Best Zi Char Places in JB Johor Bahru - Pelangi City

Back at Pelangi City, one of my favourite zi char stalls in Johor Bahru after nearly two years. I am glad that everything is still as great at this busy little stall 😃

在彩虹的彩虹城煮炒小档口 (Jalan Biru 三楼海鲜对面), 锅气十足。他们的菜都很不错的。我最喜欢的是他们的菜圃鱼。可以试试。




Zi char is about wok hei and Mr Choong from Ipoh is a master in control of the intense heat.



Pelangi City is a stall in the open air food centre (ok, there is a roof) across the road from the famed San Low Seafood Restaurant. By day, there are about a dozen different hawker stalls here. By night, there is only Mr Choong's Pelangi City zhi char stall.

The environment is a little grimy, with simple folding tables and flimsy plastic chairs. Lighting is slightly dim, especially after sunset. Parking spaces are adequate though limited, especially when customers of San Low Seafood spill over. No wash basin or toilets.

But, Pelangi City's fans are undeterred. I bumped into reader Philip and his wife who enjoyed themselves here, like we did every time we were here.



My favourite dish at Pelangi City is their chye poh fish. The grass fish, black pomfret or sea bass is deep fried to a crisp and then smothered with a thick blanket of deep fried diced chye poh 菜圃 (preserved radish).

Grass fish chye poh is my favourite but it is not available this evening, so we settled for black pomfret instead.



The well browned chye poh was fried to a feathery crisp. It has a nice savoury sweet flavour and was not too salty at all. We ate up all the fried chye poh as it was so delicious.

The fried pomfret was crispy outside and the white flesh inside still had a slight moistness.



Mr Choong suggested we try his new dish, Aromatic Spicy Prawns 香辣虾. It's fried prawns with shell on served on a bed of dried chili.



The large meaty fresh prawns were sweet and there was only a slight hint of spiciness. If you like prawns with not much else added on other than it's own natural sweetness, this dish is for you too.



Sweet and Sour Pork. Nicely crisped, lightly battered lean pork. The thick gooey sauce was more sweet than sour and savoury.



Sweet potato leaves stir fried with sambal chili. Well executed. The leaves remain green and moist, and the savoury sweet spicy flavours were mild and well balanced.



👍 Three of us, we enjoyed everything we ate today at Pelangi City. Our favourite was the chye poh fish followed by the chili prawns. Yes, we ate the fish head too - it's crisp like a fish cracker. Pelangi City remains one of our top choices for tze char in JB.

Disclosure: Mr Choong declined our payment for our food.



It is easy to find Pelangi City - it's right across the road from the famous San Low Seafood Restaurant which needs no introduction.



Restaurant name: Gerai Makanan Pelangi City 彩虹城
Address: Stall no. 11, Taman Serene Food Centre, Jalan Biru (opposite the famous San Low seafood restaurant), Johor Bahru 
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/ZuvjP 
GPS: 1.472193,103.774613 / 1°28'19.9"N 103°46'28.6"E
Hours: 6:00pm to midnight  (Tues off)

Non Halal

Date: 14 Jul 2016


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