Johor Bahru Kebun Teh Seng Huat Fish Soup 成发

Updated 29 May 2019. Visited the fish soup stall at Jalan Kebun Teh Lama today. This was one of the first places I blogged about in Johor Kaki (in Jan 2012, the first month of Johor Kaki). 

榕树下果条 (成发). 汤头够味. 鱼肉新鲜又甜. 酱油够香. 好吃. 价格公道. 环境特别. 不妨试试.

I came here today with a bit of trepidation. You see, food blogging is a hazardous pastime. There are many risks. Every blog we post, we put our reputation on the line. For a start, everyone's taste buds already differ, so there are bound to be many who will disagree with what we blogged. Then, stalls and restaurants change, often rather quickly actually. I hope always for the better or at least maintain standards. 

I am glad that I enjoyed this Kebun Teh fish soup stall today even more than before :-D



Kebun Teh fish soup stall is under the lush canopy of a huge leafy rambutan tree. The huge tree was blooming with a crown full of crimson red rambutans when I first noticed the stall (2012).

I stumbled upon Kebun Teh fish soup stall while hunting for food on foot. Yes, I walked because had I drove, I would have missed many of the stalls that are in inconspicuous nooks and odd corners, or are difficult to access by car.



Things indeed changed during these 4 years.

The fish soup stall has taken over Seng Huat 成发 kopitiam and may now properly be called Seng Huat Fish Soup (though there was no signboard saying so).

This stall is now popularly known as 榕树下金目鲈粿條汤 or RSX (under the banyan tree, even though it is a rambutan tree here 🤭 ).

Nowadays, there is even a numbering system. When you arrive, first go to the cooking station and take a queue number. Bring your number tag to an available table and wait for the staff to come to you and take your order. Once you've given your order, just wait for your food to be served at your table. It's a good, simple system that works efficiently.



Everything here for RM10. I waited about 15 minutes for my food on a busy Friday morning.



The bowl of ivory white kway teow came smothered by a thick blanket of slick freshly fried shallot crisps. As I asked for chili sauce as well, it came with a big splash of sharp looking fresh chili sauce. At the bottom is a watery savoury tossing sauce based mainly on soy sauce laced with lard.



The ivory kway teow blackened after a vigorous toss was handsomely dressed with a slick coat of wet savoury sweet spicy sauce. The fried shallot crisps punctuated the rice noodles with aromatic crunch. 

Delicious.



Then, there is that bowl of fish soup choked full of fresh sea bass 金目鲈鱼 slices.

The pork bone and fish broth was clear, clean tasting and savoury sweet. There were bits of preserved radish floating in the soup which added a bit of savoury layer to the broth (though I am no big fan of chye poh 菜脯 personally).



There were at least a dozen pieces and slices of fresh sea bass fish with smooth soft skin in my RM10 bowl of fish soup. The sea bass's white flesh was tender, juicy and sweet without that muddy taste sometimes found in sea bass. This was all just sweet fresh fish flavour.



I haven't changed much. 

I still take pictures of other customers' food and generally get in the way of the busy stall holders ;-p The food always looks nicer in other people's bowl ;-p



->> Street side fresh sea bass specialist serves good solid broth and is generous with fish in the soup. The noodles in the tossing sauce are great too.

This food stall was one of the first posts in Johor Kaki blog (back in Jan 2012). At that time, I just explore JB on foot after clearing JB immigration. Yeah, it's a very long walk from JB CIQ to this food stall, but I am a little crazy like that. This was that first post, if you are interested 👈 click


Parking here is quite challenging

Restaurant name: Street corner stall with no name Seng Huat Fish Soup 成发 (now most people know this as RSX 榕树下金目鲈粿條汤)

Address: Junction of Jalan Tun Abdul Razak and Jalan Kebun Teh Lama (near Danga City Mall), Johor Bahru
GPS: 1.477712,103.753461 / 1°28'39.8"N 103°45'12.5"E 
Hours: Daily 7:15am to 4:00pm (Closed on Sunday)

Non Halal



Date visited: 16 Jan 2012, 28 Oct 2012, 20 May 2016

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