I have been to Din BBQ Station twice, once last year soon after the restaurant opened, and again a few days ago.
Din BBQ Station is unique in that it is probably the only Halal BBQ concept restaurant in Johor Bahru.
Din, the boss, shared that he has been constantly refining his cooking technique and the operations at Din BBQ Station. I observed that the constant improvements have helped Din BBQ Station retain many customers who initially only tried out the new restaurant out of curiosity. Now, several families have become regulars.
Din personally does the BBQ-ing and he has mastered the art of managing the heat and fire. Din even notes the preferences of customers as some like their meat dry and thoroughly cooked through, while others prefer theirs just seared on the outside while inside, the hot juices remain intact.
Din knew I like my meat cooked but moist, so these prawns and the squid were just done, and Din managed to preserve most of their natural juices and sweetness.
My friends know that I am crazy about sotong (squids), so I was eagerly waiting for this BBQ sotong :P
Oh, this sotong was lovely. Tender, bouncy, smokey, creamy, savoury and sweet. They just feed my sotong craving which cannot be satisfied.
Bear with me while I ogle at my own sotong photos :P
The BBQ prawns were also succulent and sweet, just the way I liked them.
Din was keen for me to try his BBQ chicken wings marinaded with his signature sauce and eaten with his own dip.
I enjoyed Din's BBQ chicken wings which were savoury and nicely mildly spicy. Din's dip added a little sweetness and interesting flavours from the chopped onions and other ingredients.
Din is quite skillful in BBQ-ing. No trace of blood at all, but the chicken wings were still sweet and juicy.
The simple nasi lemak at Din BBQ Station is quite good. The rice is fragrant and nicely cooked. The sambal was well balanced between savoury and spicy.
Other customers' BBQ fish which Din shared are his popular items.
This was another customer's lamb chop.
For lunch, Din serves set lunches and popular dishes like this asam pedas fish head.
Asam Pedas Kepala Ikan Merah RM26
I also enjoyed these fresh vegetables at Din's.
I like to eat the crunchy vegetables with Din's savoury and mildly spicy sambal chili dip.
A sketch map to help you locate Din BBQ Station easily.
Restaurant name: Din BBQ Station
Address: 32, Jalan Bestari 6/2, Taman Nusa Bestari, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/RBDOK
GPS: 1.481755,103.665769
Hours: 11:00am to 11:30pm
Halal
Dates visited: 5 Dec 2012, 21 Mar 2013, 10 Apr 2013
This post should have been written about a year ago. At that time, Johor Kaki blog was still relatively young. Johor Kaki Blog Facebook Page wasn't up yet. Neither were the Johor Sedap and Johor Yummy Facebook groups.
I got an unexpected email and telephone call from Makansutra office asking if I would like to show Makan Guru K F Seetoh around Johor Bahru. K F Seetoh was preparing the 2013 edition of Makansutra Guide to Malaysian Food. I agreed readily because this supports my goal to promote Johor hawkers and hawker food. I was also eager to spend a day with K F Seetoh as I have long admired how he passionately promoted street food around the world, especially in Singapore.
I am writing this long overdue post now as it just dawned on me that this was actually Johor Kaki's very first food trail and that it should not go unrecorded.
Seetoh drove his MPV, and with us were the photographer (I forgot his name, so sorry :P) and staff writer, Lorraine.
As Seetoh wanted to cover some Halal food, our first stop was the food centre at the beautiful Hutan Bandar park. I introduced Seetoh to two lontong kering stalls as this dish is quite hard to find in Singapore.
We first tasted D'Rimba Corner's lontong kering. Lontong kering is traditional Malay rice cakes served with peanut gravy, spicy sambal, fried coconut shreds, tempeh and nasi padang style side dishes such as beef rendang, fried vegetables and so on.
Next, we tasted Puan Fatimah's lontong kering which is just a few stalls away, also at Hutan Bandar. Seetoh was impressed by how the stalls were able to turn common and inexpensive ingredients into affordable and delicious dishes. This affordable delicious food sumptuously enjoyed by everyone, Seetoh shared, is the essence of good street food.
After Hutan Bandar food centre, we shot up to Taman Ungku Tun Aminah where I showed Seetoh the Terrengganu Curry Mee. This unique style of curry mee eaten with fresh fish and sambal is one of my personal favourites and I wanted to let Seetoh try it.
We next proceeded to You Kee XO to taste their roast meats and signature soups. You Kee XO is one of the well established roast meats shops in Johor Bahru but there are a few other shops that also do great roast meats in JB. What I liked about You Kee XO is the nice ambiance, clean and neat environment, good service and their great soups. Pricing wise, they do not charge a premium for the nice extras, which is... nice.
Next stop was Restoran Azinur for their popular nasi padang. I wanted to show Seetoh one of the local favourites where many people have their everyday, work day meals. Queues form up outside Restoran Azinur 20 minutes before opening time at noon. Azinur closes when everything is sold out, normally about two hours later at 2:00pm.
We then stopped over at Onn Kee Jaya in Tampoi for their popular steamed fresh fish.
That done, we proceeded to nearby Angsana Plaza to burn calories, shop a little bit, and also to taste Haji Wahid's mee rebus there. Haji Wahid's mee rebus is an old name in traditional mee rebus in Johor Bahru, now with several branches around JB. The Angsana Plaza branch is one of the most popular.
After a good shopping break and a stretch, we swung eastwards towards Taman Mount Austin to check out Matang seafood porridge. Here, the Teochew style porridge is served in savoury seafood broth and we can add additional seafood ingredients according to our fancy. Shark meat is a popular add on here.
After the seafood porridge, we found a cool coffee and dessert shop in Mount Austin to cool our heels, freshen up and to get online to clear our backlog of the day's emails and messages.
Re-energised by the short break, we proceeded to the back alley stalls at Taman Century but we were slightly early and most of the stalls were not yet opened. Known as Siak Hong to the locals, the collection of alley stalls here is a popular supper haunt.
We then swung around to a 5 decades old restaurant with the quaint name "Come and Eat" serving Teochew porridge. Famous for their steamed fresh fish which Orang Asli fishermen bring in by just the handful in what is literary the "Catch of the Day". We had a bit of a heartache. The famous "Come and Eat" asam fish was available only on Thursdays, so Seetoh got to miss this one, and come and eat another day :P
We next headed down early to Meldrum Walk to indulge in JB style back alley dining. Despite the rather pretentious sounding name, Meldrum Walk is no swanky dinning street. But, it is charming, authentic back lane hawker fare - raw and unabashed. Unglam, crowded, messy, dingy, cooking fumes stick to your clothes and hair, but Meldrum Walk has one of the largest collection of hawker stalls in Johor Bahru. Some of the stalls are decades old heritage stalls. Meldrum "Walk" is a mini foodies' paradise - a place I like to explore more.
Meldrum Walk was the last stop of our one day food trail.
On hindsight, the trail could have been better, for example, I could have just kept to one area such as Skudai or Johor Jaya, instead of crisscrossing through Johor Bahru.
Still, for those intrepid foodies who want to follow our food steps (pun intended) - let the food decide where we go rather than convenience - here is the summary of our Johor Bahru one day food trail.
- Hutan Bandar Map: http://g.co/maps/g6ssk GPS: 1.480152, 103.742974
- Terengganu curry Map: http://g.co/maps/fyu6e GPS: 1.51037,103.648335
- You Kee XO Map: http://g.co/maps/5dsth GPS: 1.516666,103.653613
- Restoran Azinur Map: http://g.co/maps/znpf4 GPS: 1.522628,103.660587
- Onn Kee Jaya Map: http://g.co/maps/9w3he GPS: 1.497854,103.701839
- Haji Wahid's Map: http://goo.gl/maps/dYkl GPS: 1.495183,103.705229
- Matang porridge Map: http://g.co/maps/j6z6r GPS: 1.561904, 103.779184
- Siak Hong alley Map: http://g.co/maps/6p2ch GPS: 1.479637,103.763718
- Come and Eat Map: http://g.co/maps/aut82 GPS: 1.47285,
103.77829
- Meldrum Walk Map: http://g.co/maps/9m437 GPS: 1.460045,103.764673
Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea shop in Taman Mount Austin is the brain child of four foodie friends. The four friends made many food trips around the region and stumbled upon an old lady in Taiwan who makes sorbet and ice cream the traditional way, by hand.
Fascinated by the old Taiwanese lady's art and captivated by the taste of her traditional sorbets and ice cream, the four friends asked the old lady to teach them her art. These fabulous four managed to spend a month learning the art of hand making sorbet and ice cream at this old lady's home.
Back in Johor Bahru, they experimented with fusing this traditional hand made Taiwanese sorbet and ice cream with local Malaysian ingredients, and now offer their unique creations in their own Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea shop.
Elaine, one of the four partners, invited me to try out Moshi Moshi's dessert and tea creations. When at Moshi Moshi, I can feel the passion that Elaine and her partners have for their dessert and tea creations. They are still experimenting with new creations and spoke excitedly about their work.
Moshi Moshi's desserts consist of a hand made sorbet bottom layer laid with toppings of hand made ice cream, grass jelly, red beans, fruits, "pearls" or other ingredients. They remind me of modern day ais (ice) kacang.
This large mural on the wall at Moshi Moshi proudly states that everything at the Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea shop is hand made using only natural and fresh ingredients with no preservatives added.
These were the sorbets and ice creams that we tried at Moshi Moshi.
Moshi Moshi's "Coconut Ice Cream with Sorbet" (RM8.90) which I enjoyed very much as I like all things coconut :)
I like Moshi Moshi's "Taro Sorbet" (RM8.90) served with peanut ice cream which has a peanutty flavour and interesting bits of nuts. This dessert comes with two yam balls.
Moshi Moshi's "Mango Sorbet" (RM8.90) is an interesting blend of sweet and slightly tangy which I think appeals especially to ladies.
My half eaten "Macha Sorbet" (RM8.90). I like the fragrance of macha and so enjoyed this very much. As we ate, we gradually mixed all the ingredients like sesame ice cream, grass jelly, red beans, black "pearls" and macha sorbet together and got another blended taste which I enjoyed very much.
Elaine graciously gave me permission to see the process of making Moshi Moshi's signature sorbet and ice cream desserts.
When an order is received, the hand made sorbet is scraped from the tub and transferred to the large serving cup. This is Moshi Moshi's coconut sorbet.
Scooping the hand made Moshi Moshi ice cream. This is Moshi Moshi's peanut ice cream.
Next, the "pearls" are added. These "pearls" are imported from Taiwan. I like the bite of these gummy, chewy "pearls" and hunt for them in my bowl :P
The grass jelly is carefully laid into the cup.
The "Coconut Sorbet" fully assembled and ready for serving.
Moshi Moshi also offers a wide range of teas, all of which are brewed from tea leaves (never from instant tea powders).
Elaine first let us try Moshi Moshi's "Fresh Tomato Ice Blended Tea" (RM6.90). This tea is made with fresh baby tomatoes.
Moshi Moshi's "Lemon Ai-yu 2Q" (RM6.90) a sour tea which is a favourite, especially among the ladies.
Elaine was eager to let us try Moshi Moshi's "Macha with Red Bean Ice Cream" (RM5.90). I like this drink very much as the flavour and fragrance of the macha blend very well with the taste of the red bean ice cream.
After so many dessert and tea tastings, Elaine suggested I drink Moshi Moshi's herbal tea as it would help me in digestion.
I like Moshi Moshi for their uniquely Johor creations and look forward to more flavours in the future. Moshi Moshi is a great place to chill out with friends and enjoy nice desserts and teas together.
Restaurant name: Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea
Address: 19, Jalan Mutiara Emas 10/19, Taman Mount Austin, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/qIHvc
GPS: 1.551693,103.785181
Hours: 11:30am to 11:30pm
No pork, no lard, no Halal cert
Date visited: 26 Mar 2013, 29 Mar 2013, 21 May 2013, 14 Jun 2013
