You Char Kway 油炸粿 @ Kim Ling 金岭 Coffee Shop in Taman Perling, Johor Bahru

I was enjoying my char kway teow and kopi o kaw, when I caught sight of this you char kway 油炸粿 stall just outside Kim Ling 金岭 coffee shop.

I was captivated, watching the entire process of the stall owner kneading the dough at the front of the stall, frying the dough in a wok of boiling hot oil, and selling the freshly fried fritters right there, on the spot.

The stall is an OMO i.e. one man operation. The stall owner MR Koay makes the dough, fries it, and sells it - everything all by himself, without any help.

Well, not exactly. You see, MR Koay encourages his customers to just take what they like at RM0.60 a piece and drop the money by themselves into a plastic ice cream tub. MR Koay also encouraged his customers to take their own change by dipping into the tub themselves. Everything is done on an honour system. Well, as far as I could see this system worked pretty well, here.

I couldn't resist trying MR Koay's fried goodies. As this is a OMO stall, MR Koay sells only 4 types of fried fritters.

The you char kway 油炸粿 was crispy outside, and inside they were chewy and fluffy. It did not have that heavy greasy feel and aftertaste on the tongue that I sometimes got from eating you char kway elsewhere.

MR Koay offers a soft and chewy plain ham chim peng which is a blend of savoury, delicate salty and sweet. MR Koay also has the same soft and chewy ham chim peng with sweet red bean paste filling inside.

These are MR Koay's own version of butterfly dough fritters. Unlike the usual buttery fritters, these have a hole in the middle. MR Koay cheekily calls these his 开心果 because they look like "fruit with a hole" and 开心果 sounds like "happy fruit" in Mandarin.

Fried dough fritters are a versatile food. They can be eaten on their own with a beverage like coffee, or they can go with any of the other food sold at Kim Ling 金岭 coffee shop.

There are many stalls at Kim Ling serving a wide variety of hawker fare including pork organ soup 猪杂汤, kway tiao kia (kway chap), Penang char kway teow, yong tau foo, vegetarian 素食 food, chicken rice, chee cheong fun, mixed vegetable rice 经济饭菜, and more.

The hawker stalls at Kim Ling open from 7:00am to about 2:00pm. In the evening, a zhi char stall takes over.


Restaurant name: You Char Kway 油炸粿 Stall @ Kim Ling 金岭 Coffee Shop
Address: 19, Jalan Simbang, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/LhmB
GPS: 1.482709,103.681223
Hours: Hawker stalls operate from 7:00am to 2:00pm
(Closed on alternate Wednesdays)
Non Halal

Date visited: 13 July 2012