Makan Blitz with Johor Kakis @ Taman Pelangi Food Centre in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

 

Pelangi Food Centre was our first Makan Blitz session. The idea mooted by Euginn (of WGOIJB) and Kumes was to explore Johor's food centres as a team. Our team ordered dishes from as many stalls as possible and enjoyed the sumptuous spread of food together. We had a lot of fun and good food. Our Johor Kakis were still fresh and beaming with energy at the end of the marathon session.

 

Taman Pelangi Food Centre awakes at around 6:00pm and party till midnight every night. This is a popular place for casual, affordable dinners and supper. These were the satay, laksa yong tau foo, and fish soup/ pork organ soup stalls.

 

The claypot chicken, cuttle fish/ rojak, five spice 五香, and fruit juice stalls.

 

 

The Hokkien mee, kway teow kia, mee hoon kuih, and Penang char kway teow stalls.

How did we like the food? No Johor state level champions here but Pelangi Food Centre has a good collection of hawkers who serve good standard hawker fare at very reasonable prices in a convenient, central location. Well, we finished all the food we ordered, so it was a clear sign that the food was pretty good here. 

 

The claypot chicken had all the works - tender well marinated chunks of chicken, lap cheong (Cantonese pork sausages), salted fish, spring unions and caramelised rice drizzled with dark soy based gravy.

 

 

The Hokkien mee was competently executed. Like the other dishes, the plate of Hokkien mee was polished clean by our Kakis.

Nicely done pork offal soup that even picky connoisseurs won't have much to complain about.

 

 

This cuttle fish kang kong won the most votes. The kang kong was fresh, the cuttle fish tender yet springy and the sambal gravy was an attractive blend of savoury, spicy and sweet.

 

The rojak from the same cuttle fish stall was also popular with our Johor Kakis. Those heavily flavoured skinny, paper thin, dried cuttle fish slices were highlighted by a few of us.
 



Chicken satay

  

 Beef satay

These satay earned praises from most Kakis. Almost no fats on the meat, yet were still tender and not overly dry.

 

The marinate was loaded with flavour and the satay's taste was further enhanced by dipping it in the peanut sauce.

 

 

This plate of chicken breast meat cooked in dark soy sauce would appeal to the health conscious.

 

A few of us liked this Penang char kway teow. Nicely done and serving it on a banana leaf was a nice touch.

 

 

 

The kway teow kia stall owner was very warm and obviously proud of his food. He was eager that we all enjoyed his braised pork offal, which we did, looking at what was left over - nothing except for a wet plate :)

 

 

 

The mee hoon kuih was pretty much like home cooked food, exactly as this traditional Hokkien staple should be. Nothing fanciful or pretentious, just wholesome comfort food for all.

 

 

 

This laksa gravy may not look very heavy bodied but it packed a punch in flavour and was suitably spicy. The laksa was generously loaded with chunky pieces of tasty yong tau foo.

 

 

 

The five spice 五香 stall was most remembered for their crispy fried tofu.

 



  

The refreshing avocado juice from the fruit juice stall was the most popular drink of the evening. I believe all of us had seconds :)

 

We had a lot of fun on our first Makan Blitz outing. Pelangi Food Centre is indeed a good place to chill after work and for supper. There is bound to be something for everyone. All the food we had tasted better because of the great company that we had and the casual, welcoming ambiance of Pelangi Food Centre. Come as you are, as you like :) I just love this life style.

 

The Johor Kakis were already discussing and looking forward to our next outing at Century Garden Food Centre as we ate :)

  



Restaurant name: Taman Pelangi Food Centre
Address: Open space at the junction of Jalan Perang and Jalan Sri Pelangi (opposite Alliance Bank)
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/6r2ye
GPS: 1.481395,103.772872
Hours: 6:00pm to midnight
Halal and Non Halal available

Date visited: 3 Oct 2012