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| Restoran CM 亚明潮式鱼头鱼汤 | 21, Jalan Prang Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru 📞 +6012 774 7775 🕐 11am - 9pm (Sun off) |
✍️3 Oct 2024. Last stop for today's dawn till dusk Johor Bahru food trail was dinner at Restoran CM in Taman Pelangi.
Restoran CM is a local old Teochew 老潮州 favourite that has been around for over thirty years.
When I got here, I noticed they changed their sun bleached signboard. But, the new signage was just a copy of the old simple, understated one (which itself was a copy of the previous one 😅).
The signage doesn't give much hints on the excellent food inside, so IYKYK (if you know, you know), otherwise you drive on and missed a great meal 😅
Decor and furnishings were pretty gritty, spartan but the shoplot restaurant was bright, neat, clean and comfortably cool inside. Hmmmm, not recommended for a first date 🤭
Eh? They didn't change anything since 3 Jan 2012 😯
Restoran CM is in the second generation now, run by Chew Meng for the past ten years. By the way, if you are like me, wondered what CM means - Chew Meng's father who founded the restaurant named it after his son, hence CM.
You know..., Chinese fathers tend to be reticent, and express their love in silent, subtle ways..... .
The menu hasn't changed since I first ate here in Jan 2012, one of the first blog posts in Johor Kaki blog.
CM and wife had considered updating the menu with new dishes but decided to stick to the original which kept their loyal regulars happy and also brought in new fans. They qualified that prices had changed but I replied that after adjusting for inflation, prices actually hasn't changed much, if any, at all.
Okay, let's roll.
We had fried fish belly and lips, fried sweet potato leaves and fish porridge. The porridge was almost finished when I took this picture 😅
Didn’t order many dishes as we were already very full 😂
First to arrive was the fish porridge which came steamy and churning, bubbling hot in a claypot.
The tea colour, watery soup was medium bodied, savoury sweet with suspended soft tender rice in the Teochew style. The fish slices, a mix of snappers (Jenahak and Merah), were soft tender, fresh and naturally sweet. Slivers of finely julienned ginger added a subtle bit of ginger aroma and heat.
It was so delicious.
The obligatory green.
We just cin cai (randomly) ordered sweet potato leaves fried 清炒 with garlic as there were too many choices 😂
Turned out, it was brilliant.
Yeah... the simplest dishes or preparations reveal the best chefs.
It was one of the most crunchy and juicy renditions of this humble green staple that I have tasted so far.
The vegetable was seared in high heat to just drive away the raw green taste, and seal in the delicate sweetness in its juices with savoury overlying flavours from oil, soy sauce, and garlic.
CM's famous signature fried fish which come in choices of head, slices, belly and lips.
We chose belly and went along with lady boss' suggestion of lips as well.
Not a photogenic heap but almost every table at CM will have this fried fish dish 😁
The snapper fish belly was soft tender. Its natural sweetness was discernible despite the overlay of robust savoury flavours and spicy heat from soy sauce, fresh chili, dried chili and lots of ginger slices.
The fish lips were actually gelatinous pieces cut from the head of shovel nose ray (usually called a shark by mistake). Not much flavour of its own from the jelly-like gelatin. The flavour came from the blended savoury spicy sauce of soy sauce, dried chili and ginger. Nice!
This dish is CM's winner.
CM uses legendary Bentong ginger renowned for their pungent aroma and spicy heat for that extra kick you find in CM's dishes.
JB is booming with new, flashy dinning concepts from KL and abroad but CM remains a gem from the old Johor Bahru culinary scene. The old humble restaurant is holding its own with delicious old school dishes at competitive prices.
Traditional Teochew restaurants are now rare in Little Swatow, the nickname given to Johor Bahru due to its major Teochew local population. But, you wouldn't know it from casual observation, as JB's population is now a mix of local, as well as from outstation and abroad.
We will definitely be back at CM regularly to try more dishes.
Restaurant name: Restoran CM 亚明潮式鱼头鱼汤
Address: 21, Jalan Prang Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru
Tel: +6012 774 7775
Hours: 11am - 9pm (Sun off)
Written by Tony Boey on 3 Oct 2024
✍11 Jun 2018. 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 sports the same signboard from 6 years ago - just slightly weathered.
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 亚明潮式鱼汤 is trusted for the quality of its fresh fish.
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.
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.
Steamed Cai Pu Fish 菜脯蒸鱼. Thick slab of fresh snapper fish blanketed with preserved turnip and steamed.
The sweetness in the tender juicy fresh snapper meat was complemented by mild savouriness from the preserved turnip (chai poh).
La La clams stir fried with sambal chili.
The subtle taste of fresh la la clams was shy when smothered by robust savoury spicy sambal chili and julienned chili pepper.
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.
Fried Meat Roll 炸肉卷.
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.
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.
👉 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
Restaurant name: Restoran CM 亚明潮式鱼汤
Address: 21, Jalan Perang, Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1°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
Follow for more good JB food
✍3 Jan 2012. Behind their non-descript, plain looking, rather unimaginative signboard is one of JB people’s favourite restaurants.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Address: 21, Jalan Perang, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru
GPS: 1.481685, 103.774479
Hours: Daily (Closed on Sundays)
Hours: Daily (Closed on Sundays)
Non Halal
Date visited: 3 Jan 2012, 2 July 2013
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