Jalan Maju is a small street off the Tebrau Highway with a few big names in Johor food. It is less than 10 minutes drive from the JB CIQ once you cleared immigration. As most of the shops here open as early as 5:00am, they are good choices for breakfast to start the day before exploring JB or for the drive further up north.
Plaza Pelangi is right at the junction of Tebrau Highway and Jalan Maju.
JB's only Cold Storage supermarket is in Plaza Pelangi. We used to stop by at Cold Storage to get our weekly fresh supplies before returning to Singapore.
Jalan Maju is known to JB locals as 報紙街 or "newspaper street" as many Malaysian newspapers have their Johor Bahru offices on this street.
Restoran Rong Shu Xia Kway Teow Kia | Jalan Maju, Taman Maju Jaya | GPS: 1.480835, 103.766704 | 6:30am to 12:30pm (alternate Weds off)
The King of the Street is without a doubt Restoran Rong Shu Xia Kway Teow Kia or 榕樹下粿条仔. Decades ago it was a little mobile stall under a big tree where Plaza Pelangi stood today. It then moved to Restoran Ka Hoe kopitiam and now 榕樹下 Kia Teow Kia have their own shop. Business is frenetic, especially on weekends.
Rong Shu Xia Kway Teow Kia's pork innards are well cleaned and braised in mild savoury herbal stock. The tender pork innards' natural sweetness balances the savoury herbal taste and adds a sweet layer to the dish. Singaporeans may wish to note that Rong Shu Xia KTK serves pork blood curd 😉
Kak Kak 佳佳点心茶楼 | No. 9, Jalan Maju, Taman Maju | GPS: 1.480711, 103.765531 | 5:00am to 12:00 noon (Tues off)
Another Kingpin here is Restoran Kak Kak which is a well loved old dim sum shop.
Not the dainty exquisite dim sum of expensive hotels and restaurants but Kak Kak offers lots of variety with good quality and at very reasonable prices. All dim sum are freshly hand made in-house in the kitchen at the back of the shop. Kak Kak is within the top 3 of best dim sum in JB in most locals' good food books.
Otak Shiduoli | Jalan Maju | GPS: 1.480777, 103.765742 | 6:30am to 12:00 noon
Otak Shiduoli used to be known as Storia Cafe when it was at Jalan Storey. It is without a doubt, JB's most famous otak otak shop.
Shiduoli's otak otak is thick and succulent. It is tender with real Mackerel fish bits and paste held together with fresh coconut milk and aromatic spices. The sweet spicy flavours are gentle but rich and well balanced. Besides the usual fish meat otak otak, Shiduoli also have limited stocks of fish head otak otak. Be early if you like to try fish head otak otak. The otak otak are freshly grilled right there at the shop, so they are served piping hot. You can smell smokey spice while you eat otak otak 😄
Yi Bao Mee Hoon Kueh | 5, Jalan Maju | GPS: 1.480760,103.765657 | 9:30am to 7:30pm (closed on Thursdays)
Yi Bao is another decades old name on this street with a loyal following. Yi Bao serves the humble Hokkien staple, mee hoon kueh.
Yi Bao's thin mee hoon kueh have a nice soft chewy bite. The pork and anchovy broth is nicely savoury sweet. The soft minced pork and pork slices are very fresh. I like it that Yi Bao uses Sayur Manis with their MHK - Sayur Manis is the only vegetable that goes well with MHK. Chye Sim will not do 😄 Yi Bao's garlic chili sauce is excellent too - sourish hot with a sharp bite from the fresh chili and raw garlic.
Restoran No Signboard | 39, Jalan Maju, Taman Maju Jaya | GPS: 1.480859,103.766314 | 7:00am to 3:00pm
The humble little wanton mee stall at Restoran No Signboard kopitiam has a loyal following.
The egg noodles are light and done to a slight tender bounce. I like this wanton mee mainly for the sauce - it's lard with cooking oil infused with fried shallot flavour 熟油. It's old school and I love it. The delicious wantons are served in a small bowl of soup made with dried sole fish which is excellent too.
Restoran Soon Chiang 顺江肉骨茶 | 41, Jalan Maju | GPS: 1.480879, 103.766903 | 11:00am to 5:00pm (Monday off)
Tucked away at the further end of Jalan Maju (away from Tebrau Highway) is Soon Chiang bak kut teh. It's an old name with a vintage pedigree of JB (Bak Cheng) BKT and it has it's loyal following.
An old school type of bak kut teh found in old JB BKT shops. Resembles Klang BKT somewhat but not as heavy bodied (as there is very little melted collagen). The stock is savoury herbal but left some room for the natural porky sweetness of the meat to be discernible. The meat is tender but not mushy, so there is a bit of tender chew to the bite.
This Penang style fruit rojak mobile stall is one of the best in Johor Bahru. His stall travels around JB during the day and at pasar malam at night. He is at Jalan Maju next to Plaza Pelangi on Mon and Tues -> 12:30pm to 3:45pm; Weds to Sun -> 12:30pm to 5:00pm. Off on Thurs.
The handpicked fruits are skilfully cut so that they are not wet with weeping juices. The sauce is gooey with savoury fermented prawn paste balanced with sweet caramel. The flavour is well balanced and of just the right intensity so that we can still taste the cut fruits' natural sweetness. The crushed peanuts add a bit of nutty taste and crunch. This is my favourite rojak in JB.
👉 This list took me six years of work with the help of Johor Bahru locals and I am still updating it. Please share with me your favourites at Jalan Maju to make it better. Do come back regularly as I am adding to this list all the time 😄
Full details of the famous and popular stalls at Jalan Maju 👉
Rong Shu Xia Kway Teow Kia 👈 click
Restoran Kak Kak Dimsum 👈 click
Otak Shiduoli 👈 click
Yi Bao Mee Hoon Kueh 👈 click
Wanton Mee stall in No Signboard kopitiam 👈 click
Soon Chiang Bak Kut Teh 👈 click
Mobile Penang Fruit Rojak 👈 click
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Date: 25 Jun 2017
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