation was different and unique. Everyone is bonded together by a shared love of sketching yet expresses themselves freely as individuals.
Urban sketching is not always very comfortable. Sometimes sketchers have to deal with rain and the hot sun. This morning, there were sudden showers followed by stifling heat but that didn't deter the passionate sketchers at all.
The palpable sense of pride and satisfaction after completing their sketches is infectious, inspiring curious bystanders to want to join in to try their hands at sketching straightaway 😄
At the end of the sketchwalk (usually 2-3 hours), all the completed sketches were displayed together for all to appreciate. Members generously share tips to encourage and help everyone sketch better. Everyone feels motivated and energised, wanting more.
The Urban Sketchers' passion for their art is matched by their love for good food. After sketching the Old Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh building, it was only natural to bond by indulging in good BKT together 😄
Urban Sketchers Singapore family photos before tucking in 😄
Ms Tia Boon Sin, the founder of Urban Sketchers Singapore is an architect-turned-art and design educator, now Artist in Residence at Temasek Polytechnic's Centre for Transcultural Studies. She founded Urban Sketchers Singapore in 2009 which explores the city, documenting its development with pen and brush, one drawing at a time. Each Urban Sketchers Singapore sketchwalk is now attended by about 50 sketching enthusiasts. Members range from hobbyists, to freelance illustrators and renowned professional artists. The group has earned international acclaim and is regularly invited to exhibit and document cityscapes overseas.
Our lunch 😋 Don't be jealous hor... 😄
Old Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh always delivers. The medium body soup has well balanced peppery heat and savoury sweetness from fresh pork. The prime rib was fall off the bone tender with subtle chewiness to the bite and was oozing sweet juices with every bite. One of the best Singapore style bak kut teh on the island.
Urban Sketchers Singapore was featured in the premiere episode of the popular Mediacorp Channel 8 series Tours of Discovery 星期二特写 (行脚发现).
Eunice Goh, a producer of the TV series Tours of Discovery.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm Tuesday, 20 Nov 2018. The second episode produced by Eunice Goh features Tiong Bahru, Thian Hock Keng temple and other interesting heritage stories about Singapore.
Learn more about Urban Sketchers Singapore and their activities by joining their Facebook Page. My fingers are itching now after watching their Tiong Bahru sketchwalk. Want to join?
Restaurant name: Old Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh 老字號中峇魯肉骨茶 Address: Blk 58, Seng Poh Road, #01-31 Singapore 160058 GPS: 1°17'04.4"N 103°49'57.8"E 🌐 1.284541, 103.832729 Waze: Old Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh Tel: 6223 3075 Hours: 6:30am - 9:00pm (Monday off) As there is limited stock of prime ribs daily, the best time to be here is from brekky till lunch Non Halal Date visited: 17 Nov 2018
I had long wanted to try the popular fish soup stalls Han Kee and Piao Ji at Amoy Hawker Centre. Didn't get to taste them until today because the queues were always sooo.... looong. Finally got the chance today because I was in the area early to visit the historic Thian Hock Keng temple.
I went straight for Han Kee because the queue is normally the longest. (I wanted to try Piao Ji on another day.) The order taker (auntie) came to take our orders and collected payment while we were back in the queue. I ordered fish soup and rice, and she said $5.50. As we got to the front of the stall, I saw that there were also $7 and $10 options. I requested to upsize to $7 (since already queued so long right..?) but auntie snapped "cannot change"😂
So here it is - the $5.50 serving of Han Kee fish soup. I thought it was quite a generous serving.
The clear watery light bodied soup was mildly savoury with a bit of fish sweetness and punctuated with bits of savoury fried garlic.
The slices of Batang fish (Spanish mackerel) were fresh, tender and naturally sweet. I liked it.
After I am done with the Han Kee fish soup, I was only ¾ full.
Just nice lah. I popped over to Piao Ji to top up to full tank 😄 The queue wasn't as long as at Han Kee but today, it seemed to take longer to clear (about 30 minutes). Like at Han Kee, the more friendly auntie at Piao Ji came up to the queue to take orders and collect payment. Prices started at $7 for fish soup at Piao Ji, so I ordered that.
The $7 fish soup from Piao Ji (I skipped the rice as this was my second round).
By the time I got my Piao Ji fish soup, it was already 12 noon. Walking around the hawker centre with my tray of food, I couldn't find any available table. Several tables were occupied by tissue paper. I had no choice but to sit at one of the "choped" tables and tried to finish my food quickly before the "owner" comes back.
Piao Ji's fish soup was watery light and tasted mildly savoury. There were layers of savouriness from fried shallot and also fried pork lard crackling. It was a bit "chok" compared to the more 清 clean tasting soup at Han Kee.
$7 at Piao Ji gets about the same amount of Batang fish at Han Kee for $5. Piao Ji's fish was sufficiently fresh but tasted slightly more savoury due to the soup. Oh... I managed to finish my meal and cleared the table before the tissue paper owner returned to his/her "choped" table.
👉 Wasn't my intention to do a comparison but since I ate at both Amoy food centre fish soup stalls back to back, why not right...? Truth be told, I feel both are just "ok only". But, since I prefer my fish soup to be cheng cheng (clear and clean tasting), I would opt for Han Kee the next time. This time I shall go for the $7 serving.
Which fish soup stall would you go for? What other stalls would you recommend at Amoy Street Food Centre?
Address: Amoy Street Food Centre @ intersection of Amoy Street and Telok Ayer Street, Singapore GPS: 1°16'46.9"N 103°50'49.1"E 🌐 1.279684, 103.846961
Restaurant name: Piao Ji Fish Porridge 標记 (stall #02-100) Hours: 11:00am - 2:00pm (Thurs off) Non Halal
Date visited: 19 Nov 2018 P.S. I went to Thian Hock Keng temple today to do research for my blog.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm Tuesday, 20 Nov 2018. The second episode features Thian Hock Keng temple and other interesting heritage stories about Singapore.
So many of my makan kakis ate and shared about Chef Kang's wanton mee at Jackson Square Cafe, I couldn't wait to check it out myself. (Chef Kang as you know is the chef behind the Singapore One Michelin Star Chef Kang Kitchen.)
Jackson Square Cafe is a small food court between Block A and Block B of Jackson Square. It is located at the street level. It is easy to find - once you are in Jackson Square, walk straight ahead along the large building until the end of Block A. Turn left and walk ahead until you see this outdoor food court - tadaa..... .
Reading about the 1 - 2 hour queues, I got here slightly after 9am to save myself the wait. At this early hour, I got my noodles in about 10 minutes. The staff were very polite and professional. An auntie just ordered like 30 packs 😱
I ordered the $5 wanton mee set. It comes beautifully plated with a bowl of soup. There's only the dry version (no noodle soup version). There's the $10 luxury edition with abalone. They also have $10 plates of char siew. You know me - I went just for the basics.
Let's cover the soup first. It was excellent. Actually, the best thing about Chef Kang's wanton mee.
It's a pork soup, not a dried sole fish soup 大地魚 (Hong Kong style), nor a dried anchovy soup (Malaysian style). The whitish milky soup was very smooth and round bodied. It had a very nice well balanced savoury sweet pork bone flavour. It's the kind of soup you get at fine Chinese restaurants. Buddy Aaron is right that this soup alone is worth $5.
There were 2 good size wantons inside the soup. The silky slippery smooth wanton skin wrapped minced pork, shrimp and chopped mushroom. The fresh pork tasted sweet, the soft spongy crunch of the mushroom added texture to the soft minced pork and shrimp. There was no sesame seed oil taste in the wanton.
The wanton mee came beautifully plated inside a deep oval shaped soup bowl. On the mound of egg noodles were char siew slices, choy sum greens and pork lard crackling at the side.
The egg noodles sat in a pool of heavy dark sauce.
The egg noodles were light and slender almost like mee hoon. The bamboo pole kneaded egg noodles were imported from Hong Kong. Tossed and well coated with dark soy sauce blend, it tasted caramelly sweet savoury with subtle hints of lard flavour. There was no lye water taste at all. Neither was there any egg taste (but honestly, I can't remember when was the last time I tasted egg in wanton mee anymore). The egg noodles had a light stringy springy crunch to the bite (which differs from the heavier soft firm more tactile crunch which I prefer).
Lard cracklings added crunch and old school touch to the wanton mee.
The char siew was nicely arranged. Good balance of fat and lean meat. It was tender and juicy. Tasted mainly caramel sweet with underlying savouriness and a bit of toastiness from the charred fringes.
Nice sambal chili with lots of hae bee (dried shrimps) in the savoury spicy blend. I didn't mix this in my noodles as I couldn't bear to throw the finely balanced sweet savoury tossing sauce off kilter.
👉 Nice wanton mee with good springy noodles in caramelly sweet savoury sauce. Good sweet savoury char siew. The most memorable part was the pork soup which was fine restaurant quality. Quite generous portion for $5 (damn worth it, as we say in Singapore). How generous? I wanted to pop over to Lik Ming for my laksa fix since it was just across the road. But, I decided against it as I was quite full already and wanted to save my stomach for lunch.
Oh... I didn't let any of that sweet savoury dark soy sauce blend go to waste - slurped it up to the last drop. I love that smooth well balanced blend of flavours.
P.S. Chef Kang's wanton mee has mixed reviews with strong opinions on both sides of the fence. Let us know what you think in the comments.
Today's Jackson Square was Fairchild Semiconductors in its past life. I know this view of Fairchild very well as I passed this way literally > 1,000 times. When I was in First Toa Payoh Secondary School, I walked to school and back from home in Lorong 5 every school day. I remember the ladies in their light blue mini skirt uniforms 😝 Both my old school and home have been demolished.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm Tuesday, 27 Nov 2018. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities in Singapore featured, and I believe you will enjoy it too.
Restaurant name: Chef Kang's Noodle House Address: Jackson Square Cafe, 11 Lor 3 Toa Payoh, Singapore 319579 GPS: 1°20'15.7"N 103°50'53.5"E 🌐 1.337701, 103.848202 Nearest MRT station: Braddell (10 minutes walk) Hours: 8:00am - 4:00pm | close at 2pm on Sat & Sun (Monday off) Non Halal Date visited: 21 Nov 2018 Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
I rarely eat fried ngoh hiang nowadays because of the grease. When I can no longer resist it, I get my ngoh hiang fix at 老中中餐室五香酥虾饼 Lao Zhong Zhong at Tai Thong Crescent in Singapore.
My favourite ngoh hiang is fried prawn crackers and I like it that they make it fresh at Lao Zhong Zhong. Ngoh hiang 五香 or five spice refer to the classic Chinese spice blend of cinnamon, clove, star anise, pepper, and fennel seed which is use to flavour the fried goodies. Ngoh hiang hawkers are usually Teochew or Hokkien. Lao Zhong Zhong is Teochew.
Owner Tan Kee Kwang in his 70s now, has been making ngoh hiang 五香 since he joined his father at his road side stall outside the old Thong Chai Medical Hall when he was 11 years old.
Lao Zhong Zhong stall was founded in the mid-50s, making it older than Singapore 😱 But, the good thing is Mr Tan has not changed anything - all his fried goodies are still handmade at the stall - a true heritage hawker.
After several moves through the decades, Lao Zhong Zhong settled in their own coffee shop at Tai Thong Crescent in 2008.
Lao Zhong Zhong has 14 items on their ngo hiang menu. Prices are very reasonable. There're water chestnut cake, Teochew pork sausage (guang chang), squid, tofu cube, fish ball, fish nugget, prawn cracker with egg, spring roll, ngo hiang roll, prawn cracker with tofu, century egg, octopus etc.
You just pick anything you fancy from the display like at a buffet. Pile them in a plate and hand it over to the staff who will re-fry and cut them into bait size.
First round about $9.
Second round, another $9 plus.
Lao Zhong Zhong's chili sauce is topped with crushed toasted peanuts and chopped onion. It tasted savoury spicy tangy with sweetness and nuttiness. (Lao Zhong Zhong doesn't serve that warm pinkish colour starchy sweet sauce which I like most with my fried prawn crackers 😂 )
Lao Zhong Zhong's sauce works perfectly with fried prawn crackers, my favourite ngoh hiang. Lao Zhong Zhong's fried crackers were snappy brittlely crisp yet they were not greasy at all.
Fried prawn and tofu combination cracker 豆干虾. Nice. The best of both worlds in texture and flavour.
Round three. The guang chang sausage which Mr Tan just made, came out of the kitchen, so we just had to get some.
灌肠 guang chang is another must have for at ngo hiang shops. It's chunks of lean meat, well marinated, stuffed in sausage skins, and cooked by steaming. Nice tender juiciness with natural sweet flavours.
Ate so many different things, can't remember anything which I didn't like - in other words, I liked everything 😋 Can't go wrong at Lao Zhong Zhong 😄
👍 If you want to indulge in fried crackers but don't want to waste your calories and cholesterol quota, you can count on Lao Zhong Zhong's freshly made fried goodies to deliver on taste and crispiness. It is reasonably priced and also not overly greasy.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm Tuesday, 27 Nov 2018. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities in Singapore featured, and I believe you will enjoy it too.
I love to sketch and love to eat (who doesn't?), so I thought combining the two activities would be having the best of both worlds. Today, I watched a prominent Singapore sketching group, Scenic Rangers 猎景骑兵, enjoy both at Noodle Place at Orchard Gateway. (No, I didn't sketch today lah - the thought of sketching, tasting, taking photos, taking notes all at once is still too daunting for me now 😂 )
Since the 1990s, Noodle Place (when they were in Centrepoint) have been my go to place in Singapore for authentic Hong Kong style noodles and congee.
Chef Chui has been with Noodle Place since the 1990s. Nearly 40 years on, he is now their consultant chef. Today, Chef Chui shared with Scenic Rangers and guests, the fine points of Hong Kong wanton noodle appreciation.
The humble wanton mee is probably the most iconic of Hong Kong cuisine.
I can smell the alluring aroma of the steamy soup when the bowl of wanton noodles arrived at my table. The medium bodied, tea coloured soup was quite robust - stacked deep with layers of savouriness. Many ingredients lent their savoury flavours to the soup including lots of sun dried seafood such as the essential dried sole fish 大地魚.
Noodle Place's egg noodles are just the right weight and thickness for me. They are done al dente - the slurpy smooth strands have light tender spring to the bite. The slurpy noodles take on the savoury flavour of the soup clinging on the strands.
A couple of wantons of fresh tender crunchy sweet shrimps wrapped in slippery smooth wanton skin complete the simple yet satisfying dish.
Scenic Rangers turning a table full of Noodle Place's culinary art into artistic sketches.
Other Scenic Rangers sketched the interior of Noodle Place.
Scenic Rangers 猎景骑兵 family photo and completed sketches with Chef Chui.
Scenic Rangers is a friendly, inclusive group of artists who paint on location (plein air) during their free time. They paint historic buildings, villages, harbours, back lanes, high-rise complexes, major landmarks, beautiful landscapes and also food 😋 Scenic Rangers welcome you to join their group to paint on location once or twice a month. Join Scenic Rangers Facebook group for their events announcements.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery series on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm Tuesday, 27 Nov 2018. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because it features many interesting people, places and activities in Singapore. It opened my eyes to sketching and I look forward to discovering more about Singapore with Tours of Discovery.
Restaurant name: Noodle Place Restaurant 华苑面粥小厨云吞面世家 Address: 277 Orchard Road #01-17 Orchard Gateway Singapore GPS: 1°18'01.7"N 103°50'19.3"E 🌐 1.300461, 103.838684 Nearest MRT: Somerset Tel: +65 6733 3171 Hours: 10:00am to 10:00pm Non Halal Date visited: 22 Nov 2018 Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
My friend Daphne contacted me to visit her newly opened cafe at Golden Wall Centre (just a short walk from Rochor MRT station). She wanted me to try her family's Granny Lee sauce.
I first met Daphne when she was managing her dad's Hui Mian Zhi Jia Pontian Noodle House in Pontian (back in 2014). Hui Mian Zhi Jia closed after Daphne's dad retired - she just opened BE Here Cafe with her husband Shan who is a Le Cordon Bleu trained Western cuisine chef.
BE Here Cafe is all about Granny Lee sauce. There is an interesting story behind the creation of Granny Lee sauce.
For the dinner banquet of Shan and Daphne's wedding at Ritz Carlton, they decided to serve Pontian noodles from Daphne's dad for the customary carb dish. However, as it was not possible to make authentic Pontian sauce in volume, a different sauce had to be created for the noodle dish. After much trial and error but without success, Shan's mother received an inspiration in her sleep. She woke Shan up and they created the sauce at 3am in the morning. It's a blend of rice oil, scallion, bay and basil leaves, soy sauce, garlic, chili and sugar. It turned out a great success. The noodles and sauce were very well received by the wedding banquet guests.
Shan's family soon found out that the sauce worked very well with many dishes. They decided to bottle it so more people can enjoy it. They dedicated the sauce to Shan's grandmother Granny Lee. Granny Lee came to Singapore from China in the 1930s. When her husband passed away, Granny Lee singlehandedly raised her 5 children by working as a domestic servant with a British family. Even then, Granny Lee had a generous spirit and would help people who were even less fortunate than her. When her children were grown up and started working, they gave her allowances from their then small salaries. To Shan's mother's dismay, she found out that Granny Lee gave away the allowances which her children gave her. When Granny Lee passed away, her children were saddened that none of the people whom she helped came to send her off. Some time later, a group of old folks asked to meet Shan's mum. When she arrived, the old folks knelt and everyone including Shan's mum were in tears. The old folks revealed that they didn't know Granny Lee had passed away. They told Shan's mum how much Granny Lee had helped them, and how they loved and missed her. From then on, Shan's mum understood Granny Lee and followed her example in doing charity work. The sauce is named Granny Lee in her honour. The cafe is also called BE Here, as B. E. are Granny Lee Boon Ee's initials.
BE Here cafe serves a version of that Pontian noodle with Granny Lee sauce from Shan and Daphne's wedding. The Pontian noodles come in slender mee kia and broad mee pok versions. The Granny Lee sauce comes in three flavours - original, hot and peppercorn. The Granny Lee noodle sets come with a (3 in 1) coffee/ tea (bag) / canned drink for $5.50 - $5.80.
I prefer BE Here's mee pok as it is broader than any that I can find in Singapore. Shan cooks the mee pok a notch softer than al dente as most customers like it this way. You can request for stiffer if you like more spring in your noodles.
As I like my noodles to have punchy tasting sauce, I like the peppercorn version of Granny Lee sauce most. The well balanced mildly savoury herby sauce with a peppery accent worked well with the mee pok. You can add more Granny Lee sauce if you like your noodles more slurpy and wet with sauce.
BE Here's noodles come with chicken soup with two good sized wantons, the same style as at Daphne's dad's Pontian shop. The smooth wanton skin wraps finely minced pork and ti poh (dried fish).
Shan demonstrated this stir fried chicken dish which we loved very much. The fresh chicken chunks were marinated overnight with Granny Lee original flavour sauce. They were then stir fried and tossed with Granny Lee peppercorn flavour sauce before serving. It worked really well, demonstrating the versatility of Granny Lee sauce for home cooking. The mildly savoury herby sauce complemented the natural sweetness of the fresh chicken. Shan said that with Granny Lee sauce, anyone can whip up a delicious meal easily.
Shan also demonstrated Granny Lee Original sauce with sauteed mushrooms. Same mildly savoury herby flavour which complemented the earthly savoury taste of the spongy fresh mushrooms. If you wish to try Granny Lee sauces, BE Here retails the 180 gram bottle at $8 each.
BE Here Cafe is at level two inside Golden Wall Centre which is accessible only by lifts. It is the only eatery inside the building which is relatively quiet (the building is slated for en bloc redevelopment) - meanwhile, it is a peaceful hideout in Singapore's busy city centre.
👉 Come and check out the Pontian noodles with Granny Lee sauces. If you like the unique savoury herby sauce, get some to use it in your home cooking. I think it works really well to bring out the natural taste of fresh meat and vegetables while adding a nice complementary savoury herby layer of flavour.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm Tuesday, 27 Nov 2018. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities in Singapore featured, and I believe you will enjoy it too.
Restaurant name: BE Here Address: 89 Short Street, Golden Wall Centre, #02-12, Singapore 188216 (steps from Rochor MRT station) GPS: 1°18'13.2"N 103°51'05.5"E 🌐 1.303661, 103.851530 Tel: 96820999 Hours: 11:00am - 4:00pm (Sat & Sun off) Non Halal Date visited: 23 Nov 2018 Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
There are about a dozen popular nasi padang shops in Singapore's Kampong Glam area near Sultan Mosque. One of my favourites is Warong Nasi Pariaman.
Warong Nasi Pariaman is at the intersection of Kandahar Street and North Bridge Road, steps from Sultan Mosque (on the right of this photo).
Pak Jumrin's parents Pak Isrin and Bu Rosna founded Warong Nasi Pariaman in 1948 (that's exactly 70 years ago 😮 ). Named after Pak Isrin's hometown Pariaman in West Sumatra, this is Singapore's oldest nasi padang shop. Warong Nasi Pariaman have expanded over the years but have been around this same spot all this while. Needless to say, it has fans that span generations.
A peek into the kitchen revealed a few things that have not changed. They still cook rice in that old school conical steaming tower. Rendang is still stewed with rempah (spices) in a large cast iron wok over slow charcoal fire. Warong Nasi Pariaman grind their own spices (never used ready made curry powder) for their rendang. Pak Jumrin revealed that it takes at least 4 hours of stewing to make beef rendang with charcoal fire.
Warong Nasi Pariaman serves some 20 dishes. Pak Jumrin said they are traditional dishes of West Sumatra (where the city of Padang is located, hence the name nasi Padang). I took a few snaps through the window.
Beef rendang is not a pretty dish but most people would acknowledge that it is one of the world's tastiest food.
First time seeing beef spleen rendang. Can't wait to try it.
Lamb rendang.
Charcoal grilled chicken (ayam panggang).
Fried mackerel.
Fried curried fish.
Curry squid.
Warong Nasi Pariaman is always busy especially during meal times.
Camera always eat first.
Yummy Enak! Oh.. I love this beef rendang. The meat was soft tender and juicy. It was saturated with rich coconut milk sweetness and mild spiciness. Every bite released alluring spice aromas such as from lemongrass. Many places serve chewy stiff salty spicy beef rendang (like spicy beef jerky). Personally, I prefer the soft tender sweet spicy variety like here at Warong Nasi Pariaman.
Rendang beef spleen has a unique soft spongy texture deeply infused with mild sweet savoury spicy flavours. Pulling the spice saturated spleen apart reveals a soft mesh of silky fibres. First time eating this but from now on, I will surely order this whenever it is available.
Sweet spicy curry squid.
Charcoal grilled selar fish with kicap manis (sweet soy) sauce and a blanket of chopped onion, chili with tamarind juice.
Chicken neck in sweet spicy curry.
One of my must order nasi padang dishes - young jackfruit curry (gulai nangka Padang).
Freshly made savoury spicy pulpy sambal chili (is a signature of nasi Padang and Indonesian cuisine, in general).
👍 I love Warong Nasi Pariaman's nasi padang. The food are made with fresh ingredients, cooked the traditional way till tender and are well infused with sweet, mildly spicy, savoury flavours.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm Tuesday, 27 Nov 2018. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities in Singapore featured, and I believe you will enjoy it too.
Chinatown Complex Food Centre was closed for washing today but we didn't worry for even a second because Singapore Chinatown is overflowing with good food options. Just a short walk took us to Foong Kee Coffee Shop 豐記咖啡店 on Keong Saik Road which is famous for their Cantonese roasts and wanton mee.
The lunch time queue attests to the popularity of Foong Kee's Cantonese roasts for a work day meal.
While waiting for our food, I peeped into the kitchen. Foong Kee roasts their meats with charcoal in an Apollo oven.
Chef boss Derrick was roasting the second batch of meat of the day. The very friendly boss (formerly in shoe retail) has over twenty years of roasting experience (switching careers in his thirties).
A large pot of bone soup simmering over slow fire.
Meanwhile, the queue seemed to be ever growing.
The front office was extremely busy.
It took about 30 minutes before we got our food.
The roast duck meat was tender but didn't have any strong flavours - it was just mildly savoury, and somewhat flat tasting. The skin was golden brown but wasn't very crisp. There wasn't any fat which is good news for some (but not me 😝 ).
The siew yok (roast pork belly) was just mildly savoury. The meat was slightly firm and the golden brown rind had just a slight crisp (not crackly).
The char siew with a nice balance of meat and fat was tender and juicy. It tasted mostly caramel sweet with just a slight underlying savouriness and toastiness.
I enjoyed eating Foong Kee's char siew with their egg noodles.
The generic egg noodles were done al dente with a nice tender crunch. I like how the springy noodles enveloped by the savoury spicy sauce combined deliciously with the tender sweet char siew. Foong Kee's sauce is a blend of oyster sauce, soy sauce and balacan chili.
We had a bowl of wanton. To me, the best thing in the bowl was the savoury sweet clear soup. The wanton was ok - the skin was a little thick and knob of tender minced meat was mildly sweet.
👉 If you like your char siew tender, juicy and mainly sweet with slight savoury toastiness, Foong Kee 豐記咖啡店 has it for you. I like it together with their egg noodles coated with mildly savoury spicy sauce. Their bone soup is also nice.
Join me to watch Tours of Discovery on Singapore Mediacorp Channel 8 at 8:30pm Tuesday, 27 Nov 2018. No lah, I am not in the show lah. I like it because of the interesting people, places and activities in Singapore featured, and I believe you will enjoy it too.
Nasi Padang Sukaramai inside Senteral coffee shop 中央餐室 just beside City Square mall have been around for decades, yet this family run stall have somehow evaded the social media radar. But, it is popular with downtown office workers who come here for their work day lunch.
Pak Anas' family runs Nasi Padang Sukaramai.
Pak Anas runs the front office with his son and daughter.
Pak Anas' wife helms the kitchen with a few helpers. It will be near noon when most of the dishes are ready.
Senteral coffee shop is windowless, so it will feel dim when you come in from outside. The space is compact, simply furnished. Almost everyone is local - this place feels non touristy even though it is right beside City Square mall.
My humble lunch. I heaped lots of curry tapioca leaves whenever I can find it 😄 Love the sweet spicy taste of the curry and the soft squeaky chewiness of tapioca leaves.
Like any nasi padang stall worth its salt, Nasi Padang Sukaramai serves a few different sambal chilies. I picked the pulpy green one.
Sukaramai's beef rendang is the firm and moist kind (not the tender and juicy type). The slightly chewy chunk of perfumed beef has nice spice flavour and aroma which are released with every bite. (Price RM5 a piece.) Next time, I shall try the lamb rendang.
My lunch last year when it was served on paper and banana leaf.
Beef rendang is not very pretty until you rip into it 😄 Then, few things taste as good. Nasi Padang Sukaramai have many other dishes, there is something for everyone.
Burung Puyuh Goreng Cili Kering (deep fried quail with chili). Fried snapper fish with chili.
Huge generous chunks of Spanish Mackerel cooked in curry.
Snapper fish in curry.
Nasi Padang Sukaramai seemed to be extra strong in the fish department (but I have not tried their fish dishes yet).
Customers help themselves to three types of sambal chili.
👉 Humble unassuming little nasi padang stall right in the heart of downtown JB. I like to drop by for a fix of beef rendang and curry tapioca leaves before heading to Singapore on a full stomach. Prices are very reasonable.
Kedai Kopi Dan Makanan Senteral where Nasi Padang Sukaramai stall is located, is directly across Jalan Station from the Maybank branch in City Square.
Restaurant name: Nasi Padang Sukaramai Mak Malin Address: Kedai Kopi Dan Makanan Senteral 中央餐室, 6 Jalan Stesen, Johor Bahru, Malaysia GPS: 1°27'37.8"N 103°45'51.5"E 🌐 1.460492, 103.764296 Hours: 11:30am - 2:00pm (for nasi padang) Halal
Date visited: 15 Nov 2018 Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
You know, it's one of those days when all three eateries I planned to try were all closed for the day. I was getting hungry and running out of time for my other commitments when I found myself in Masai. When I am lost for ideas and tired, I fall back on places that I believe won't fail me. In Masai, my comfort food hideout is 肆源小炒 zhi char stall.
I ordered a fried hor fun 河粉 which is a comfort dish like a comfort blanket to me. 肆源小炒 boss fries a mean hor fun with wok hei, smooth well balanced sauce and nice complementary toppings of poached chicken and sio bak (roast pork).
Then, this landed on my table. Mr. Tay and I know each other well enough for me to accept whatever he would like to feed me, like omakase like that (even though I ordered something else) 😄 "Let you try 焖 braised noodles" Mr. Tay said.
That's Mr. Tay for you. Truth be told, my first thought was "I ordered hor fun leh..". A talented chef who is always striving for excellence, serving generic egg noodles with the usual soy or chili sauce won't cut it for Mr. Tay. So, he braised the egg noodles with Hokkien mee type savoury sauce - well, it tasted a lot better, more interesting than the average wanton mee soy and/ or chili sauce blend.
Ah.... all good wanton mee must have this.... . I often commented that generic wanton mee must have very good sauce. Mr. Tay took that to the next level (hitting the ball out of the park altogether 😂 ).
It was this tasty wanton and soup that reminded me that I was being served a form of wanton mee 😄
The clear soup was so tasty - it tasted well balanced mild sweet savoury. It was chicken soup with extras that gave it added layers of natural sweet savouriness.
Old school wantons - smooth thin wanton skin wrapping a thumb size knob of minced fresh pork. It was naturally sweet and so... delicious. Mrs. Teh only makes small batches of wantons with fresh pork. She makes another fresh batch when the stock runs out. At 肆源小炒 wantons are never made in bulk and frozen, or worst, pre-cooked en masse.
👉 It's not really wanton mee lah... or is it? But heck, it was so delicious and satisfying. Let's just say it's wanton mee with much better sauce. Read more about the other yummies at 肆源小炒👈 click
Restaurant name: 肆源小炒 Address: Intersection of Jalan Masai Lama and Jalan Bunga Ros (directly opposite Masai bus and taxi terminal) GPS: 1°29'10.7"N 103°53'07.4"E 🌐 1.486291, 103.885394 Hours: 9:00am to 7:00pm (Saturday off) Non Halal Date visited: 28 Nov 2018
I am on a food trail from Johor Bahru 🚙 KL 🚙 Ipoh and back to JB - dates from 29 Nov (Weds) to 4 Dec (Tues). I am updating this post everyday during the road trip - follow this post if you like to know what we are eating and how we like it 😋 (or not ).
Of course, the first thing is to ask you, my makan kaki for foodie tips 😄
First stop was not really part of the food trail. I was waiting here standing by to pick up buddy Aaron once he cleared JB CIQ. Turned out I enjoyed the roti canai and also the kuah (curry), thus starting the day on a positive note.
On the way to KL we pulled over at Yong Peng for char siew at Sunroast. Turned out that the roast chicken was the one that stole the show. The freshly roasted bird was oh.. so.. tender and juicy. It tasted toasty with natural chicky sweetness. The watery brown sauce added mild savoury taste which balanced the sweet and toasty flavours. The char siew didn't fare so well as it leaned on flat caramel sweetness.
Almost an obligatory stop for beef lovers travelling between KL and JB these days. Restoran Do Do Do was really busy when we were there. Everyday, they have a small supply of never chilled local cow beef which is cooked by steaming. We get the full sweet beefiness from its tender juicy meat.
An old favourite. Prices at Green View have always been at a premium but the good food and old school service (i.e. personal and warm) have kept the two storey restaurant fully packed during peak hours for over thirty years.
Coming to KL must tick the tai lok meen or KL Hokkien mee box. Tong Lian Kee Hokkien mee stall actually got no signboard. It operated at the corridor of a building at the intersection of Jalan Sarawak and Jalan Pudu for over 40 years. Now, it has taken over the shop at the corridor. Besides it's famous tai lok meen, Tong Lian Kee is also popular for Putien dishes like lor mee as the boss is Foochowese. Today, we proceed to Ipoh for day 2 of our food trail.
Skipped breakfast except for a coffee as I felt a little guilty about eating so much the day before. I got plenty of energy from yesterday's food to power me for the 2 hour drive to Ipoh.
Stumbled upon this siu yok (roast pork) stall at the famous yong tau fu eatery at Big Foot Tree. I like this style of sio bak as the marination is mildly salty savoury mostly on the crispy crackly skin and lean layer. The fat stays juicy sweet which gave the whole mouthful a balanced savoury sweetness.
Always ending up here whenever we are in Ipoh. The white coffee is very photogenic and quite nice but I actually like their black coffee (kopi O) more for their robust bitter sweet taste and coffee aroma. The black coffee also have nice smooth body.
As they say, there is always room for dessert, especially if it is silky smooth, light, melts in your mouth bean curd with many options of flavours and toppings from gula Melaka to grass jelly.
Very busy restaurant serving only poached chicken, blanched taugeh and hor fun (no rice). Fully packed with people waiting for tables but service is fast - we got our food in around 15 minutes. Must come here for an authentic local foodie experience.
After a good night's rest, we went to Moon De Moon for breakfast. Just seven years old, Moon De Moon has captured the hearts of Ipoh locals - not a small feat considering that chicken kai si hor fun is a staple and there are hundreds of such stalls here (some decades old).
After an enjoyable breakfast, we did the obligatory tourist thing of visiting Concubine Lane 😄 I enjoyed it actually. There was a good blend of authenticity, heritage with commercial business. Lots of people enjoyed it too looking at the smiles on everyone's faces. I shall be back as there are some nice heritage eateries which I like to try.
We have two more days in Ipoh. Where do you recommend we go for this food trail? Share your favourites in the comments. We love to taste it 😄
Come back to this post from now till 4 Dec 2018 to see "live" what we are having 😋 (I am doing this post on the fly so come back for more stalls and more details as I go.)
I got my ticket for the Micheal Learns to Rock concert in Batam on 15 Dec 2018 lo. Don't be 25 minutes too late 😉 Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
It was the end of our whole day food trail from JB to KL, after our fourth meal. Every meal was great but it would not be right if we did not taste a Hokkien mee or tai lok meen when we were in KL. Running through the dozens of popular options, I reminisced about a Hokkien mee stall that operated along the corridor at a side street off Jalan Pudu. We decided to go and check it out, though I actually assumed that it was no longer there (just like the mee hoon kueh stall across the road from it).
When we got here at the intersection of Jalan Sarawak and Jalan Pudu, I was surprised and delighted that the corridor stall was still here. We ate here regularly but my last time here was in 2003.
The little Hokkien mee stall along the corridor was still here and, in fact, took over the whole adjacent shop lot - they broke down the outside wall and we can sit inside now 😮 I never knew the name of this little shop all these years as there was no signboard. Today, I found out that it is known as Tong Lian Kee 东莲记.
Mr. Chai and wife had been running Tong Lian Kee here at Jalan Sarawak for over 40 years. Mr. Chai was extremely busy, cooking non stop over his turbocharged charcoal stove but he obliged this inquisitive stranger from out of town. I told him we are his big fans and had been enjoying his Hokkien mee since my kids were toddlers. He shared that his children are grown up too and his son is a New York City based doctor. Mr. Chai is Foochowese, so he also serves Foochow dishes like white lor mee etc which I saw many customers order. Shall try Mr. Chai's Foochow dishes next time.
Tong Lian Kee's dark brown-black Hokkien mee comes topped with lard cracklings, greeting us with the aroma of caramelised soy sauce and smoking hot lard as it landed on our table. The mound of noodles had just the right moistness - neither drippy nor too dry.
I had a lot of difficulty getting this shot as the fat noodles fully covered with grease were so slick. During this trip (after trying this plus 3 other popular KL Hokkien mee stalls), I realised that old school Hokkien mee stall which are unapologetic about liberal use of lard are today in the minority. Most of the popular Hokkien mee stalls are nowadays light handed with lard - thank goodness, Tong Lian Kee 东莲记 isn't one of them 😄
The dish had layers of savoury flavours from the lard and soy sauce blend infused into the thick tender spongy strands. There were small pieces of cuttlefish, lean pork, pork liver, prawn, cabbage etc which added flavours and different textures to the dish. The lard cracklings did their work too, adding crunch, flavour and aroma. Every mouthful was full of flavour and aroma, and the slick lard greased our lips (the last point, I imagine doesn't win over many ladies as it inevitably ruins their lipstick 💋 ). Their savoury spicy chili sauce was good but I didn't use it with my Hokkien mee as the noodles were flavoursome enough by themselves.
👍 One of the last Mohicans of KL Hokkien mee where lard is used, no holds barred. The Hokkien mee is tasty and aromatic, and the dimly lit, dingy setting is authentic in the gritty old heart of Kuala Lumpur city. Highly recommended for an authentic foodie experience. P.S. Does anyone remember the mee hoon kueh stall along the corridor opposite Tong Lian Kee? It was run by a granny, her daughter and grandson. We last ate there 15 years ago. I didn't see them there that night.
Restaurant name: Tong Lian Kee 东莲记福建面 Address: Intersection of Jalan Sarawak and Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia GPS: 3°08'16.3"N 101°42'35.9"E 3.137858, 101.709980 Waze: Tong Lian Kee Hokkien Mee Hours: 8:00pm - 2:00am (Sunday closed) Non Halal
