I found a lovely new place to hang out in JB. Ok... not really I found lah - actually, owners Charlene and Yumi invited me to visit their newly opened cafe in Johor Jaya, Ros Merah. I am very excited to tell you about their unique chendol cheesecake, Three Tea Mug and good coffee.
I have eaten at Hin Hock Bak Kut Teh in Tampoi JB many, many times and written about them twice. But, I have been focusing on their boiled fish instead of their bak kut teh.
OK back in JB to look for good food. Decided on Taste of Georgetown in KSL City Mall as I tried their original outlet near Sutera Mall before and there were several dishes I enjoyed there.
The massive Niushou Mountain Scenic Area comprising the stunning Usnisa Palace, Usnisa Pagoda and Usnisa Temple is one of my best memories of my 7 day trip to Jiangsu province in China. Niushou Mountain is just a short 45 minutes drive south of Nanjing so it is a Must See, if you are visiting Nanjing city.
Tong Heng's signature diamond shaped egg tart is synonymous with
Singapore egg tart. You won't find this in Hong Kong, Macau or
Portugal.
A couple of days ago, I bumped into fourth generation Tong Heng boss,
Fong Wai Keong at Jurong Point mall. Over kopi and chendol at Malaysia
Boleh! food court, Wai Keong shared with me his great grandfather's
story - the Tong Heng story.
I have been eating at Zai Shun Curry Fish Head in Jurong East (Singapore) for years, before the advent of blogs and social media. Every time, it was the steamed fish dishes that ate up our calorie budget and filled our stomach space - I have yet to try Zhai Shun's curry fish head 😂 This time it was no different.
I have blogged about Zai Shun before but we enjoyed our steamed fish lunch so much today that I felt compelled to blog about Singapore's King of Steamed Fish again (in my opinion lah....).
Act 1, Scene1: A Noodle Story stall at Amoy Street Hawker Centre.
Auntie: Small, medium, large?
Me (in level headed Singaporean mode): Medium.
Auntie: $11.
Me (silently as I dug deeper into my skinny wallet): What? For $3 more, I can have ramen served at my table in air con comfort. Here, it is so hot, I have to find my own table with food in hand and fight tissue packs, umbrellas, yesterday's newspapers etc for a seat at a barely cleaned, sticky, greasy table.
Langshan Scenic Area is a popular attraction near Nantong City (which is just north of Shanghai). Nantong is to Shanghai folks what Johor Bahru is to many Singaporeans - a nice place for a day trip to rest and relax with good food and space to stretch out.
Lunched today at Ramen Taisho at Maxwell Road Food Centre. I was a little early, so I was treated to a glimpse of the partially raised shutter. So cute, right? Ramen Taisho stall is located diagonally across from Tian Tian chicken rice (which always has a long queue of tourists, so you can't miss it).
When I blogged about the chee cheong fun at NUS Science Canteen recently, buddy Peck said that I should also try the ayam penyet stall. It was voted the NUS students' favourite for several years. So, after my NUH appointment today, I popped by NUS to check out Uncle Penyet Fusion.
When in Suzhou, the "Venice of the East" two Must Do things are to visit their gardens and water towns. For gardens, we went to Humble Administrator's Garden and for water town we went to Millennial old Tongli 同里. One of the memorable stops at Tongli was lunch at the Century old 南园茶庄 South Gardens Teahouse. I love the authentic old Chinese teahouse feel and enjoyed the traditional Suzhou dishes too.
En Sushi 恩寿司 is a new casual eatery at 30 Prinsep Street between Bencoolen MRT and Dhoby Ghaut MRT stations right beside Rendezvous Hotel. Just 2 months old, En Sushi already caught the attention of students and office workers in the area for their $10.80++ Bara Chirasi Don set lunch. But, En Sushi has other good things up their sleeves as I found out during dinner last night.
I've heard good reviews of Nanjing Impressions in Plaza Singapura (Singapore) but haven't got a chance to try it. So, I was delighted to try it in Nanjing itself (near the Confucius Temple). It was one of my best memories of the beautiful historic city, capital of Jiangsu province and Old China.
The stars were aligned - I just got a Huawei P20 Pro and a 7 day trip to Jiangsu, China to put the phone's camera through its paces in many situations. For this review, the photographs are posted "as is" straight out of the phone. I did not post edit the JPG photographs at all (except for adding my watermark). All photos were shot hand held.
I was privileged to join a seven day visit programme hosted by Jiangsu
Tourism of China. This post is a very brief summary featuring only
selected highlights from our memorable 7 day Jiangsu 江苏省
journey.
(CLOSED Master Tang passed away in Feb 2019 in Hong Kong his home.) Fans of Master Tang Siu Nam follow him wherever he may go. Some followed him since he was serving hand made egg noodles in Lucky Plaza in the 1980s. Others converted after tasting wanton noodle and congee at Crystal Jade which bore Master Tang's Dolby mark (he was their chef trainer for 17 years). Some first met him at his stall in Chinatown. I first met the Master at his Sixth Avenue coffee shop stall. Today, I followed him to his Bukit Batok Blk 233 kopitiam stall.
Char kway teow is a popular dish in Johor (just like in Singapore and throughout Malaysia). CKT stalls are everywhere - most kopitiam have one CKT. But, good char kway teow stalls in Johor (and also in Singapore) are like rare gems - there are just a precious few among the dozens. Here are the best top of my mind char kway teow stalls in Johor, after blogging about 21 stalls and tasting a few hundred times.
After a lifetime of coffee from Robusta, Liberica to Arabica in Singapore, Malaysia and beyond... the coffee that is most memorable for me is at Kheng Guan Hiong 瓊源香 in Pontian, Johor. The second is a Vietnamese coffee in Los Angeles 30 years ago, but that is a story for another post.
I've heard about this home cooked wild game meat in Pontian some years ago. Truth be told, I am not a big fan of game meat, so I didn't purposely seek out this place. I have eaten and blogged about a few game meat places in Johor before - they are exotic and interesting for an occasional change, but I still prefer domesticated meat. However, 笨珍三不卖 changed my mind.
Many JB buddies have been telling me about this popular supper time wanton mee shop near Bangkok Spa in Taman Maju Jaya (near Pelangi). Restoran HW Wanton Mee opens 9 to 5 - I mean 9pm to 5am 😄 It's a favourite haunt of JB's night owls.
(Update: This night owl wanton mee now operates "family hours" 11am - 10pm [Mon off]. )
Kway teow kia is a uniquely Johor street food not found anywhere else in the world. It is pork and offal braised in savoury herbal stock till it is tender. The braised pork and offal are eaten with narrow flat rice noodles known as kway teow kia which is the name of this Teochew dish.
There is a stall tucked away in NUS's Science Canteen serving very good, freshly hand made (no pork, no lard) chee cheong fun 綠色肠粉. If you had a double take or felt a chee cheong fun deja vu, it's because this famous CCF is originally from Amoy Street Food Centre.
Tiong Bahru is a foodie haven in Singapore. One of my favourite eating places here is Old Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh. Old Tiong Bahru BKT at Seng Poh Road serves the Singapore Teochew style of peppery bak kut teh together with hot Chinese tea. (I've eaten here for over 20 years. Besides bak kut teh, this nearly 100 year old shop is also excellent for steamed dishes like fish and squid.)
I was invited to join Tourism Malaysia Recreation Club members in their Maghi Menyotong programme from 27 - 30 Apr in Terengganu. TM's Recreation Club is a family club and this was their annual trip for members' families.
