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Restoran CM 阿明 in Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Fried Fish Head

Came back to Restoran CM 亚明潮式鱼汤 in Taman Pelangi in JB for lunch with makan kakis after 6 years. It's still a good place for a workday meal or simple family dinner with fresh ingredients and homely flavours.

Restoran CM 阿明 in Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Restoran CM sports the same signboard from 6 years ago - just slightly weathered.

Restoran CM 阿明 in Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Restoran CM felt the same from 6 years ago too - local crowd packing in the no frills, simply furnished eatery. Service was quick, efficient and polite provided you do not hem and haw, and hesitate, and wonder what to eat 😂 CM is a very busy restaurant during peak meal times.

Restoran CM 阿明 in Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Restoran CM 亚明潮式鱼汤 is trusted for the quality of its fresh fish.

Restoran CM 阿明 in Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru. Menu

The menu looked the same, in that the repertoire of dishes had not change. The prices needless to say have gone up quite a bit since 2012.

Fried Fish Head

Restaurant CM's signature fried fish head is a dish I remember well from my last visit, so we ordered that again.

Today's fried fish head was wetter than I remembered it. The savoury black bean sauce, dried chili pepper, ginger and spring onion together tasted sharper, so the delicate fresh fish sweetness was harder to discern this time.

Cai Poh Steam Fish

Steamed Cai Pu Fish 菜脯蒸鱼. Thick slab of fresh snapper fish blanketed with preserved turnip and steamed.

Cai Poh Steam Fish

The sweetness in the tender juicy fresh snapper meat was complemented by mild savouriness from the preserved turnip (chai poh).

Sambal Chili La La Clams

La La clams stir fried with sambal chili.

Sambal Chili La La Clams

The subtle taste of fresh la la clams was shy when smothered by robust savoury spicy sambal chili and julienned chili pepper.

Salted Fish Steam Mince Pork

Steamed Salted Fish with Minced Pork 咸鱼蒸肉碎.

Sweet minced pork balanced with savoury salted fish - a homely dish straight out of ma / grandma's kitchen.

Teochew Meat Roll

Fried Meat Roll 炸肉卷.

Teochew Meat Roll

Minced pork mixed with chopped carrot and chives rolled in tofu skin. Fried to golden brown crisp outside and served with a savoury spicy chili sauce.

Fried Chai Sim

Stir fried chai sim huey 菜心花 (choy sum fa) provided the obligatory greens to round up the lunch. Fried anchovies added savoury balance to the vegetable taste of crunchy juicy chai sim huey.

Restoran CM 阿明 in Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

👉 Looking around, most of Restoran CM's clientele were local and regulars. The ingredients were fresh, service was quick, and flavours were homely. It's a good place for an affordable authentic Teochew dining experience.

Hungry Rick's review of Restoran CM 👈 click

Restoran CM 阿明 in Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Restaurant nameRestoran CM 亚明潮式鱼汤
Address21, Jalan Perang, Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru
GPS1°28'54.8"N 103°46'24.1"E 🌐 1.481879, 103.773360
Tel+60 12-711 5183
Hours: 11:00am - 9:00pm (opens at 4pm on Sunday 🕓 closes at 4pm on Tues)

Non Halal



Date visited: 11 Jun 2018


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Restoran CM 阿明 in Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Behind their non-descript, plain looking, rather unimaginative signboard is one of JB people’s favourite restaurants.

Restoran-CM-阿明-Taman-Pelangi-Johor-Bahru

CM restaurant 阿明 is always noisily filled to capacity with regular customers during lunch. No need for fancy signboards or expensive advertising – just word of mouth draws a steady stream of fans and converts to CM.


CM specialises in Teochew styled fish dishes and one of their hot favourites is their stir fried fish. You can choose meat, head, stomach or opt for a combination of all three. 

My favourite is stir fried fish head.


The fish head is chopped into small chunks and then stir fried in oil using high heat with dried chillies, ginger, spring onions and fermented soy bean paste. The resulting dish is pungent and yet the fish meat encased in the head bones that shielded it from the searing wok - is still tender, moist and fresh.



Despite the threatening looking dried chillies and pungent assault on our nose and eyes, the fried fish meat was only gently spicy.

The tasty fish meat and bones seduces and then conquer your taste buds with its alternating gentle and forceful flavours - sweet tender meat and heavily flavoured sauce. 

This superb fried fish head costs RM18 (Jan 2012 price).

After enjoying JB’s favourite restaurants, I realised that their essential “secret” is really no secret at all. The “secret” is in using the freshest ingredients and to use the most intense heat to seal in the fish's natural freshness and flavour. This eliminates the need to use excessive salt, sugar and MSG to artificially boost the food’s flavour and taste. Of course, the quality of the dish also depends on the artistry of the chef.

After learning to appreciate fresh food prepared with high heat by artists, it is hard to be satisfied with food assembled by barely trained kitchen hands with processed ingredients and chemical boosters.

Restoran-CM-阿明-Taman-Pelangi-Johor-Bahru

Back at CM after more than a year. 

Nothing much has changed. Same full house during lunch and the people even looked like those I saw early last year! The same service staff, with the same poker faced expressions 😄

Ordered an Ikan Merah fish head steamed Teochew style (RM56). Just simple, clean, fresh and naturally sweet fish. 

Restoran-CM-阿明-Taman-Pelangi-Johor-Bahru

Also had simple sweet potato leaves stir fried in sambal belacan (RM7.00). Nicely done as you can see from the picture. The crunchy texture and the juices of the leaves were sealed in by skillful wok work.

I will be back at CM!


Restaurant name: Restaurant CM 阿明
Address: 21, Jalan Perang, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru
Map: http://g.co/maps/gvy56
GPS: 1.481685, 103.774479
Hours: Daily (Closed on Sundays)

Non Halal

Date visited: 3 Jan 2012, 2 July 2013

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