Three of us went on a simple whole day food trail in Johor Bahru and Pontian today - after so many food trails, I think simple, leisurely ones without overeating are the best 😄 We stopped at just 5 places - Taika Huat Braised Duck 八里半大家发鸭肉 ➤ House of Giant Grouper 龍膽之家 ➤ Kheng Guan Hiong Coffee ➤ Pontian Wild Game Meat 笨珍三不卖野味 ➤ Tasting Lab (a wine shop).
We headed straight for Pontian after clearing JB CIQ.
On the way to the seaside town, we swung by Taika Huat Braised Duck because we wanted to taste duck blood curd which is not available in Singapore. We were just trying our luck as the only known place for duck blood curd in JB now is Sin Hai Cheng Braised Duck.
But, I wanted to show Aaron and Milton the "under the big tree" ambiance of Taika Huat which I like very much. The braised duck is popular here and I wanted my buddies to try Taika Huat's signature steamed braised pork trotter too.
As expected, Taika Huat had stopped serving duck blood curd for a long time due to lack of supply. We had instead braised duck, duck cheek and tongue, and braised pork trotter.
Taika Huat's Teochew style braised duck came skilfully cut - thin tender moist slices with a narrow strip of fat on top. There wasn't much duck gaminess in the meat and skin. Most of the flavours came from the savoury braising stock.
I always enjoyed Taika Huat's braised duck cheek and tongue (which come together with the beak in one piece). I like the meatiness of the duck cheek. The meat was tender, had its own ducky flavour and infused savouriness from the braising stock. The gelatinous tongue added a soft dimension to the dish.
Taika Huat's signature steamed braised pork trotter. The steaming imparted a certain gumminess to the tender and soft skin, fat and meat. There was some subtle natural porcine sweetness but most of it was masked by the relatively assertive savoury flavour of the fermented bean and dark soya sauce.
After Taika Huat, we swung by Sin Hai Cheng Braised Duck expecting to have duck blood curd. Unfortunately, there was also none today at Sin Hai Cheng as supply was irregular.
Pro Tip: If duck blood curd is a must have for you, call Sin Hai Cheng ☎ +607-557 7279 before coming.
On arriving at Pontian after a leisurely 1.5 hour drive, I suddenly recalled a street side stall House of Giant Grouper 龍膽之家 serving the huge fish. So, I just pulled up in front of the stall (abandoning original plans to eat at the Pontian fish market) - Tony's food trail is like that.... 😜
We started with a fish head and fish meat soup for two (price RM78).
We were in luck today, as they just received a 100kg wild caught Giant Grouper. They catch such a fish only once or twice a year. On other days, the stall serves farm raised giant groupers which weigh around 30kg each.
Woo hoo, how we love this giant grouper and soup.
The meat cut into big chunks was naturally sweet, though it was slightly stiffer than smaller groupers. The best part for us uncles was the head as it had lots of gelatinous skin and spongy soft tissue and membrane with natural sweet taste. (I forgot but next time I shall check if they can serve us the eyes 😄 )
We love the soup as it had layers of natural sweetness from fish and pork with a subtle underlying savouriness for balance. We asked for extra soup and they obliged with no extra charge.
After finishing the fish soup, we saw the next table having asam pedas fish served in a claypot. It looked delicious, so we ordered one too 😋
Oh... we love the loads of sweet skin and soft tissues, and the fish head was surprisingly meaty in the head cavities. I like the watery mildly savoury, spicy, tangy asam pedas soup (though Milton would prefer it more robust). The fish head asam pedas cost RM34.
Pro Tip: If you like giant grouper skin and gelatinous parts, get the fish head as it has higher ratio of soft tissue. I think it is better value for money too.
Whenever I am in Pontian, I must pop over to Kheng Guan Hiong coffee shop for their unique tasting coffee which has a mild bitter sweet flavour with subtle underlying acidic taste and floral aroma.
It's one of those coffees which, if you like it, you are hooked. If you don't appreciate it as much, then it is just another coffee. I think my buddies today love it less than I do 😂
We took a peek at the zhi char shop just beside Kheng Guan Hiong coffee. The aroma of caramelised sauces and kway teow smelled good, and the chef looked so skillful with the wok.
Next trip, when we have enough makan kakis, we will buy fresh seafood at the Pontian wholesale fish market and have the zhi char shop cook it for us for a fee (代炒). There are at least a couple of 代炒 shops along this row of shops. The best time at the fish market is between 9am and 11am.
This home based eatery 笨珍三不卖 serving wild game meat is one of the reasons Singapore foodies cross the Causeway and drive a few hours to Pontian.
The eatery of sorts is located in the veranda of the Chuang family home. The ingredients are wild caught from the forests and oil palm plantations nearby. The lady boss / house owner Mdm Chuang cooks all the dishes personally, so it is literally and truly home cooking.
(Note: Always call ahead to book your dishes at ☏ +012 765 2782 as the meat are wild caught. The Chuangs will be renovating their home between Jun and Dec 2019, so please call to check if the kitchen is open.)
If you expect wild boar to be lean and fibrous, you will be surprised to find that the wild boar meat, fat and skin at 三不卖 are more tender and softer than fresh domesticated pork. I compare it with acorn fattened Iberico pork from Spain as these wild boars that live in oil palm plantations fattened themselves by stealing oil palm fruit 😂 (Price RM35.)
The wild boar skin was soft and smooth like gelatin while the fat was just half a notch above melt in your mouth. It was surprisingly clean tasting. There was no gamey taste or smell at all, just natural porcine sweetness. The curry spices were mild, adding interesting flavours and heat to complement the wild boars' natural sweetness.
If I am in Pontian, I will swing over for this curry wild boar.
Deep fried squirrel served with a savoury sauce (price RM35).
The savoury sauce had a subtle underlying sweetness which complement the squirrel meat by masking some of its mild gaminess. We can taste a bit of the squirrel's gaminess in its slightly firm lean dark meat which doesn't have the slightest fat. The squirrel had lots of sharp bones, almost like a fish.
We also had fried pigeons which are farm raised. (Actually, for pigeons I prefer farm raised than wild birds.)
We like the sweet peppery savoury marination on the fried pigeons which were rather lean and had a bit of natural characteristic taste. This delicacy costs RM8 a bird. (No typo there - yes, RM8 a bird.)
Pontian 笨珍三不卖 is very easy to locate. Just set your WAZE app to "Spartan Gym" and it will take you to the doorstep. The Chuang's son operates Spartan Gym at the back of the house.
Our stomachs full, we drove back from Pontian to Johor Bahru - to chill out with wine at Tasting Lab at G-03, Austin 18, Jalan Austin Perdana, ☎ 07-212 1214. Tasting Lab stocks a wide range of New and Old World wines, personally curated by owner Jessica. It's a nice and cosy place to hang out with friends.
Tasting Lab owner Jessica is a Certified Sommelier with vast experience in Johor, Singapore and the Middle East. She is also a much sought after wine educator.
Jessica is the sole distributor in Johor for Domaine Gayda wines which are from Brugairolles in southwestern France at the Pyrenees foothills. Domaine Gayda produces white, red, sparkling, rosé, dessert and port wines. The estate is certified organic and the grapes are hand harvested.
I can't remember what savoury cheese this was but it paired well with the wine we had. I enjoyed it.
(Milton reminded me that it was melted Camembert with olive oil and rosemary from Jessica’s own plantings. Thanks buddy!)
Tasting Lab was the last stop of our light and easy food trail. We enjoyed ourselves a lot with new and memorable taste experiences. Total food cost per person was RM100 (not including wine which was Milton's treat and petrol).
Cheers!
Taika Huat Braised Duck 👈 click
Sin Hai Cheng Braised Duck 👈 click
House of Giant Grouper 👈 click
Kheng Guan Hiong Coffee 👈 click
Pontian Wholesale Fish Market 👈 click
Pontian 笨珍三不卖 👈 click
Pontian "Iberico" Pork 👈 click
Date: 11 Apr 2019
So delicious
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